TALES FROM THE SANATORIUM
Our ongoing graphic
novel series, directed at several abandoned mental hospitals
by Bryan Papciak, will premiere its first installment on March
24 during the Report
from the Ghost City. More installments
will follow.
THE GARDEN OF CRUMBLING DELIGHTS
Ars Subterranea presents an online photo
exhibit centered around the beauty of architectural decay. Go
here to view our gallery.
AMERICAN RUINS
A feature-length, mixed media journey through
the relics and ruins of Abandoned America. This film documentation
by our art directors, Bryan Papciak and Jeff Sias, is co-produced
by Scout
Productions and Ars Subterranea. Filming began in early December
at Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania. Bryan Papciak's previous
experimental short film, Met
State, won a number of awards and is the official favorite
movie of the Dark
Passage crew. More on the production can be found here.
FURNACE PRESS
In collaboration with Place in History, we have started a publishing house geared
towards documenting the obscure and neglected: urban decrepitude, industrial
ruins, disjointed neighborhoods. Visit the Furnace
Press site for more information.
THE LOST DINOSAURS OF CENTRAL PARK
Together with Carl Mehling of the American Museum of Natural
History, we have been working to commemorate Benjamin Waterhouse
Hawkins' lost dinosaur models and the doomed Paleozoic Museum in
Central Park. For more details, go
here.
ANATOMY OF A HOSPITAL
A virtual journey through hidden and abandoned parts of a hospital
complex in Jersey City. We are currently
assembling our documentation of the art deco buildings of this
hospital, which relocated to a new facility in May 2004.
TEATIME ON A SUNKEN SHIP
Ars Subterranea
enjoyed a picnic on the remains of a sunken
ship, celebrating one of the last vestiges of New York's waterfront that
is still submerged in decrepitude and the sulphuric stench of mystery.
We had teatime on a grassy knoll of rubble with a splendid view of
rotting hulls, seaweed-covered shopping carts and ghostly water-logged
machinery. A brief write-up is here.
HOUSE OF THE MARBLE MISTRESS
This interactive experience of a historical
Bronx ruin in transition took visitors from a funeral rite to
a birthday party. More
details about the event are here.
MINI-GOLF INSIDE THE BUFFALO CENTRAL TERMINAL
Pack your argyle slacks and head on up
to Buffalo! As part of the larger celebration "Ghost Train",
Ars Subterranea is decking out portions of the abandoned Buffalo
Central Terminal in style. More on our mini-golf extravaganza here.
KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL
Based on the film noir from 1952, this urban
scavenger hunt - part of an architectural event by Grand
Arts - sent teams of explorers into the neglected underbelly
of Kansas City. Join us here.
UNDERWORLD
CONGRESS
Ars Subterranea participated in the first international Underworld Congress, held in Vienna in November 2005. Aaron Benoy and Julia Solis presented images on subterranean America, including photos of New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, along with photos of underground Dallas taken by Robert Stephens. Our host, Peter Ryborz, is compiling a book of the congress materials for publication in 2006.
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
In this Manhattan-based exhibition,
we playfully raise the question of what sort of odd life forms could
spring from the decay of urban ruins and what new inhabitants and transformations
might await decrepit spaces.
THE RIDDLE OF THE BURIED STREAM
Discover the traces of one of Manhattan's lost underground rivers. This
way to our scavenger hunt....
EXHIBIT ON UNDERGROUND NEW YORK
Our inaugural event, an Exhibit
on Underground New York, was held on November 10, 2002 inside
the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel in Brooklyn. Photos from the exhibit are
posted here. The event received much media coverage, including
Time
Out New York, New
York Times, New
York Press, The
Morning News, and others.
TOPSY MEMORIAL DESIGN COMPETITION
In collaboration with the artist Gavin Heck, Ars Subterranea held
a design
competition to commemorate Topsy, the elephant who was electrocuted
by Thomas Edison in Coney Island in 1903.
