Image via Complex Original
Ruin porn is a sexy name for a contentious genre of photography. It consists of images of abandoned places, photos that are hauntingly beautiful, that take us inside off-limits structures and let us lust over hot and wet images of decay. Like real porn, it has been called exploitative, amoral, a form of prostitution, and just plain wrong. But doesn't that just make you want to look at it even more?
When Detroit declared bankruptcy, ruin porn moved from a cult Internet obsession to a mainstream fad. People couldn't get enough of shots of the destitute Packard Plant or images of the city's run-down Michigan Central Station. To familiarize you with this visual obsession, here's 15 Things You Need to Know About Ruin Porn. Go ahead, feast your eyes on these beauties.
RELATED: 15 Street Art Terms You Should Know
RELATED: Fresh Builds: The Coolest Houses of July 2013
As legend goes, the term "ruin porn" first came from the mouth of a Detroit blogger in 2009
Legend has it that "ruin porn" first came from the mouth of a Detroit blogger in 2009.
Four years ago James Griffioen, photographer and writer for the Detroit blog Sweet Juniper!, posted a series of photos of an abandoned public school on Vice UK, and the Internet went crazy over the images. Griffioen then became the go-to source on urban decay, and photographers and journalists hounded him to show them the best abandoned spots in the city. At first he was flattered, but then Griffioen became frustrated by the hungry media, telling Vice in a follow-up interview the same year, "The photographers are the worst. Basically the only thing they're interested in shooting is ruin porn." And so the term was born.
But it's roots go all the way back to Renaissance Italy
But its roots go all the way back to Renaissance Italy.
During the Renaissance, Italian artists were fascinated with Ancient Greek and Roman ruins the same way the Internet lusts after Detroit's decay. Artists like Leon Battista Alberti and Giovanni Battista Piranesi sketched the Ancient structures covering Rome from the weathered Colosseum, to the crumbling Baths of Caracalla. In fact, Detroit's Michigan Central Station is modeled after the Baths.
Andrew Moore's photos book of decay in Detroit established the genre as fine art.
Andrew Moore's photo book of Detroit established the genre as fine art.
In 2010, photographer Andrew Moore published Detroit Disassembled. For many, this work was the Genesis of ruin porn. Moore's images of dilapidated buildings, crawling with vegetation that had taken over the man-made structures, were both widely popular and widely criticized.
Ruin porn isn't just about Detroit, however.
Ruin porn isn't just about Detroit, however.
Since Griffioen's interview with Vice, the term "ruin porn" has come to encompass abandoned locations all over the world. Areas contaminated by nuclear explosions like Chernobyl and the ghost towns of China have been given a new life with the help of Google Maps. Former sites of the Olympic Games and World Fairs have are also popular sources of ruin porn, as are factories, decomissioned airplanes, and halted construction sites all over the world.
The Internet is responsible for the ruin porn fetish.
The Internet is responsible for the ruin porn fetish.
In 2009, Vice UK's traffic was off the charts when Griffioen published his images of Detroit. Now, there is a whole subreddit dedicated to the genre called Abandoned Porn (and the website design even makes it look like a porn site). Even the mom of the social media world, Pinterest, is getting in on the ruin porn game.
And this online obsession has lead to unofficial (often illegal) tourism.
And this online obsession has lead to unofficial (often illegal) tourism.
In Mark Binelli's piece for the New York Times on ruin porn in Detroit, he recalls that his research, he saw Parisian tourists video taping the dilapidated Packard Plant as well as German college students who had come to Motor City "to see the end of the world." Ruin porn is also linked to the rise of urban explorers, people who break into off limits areas to see another side of a city. Are modern ruins our new Pyramids?
Ruin porn and food porn are like second cousins-they're related, but its ok if they hook up.
Ruin porn and food porn are like second cousins—they're related, but it's ok if they hook up.
Both the Tastykake factory in Philadelphia and the Domino's Sugar factory in Brooklyn have become ruin porn celebrities. The link between food porn and ruin porn makes sense; they are both something we lust after that are not overtly sexual. In Detroit, one chef staged secret gourmet tastings in abandoned locations, playing with both genres. Also, for an installation the NYC-based arts collective Funky Sour Cream placed pastries in the window of a shuttered bakery in Detroit.
The same goes for real porn.
The same goes for real porn.
Photographers have taken the "porn" in ruin porn literally by shooting nude models among decay. Last year, photographer Mark Varley released Derelict Nudes, a compilation of images of naked females in dilapidated spaces. Photographer Justin Gill likes to shoot his models in places like the abandoned mental asylum in Ohio above.
via
And it makes us uncomfortable because it reminds us of death, but we're still into it.
And it makes us uncomfortable because it reminds us of death, but we're still into it.
While ruin porn is a fetishized art form that has a lot of parallels (good and bad) to traditional pornography, it is not just about sex. Ruin porn is both grotesque and attractive because it reminds us of our own mortality. As Kyle Chayka summed it up in Hyperallergic this January, "Detroit ruin porn functions as just such a momento mori, a call to remember that the same fate as Motor City could befall all of our great cities, all of our unstable accomplishments." The same way that the Old Masters included images of death in their works, we're attracted to the decaying images of Detroit.
Surprise! Not everyone is ok with ruin porn.
Surprise! Not everyone is ok with ruin porn.
It's not just that the term "porn" makes people uneasy. Ruin porn is contentious because it rings warning bells for peoples' moral codes; is it actually ok to derive pleasure from these poverty-stricken places? Griffioen himself argued that the genre was founded on principles of "exploitation, detachment, etcetera." Critics have gone after Moore and his disciples for essentially prostituting the places they shoot. Speaking to the New York Times, a Detroit native voiced what many in the people city think of ruin porn: "Some of the people coming here bring a sort of bacchanal spirit—like they're out on the frontier and they can do anything."
Still, it has made it to the big screen.
Still, it has made it to the big screen.
In a recent article for Architizer, James Bartolacci argues that ruin porn finds a home on the silver screen in Bret Easton Ellis' The Canyons. The film is filled with shots of decaying Art Deco architecture of abandoned move theaters in Los Angeles. Although Bartolacci touches on the possible exploitative nature of such visuals, he also claims, "The transfer of ruin porn from laptops to movie screens was perhaps inevitable given its popularity, and for once we see it working to deliver a story rather than simply providing wide-eyed blog readers something to stare at."
Detroit is fighting back against the image of ruin porn.
Detroit is fighting back against its ruin porn image.
Some local Detroit residents have taken offense to how their city is being portrayed by ruin porn. The Tumblr Can't Forget the Motor City was launched to show a "human scale portrait of a vibrant city," swapping out ruin porn for a living version of the city, according to Chayka.
And it might be working.
And it might be working (sort of).
Recently, a house on West Willis Street in Detroit that was named the "Abandonded Shelter of the Week" in 2002 by the Metro Times (#onlyinDetroit) has gotten a makeover. The house, which was purchased for $27,000 cash, is at least one sign that ruin porn doesn't necesarily stay ruin porn forever. It's a small victory, and it doesn't look like "ruin porn reversal" will be a thing anytime soon.
But Detroit just can't catch a break.
But Detroit just can't catch a break.
After the city declared bankruptcy, images from the 2011 book by photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre called Ruins of Detroit started popping up all over the Internet. Like a beautiful wedding cake in crumbles (see, the food porn analogy does work), the book shows former areas of decadence in beautiful ruin.
Despite all the criticism, could ruin porn actually be good?
Despite all the criticism, could ruin porn actually be a good thing?
While people question the psychology behind ruin porn—because everything with the word "porn" in it is evil, right?—the increase in tourism sparked by ruin porn may be exactly what a city like Detroit needs. Griffioen complains, "These photographers were showing up with $40,000 cameras to take pictures of houses worth less than their hotel bills." But at the same time, the photographers were paying hotel bills, and inspiring others to do so (like those pesky German college students), something the city desperately needs. Although it's unrealistic to claim that ruin porn will solve all of Detroit's problems, the genre may contribute (if ever slightly) to turning the city around. Now if we could just keep DIA in Detroit...
