HEL:exCargo
In the fall 2008 the cargo harbor of Helsinki moved away from two locations just by the city centre. This left the huge areas of Jätkäsaari & Sompasaari empty – after being occupied by containers, cranes, trucks and buzzing harbor activity for the previous 100-150 years. De-construction of the areas begun in early 2009, paving the way for the areas becoming new city districts 10-15 years to the future and one day giving homes for over 15.000 people each. In the summer of 2009 when these photos were taken there was really nothing going on in these vast spaces. They were the very epitomes of non-places, providing hundreds of thousands of square meters of empty space, harbor remnants and endless opportunities for urban explorers, eager little kids and photographers.