This unnervingly poetic collection of photographs by Julia Solis depicts the fading glamour of an entire range of international theatres, ranging from the remnants of ornate movie palaces to shabby vaudeville houses. In her influential book New York Underground, Julia Solis explored the iconic landscape beneath Manhattan. In this new and equally inspired work, she takes on another kind of icon? crumbling theatres still standing throughout America and Europe. Using abandoned spaces as both subject and canvas, Solis details the theatres' stages and decorative elements as well as the eerie toll that age and entropy have taken on the formerly elegant surfaces. Where acclaimed performers such as the Marx Brothers, Mae West, Johnny Cash, and the Who once thrilled audiences, Solis now assumes the perspective of the spectator witnessing a different kind of performance. Haunted by the memory of former glory, these locations are sensitively and beautifully captured at a new stage of their existence, one that takes place long after the final curtain has dropped. AUTHOR: Julia Solis is an internationally renowned investigator of ruined urban spaces. She is the founder of the creative preserevation grup Ars Subterranea, which stages scavenger hunts and exhibitions in unusual locations across New York City. Her books include New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City and Scrub Station. Martina Gedeck ids a German actress known for starring roles in films such as The Lives of Others and The Baader Meinhof Complex. Bryan Papciak is the award-winning film maker of Met State and co director of the experimental film American Ruins. ILLUSTRATIONS: 175 colour
