David De Rueda’s passion for exploration recently took him across the United States, accompanied by the journalist and director Mélanie De Groot Van Embden. From New York to Los Angeles, in the space of three months they visited more than a dozen abandoned structures in order to make a documentary about the activity now known as “urban exploration”. According to De Reuda, “Urbex” has always existed in an informal fashion and has been gaining recognition since the nineties. David de Rueda succeeds in revealing the enigmatic and bewitching nature of the places he encounters through the use of striking perspectives, and highlights a forgotten part of our heritage. Curvy Church is on the outskirts of Detroit. Built between 1909 and 1911, it was gradually abandoned and then looted before its closure in 2005.

**The artist: David de Rueda**

David de Rueda was born in Poitiers in 1987. From a family of artists, his creative and inquiring mind soon drove him to travel the world in search of unusual places. Captivated by the aesthetic beauty of derelict buildings, he produced a major series of photographs of structures captured during his numerous urban excursions. Turning exploration into a boundless passion, he has ventured into impenetrable environments, laden with mystery, with the aim of photographing them and making them visible. His recent trip to the heart of abandoned America resulted in striking photographs taken on the spot or staged using available light, illustrating the hidden life of the places he visited. His work has been featured in Libération, Technikart, Les Inrockuptibles and Connaissance des Arts and was recently exhibited at the Samaritaine as part a competition organised by LVMH.