archaeography

Shooter's/Bootleggers is a large and recently (2000) abandoned nightclub complex on the southern tip of India Point, in Providence Rhode Island.

For historical and geographical context, the canonical abandonment photoset, and local testimonials see http://www.artinruins.com/arch/?id=decay&pr=bootleggers .

The party lives on at Bootleggers, encoded in the variable durability of the material remains. Different materials and structures experience different rates of decay and destruction, yet all can be enlisted in reinforcing the narrative of the place.

These days the pilings and docks get used to park the odd barge or two, but this infrastructure is now far from its imagined place; Fort Lauderdale Florida. If I squint just so, I can see packs of revelers stumble off of sparkling white Bayliners, onto the dock, past Donald Trump's yacht (testimonial from A.I.R.-see ref. above) and up onto the colorful patios of Bootlegger's, ready to party some more.

At Bootleggers there are multiple bars and bars. The metal railing bars are the most durable and regular explicit feature in the outdoor area shown in the photograph. The strength of the steel and paint has maintained a regular grid that encloses and divides the extensive multi-tier patio system. The variegated paint job on the railings encloses the space within a faded yet persistent flamboyance, a sun-bleached optimism and durability. The drink bars are much more destroyed, but very identifiable as discreet places within the complex, organized for accessibility and aesthetic nexushood.

The cement patio panels fill in the durability and patchwork regularity of the railings, and are reflected in the building's interior by extensive and colorful graffiti pieces. The most notable and ephemeral addition to this endeavor that I observed in March was a large paper cutout of a dancer, prancing across giant graffiti blowups on the wall.

The dancer faces a dance floor that is elevated about a foot off of ground level. The elevated floor is constructed of composite forestry products and is rather decayed. In some places there are holes in it, as though vigorous dancing has continued on as part of the process of ruination.

The floors of Bootleggers are covered in piles, swales, dustings and sheets of shattered glass that was once in vertical, integral conformation. Enormous windows characterize the patio-interior interface of the south (water facing) side of the building. The glass of these windows now shimmers in fractured quantity on the ground. But these are not ordinary piles of broken window glass. Mixed within are shards of colored glass, one more material continuation of the party.

The whistle really surprised me, that it was just there in the path, and I resisted the urge to pick it up and put it in my mouth. Ruins are notably absent of the sounds that would characterize their earlier explicit functions. And here was this whistle, ready to sound, ready to resonate in an unknown way, rebounding and scattering out across fresh and faded paint, through busted drop ceilings and empty window panes.