Abandoned Theatres by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre
Originally published at Miss Design. You can comment here or there.
“Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension.
The state of ruin is essentially a temporary situation that happens at some point, the volatile result of change of era and the fall of empires. This fragility, the time elapsed but even so running fast, lead us to watch them one very last time: being dismayed, or admire, making us wondering about the permanence of things.
Photography appeared to us as a modest way to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state.”
http://www.marchandmeffre.com
“In the early 20th century, following the development of the entertainment industry, hundreds of auditoriums were built everywhere in North America. Major entertainment firms and movie studios commissioned specialized architects to build grandiose and extravagant theaters.
From the 60′s, TV, multiplexes and urban crisis made them becoming obsolete.
During the following decades, when they were not modernized or transformed into adult cinemas,
they closed one after the other and many of them were simply demolished.
Those which remain forgotten, escaping from this fate, were converted to varied purposes.
Now, many are reused as churches, retail, flea markets, bingo halls, discos, supermarkets or warehouses. Some others just sit abandoned.
This work, started in 2005, is currently in progress.”
