Urban exploration, often times referred to as infiltration by those familiar with the pastime, is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of an urban area or industrial facility. And although the risks of such activities aren’t just limited to the physical dangers -cities often punish trespassers with heavy fines and even jail time- enthusiasts remains steadfast in their love for the hunt.
Care of the filmmaker behind Steve Duncan, Urban Underground (a clip examining one of these such enthusiasts):
“Steven Duncan explores the vast underground drainage system -pipes big enough to drive a truck through under Kissena Park in Queens, New York and documents an underground spring. He does a survey of other ventures up the WIlliamsburg Bridge, through Moscow’s underground rivers, into a Titan I Missile Silo and up on an abandoned LIRR line in Queens residents’ backyards. The photos he takes are for his book to be published next year. I shot Steve’s explorations in the summer of 2009. His work is an exploration of the link between the natural and man-made in the urban environment. This kind of exploration has been sharply curtailed in the past ten years because of enhanced security concerns in New York.”