Why can’t I live in an airport?
typed for your pleasure on 5 October 2004, at 12.11 amI’d have to say that the one way that the tragedies ov 9/11 have affected me on a personal & immediate level is that I can no longer drive out to Metro or City airport to hang out in the lobby and take photos ov the architecture. I’m a sucker for post-Modern buildings — I dig Ballardian structures like car parks, airports, subway stations.. if there’s concrete and/or glass involved, chances are I’ll love it. The city in Jacques Tati’s ‘Playtime’ is an excellent example, as seen here.
(I’d like to add here that finding stills ov the legendary ‘Tativille’, as the set was dubbed, is unnecessarily difficult, so do yourself a favour, and visit the site..)
One ov the things I never really got a chance to do a whole lot was motor out to Metro Airport and spend the day there, taking photos and people-watching, as it was too far ov a drive for me at the time. (Still too far, actually..) I could’ve gone to City more often, I suppose, as it’s kinda near downtown Detriot, but it’s not the most exciting airport in the world — it was like 1/5th the size ov Metro and boasted about four terminals — and now it’s closed, for all intents and purposes.
Out ov all the post-modern structures that I can think ov off the top ov my head, I’d say that I love airports the most. I guess my romantic retro mind still associates airports with the Jet Age ov the late Fifties and Sixties, when that lovely omnipresent keening whine ov jet engines meant that your plane, Pan American Flight 2305 from London to Tokyo, would be embarking soon. Also, with some ov the newer airports, you have those super fab subway systems that ferry passengers from one end ov the concourse to the other. I think that especially those airports that feature subways exemplify why I dig them so very much — they’re like self-contained Cities Ov The Future. Anything that evokes the urban layouts ov Logan’s run, 2001: A space odyssey, THX 1138, Gerry Anderson’s UFO and Space: 1999 makes me a happy Davecat. Airports are a glimpse ov the future that the past said we’d be living in — minus the dystopia, ov course..
But yeah, the freewheeling days ov airport photography are gone. I mean, I’m sure as a nation the United states might get relaxed enough to one day drop down from amber alert to, err, brown alert or whatever, but I’m fairly certain I’ll have long since moved to Toronto before that happens..
As an aside, might I add that I may not be able to hang about in Toronto’s airport, but two things more than make up for that: their subway system and Eaton Centre. Hell, one ov the subway stops is Eaton Centre! O, Canada. 🙂
Random similar posts, for more timewasting:
Excuses, excuses on November 28th, 2007
Again with the interviews! / Saturday chicanery on September 25th, 2005
