We are very happy to announce that Stages of Decay by Julia Solis will be published in Spring 2013 by Prestel.

Taken in locations throughout the United States and Europe over the course of more than a decade, Stages of Decay is renowned investigator of ruined spaces Julia Solis’s most ambitious project so far. One of the most accomplished contemporary artists who uses abandoned spaces as both subject and site for creative activity, Solis’s perspective is that of a last audience member, viewing the final spectacle of decrepitude. All of the photos focus on the theater stages and the secondary ornamentation they acquire from the patches of mold, crumbling plaster, rotting stage curtains, and collapsing roofs. Stages of Decay provides a view to what happens after the final curtain has dropped.

Numerous theaters depicted here either no longer exist or have since deteriorated or been vandalized almost beyond recognition. This series not only documents the various sites of entertainment in Western culture, but also serves as a historic record of numerous formerly famous places.