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                                                                Gantry Tracks, Complex 34, CCAFS, FL

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, in association with Pibloktok Productions, is sponsoring Abandoned In Place as a traveling exhibition. For information on acquiring Abandoned In Place, please go to the following link: http://www.cosmo.org/mu_ar_traveling.htm

Abandoned In Place is a photographic exploration of the American space-launch and research facilities that played a crucial role in the early period of space exploration. The project serves not only as a documentary body of work, but also as an artistic interpretation of these historic sites. A unique combination of documentary, abstract, and hybrid images allows AIP to be viewed from many perspectives. The exhibition records a vanishing era in both the space race and the cold war. The temporal nature of life is evident in views of decaying sites which once captured the attention of the entire world.

The facilities photographed in AIP portray one of the most historic and technical adventures of the last century--from our first unmanned flights beyond the atmosphere to landing men on the moon. A sense of the urgency of the space race is evident in many of the images. Signs and labels in the images reflect the technology of the era. The structures depicted also recall the darker threat of nuclear war. Some of the images describe a future that could have been if the cold war had heated up. These launch complexes, engine test stands, and wind tunnels are the Bunker Hills and Gettysburgs of the cold war. References to the Great Pyramids, Chichen Itza, Stonehenge, and other major archeological sites foreshadow the future of these modern ruins.

                                                        Catacombs, EAFB, CA

As an artistic body of work, the images appeal to photographers and to artists of other media, especially painters. Attention to light, texture, composition, and color allows the AIP images to engage viewers on a purely aesthetic level. Long exposures in early morning light help render the subtle pastel hues that time and weathering achieve. The blockhouses, launch towers, tunnels, test stands, and control rooms featured in AIP are giving way rapidly to the elements and renovation. They are too expensive to restore or even maintain. They can't be moved. Even if they could be moved, there is no museum facility large enough to contain them. Security and safety restrictions prevent the general public from accessing these dilapidated steel and concrete sites where some of the most important and dramatic events of the 20th Century unfolded.

The goals of this project are to preserve and portray these abandoned sites through photography that surpasses the official government approach to documentation, and to lend some social, historic, and artistic insight to the subject.

One of the unique aspects of Abandoned In Place is the combined utilization of documentary and abstract approaches to the subject. This blended approach helps tell a more complete story of the effort to begin exploring space. The documentary aspect helps a broader base of viewers appreciate the more abstract images. Viewers are drawn in by the recognizable icons of the space race: rockets, gantries, blockhouses, etc. Next they are immersed in the abstract details of the closer views. Finally, the serendipity of juxtaposed objects and text on signs is allowed to convey a subtext beyond the documentary objectives of the work.

This dual approach to the subject helps AIP appeal to a wide variety of audiences. Artists and art admirers appreciate the images for their aesthetic merits. Viewers with an interest in space and space exploration readily find it engaging, as do students of 20th Century history.