August 27, 2007
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point is the website of Michael Cook, a Toronto writer, photographer and urban explorer. Cook favors the underground storm drains, combined sewers and water system tunnels.
At their root, most drains are just an abstract version of the watershed that existed before the city. It’s sort of this alternate dimension that you pass into, when you step from the aboveground creek, through the inlet, into the drain – especially once you walk out of the reach of daylight.
BLDGBLOG has a fantastic interview with him where they go into his interests beyond urban exploration for its own sake.
Cook’s interests extend beyond the field of urban exploration to include the ecological consequences of city drainage systems, the literal nature of public space, and the implications of industrial decay for future archaeology – among many other things we barely had time to discuss.
Helpful links to more underground worlds and urban exploration on BLDGBLOG: Urban Knot Theory, London Topological, Derinkuyu, or: the allure of the underground city, Beneath the Neon, Valvescape, Subterranean bunker-cities, and Tunnels, mines, and the “upwardly migrating void”)
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One Response to “Vanishing Point”
great post, Sean. thank you.