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Many  people  have  v isited  t he  u nderground.  Some  people  live  there.  Books  
and  a rticles  have  been  w ritten  a nd  T V  documentaries  have  been  made  to  
capture  snapshots  of  t heir  lives.  However,  no  one  had  walked  for  days,  part  
explorer,  part  inhabitant,  t hrough  t he  u nderground  city  before,  f rom  North  
Bronx,  through  Manhattan,  Brooklyn  a nd  Queens  v ia  its  mythical  t unnel  
systems,  made  for  sewage,  trains,  water  a nd  t he  subways,  a nd  a n  occasional  
FVMHKI2SFSH]GEVIWEFSYXXLIWIEVIEWEWPSRKEW[LEXXLI]XVERWTSVX´SEX
easily  through.  People  in  New  York  look  a head,  a nd  up,  not  down  below.  The  
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urban  explorer  a nd  u rban  historian  Steve  Duncan  a nd  I  wanted  our  expedition  
to  be  a n  investigation  into  t he  u nseen  city  a nd  a  v isit  to  the  people  who  live  
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realizing  that  they’re  a  part  of  a n  interactive  ecology.  

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Far  into  the  sewage  system  t he  bricks  in  t he  t unnels  became  more  a nd  more  
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polished,  a  mellow  glow  in  t he  light  f rom  our  torches,  f rom  the  leftovers  that  

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years.  A reas  like  t his,  below  t he  asphalt,  a re  obviously  made  for  f unctionality,  
and  not  for  aesthetics,  but  t hey  still  have  t heir  own  beauty,  a  negative  beauty;  
a  beauty  not  because  of  what  is  t here,  but  because  of  everything  that  is  not  
present.  No  light,  hardly  f resh  a ir,  limited  in  color  a nd  hardly  a ny  silence.  The  
natural  a nd  the  real  have  ceased  to  exist.  The  a rchitecture  below  g round  is  still  
a  living  organism;  t unnels  a re  being  remade  a nd  buildings  built.  How  you  react  
to  it  a ll  is  a  tiny  reminder  of  t he  old  saying:  Beauty  i s  in  the  e ye  of  the  beholder.

Around  our  legs,  a nd  sometimes  our  hips,  was  t he  sound  of  water  d rifting—
shit,  toilet  paper,  a n  occasional  condom—slightly  faster  than  we  walked.  On  
our  backs  we  had  a  r ucksack  containing  a  sleeping  bag,  a  camping  mattress,  a  
cooker,  a n  a ir  meter,  a nd  hooks  to  lift  manholes;  more  or  less  everything  we  
needed  for  the  whole  trek,  except  food.    
I  g uess  every  child  is  taught  never  jump  down  f rom  the  platform  onto  the  
subway  tracks,  so  I  found  it  exciting  to  let  a  train  pass  a nd  then  r un  into  
the  t unnel.  A  good  t hing  about  being  on  a n  expedition,  as  most  explorers  
and  adventurers  have  experienced,  is  t hat  it  is  existentialism  in  practice.  
Philosophers  a nd  others  research  existentialism,  but  on  a n  expedition  you  
practice  it.  In  the  t unnels  it  is  no  longer  a  t heory.  You  a re  f ully  present  in  your  
own  life.  A fter  being  on  t he  move  for  a  day  a nd  a  night  I  stopped  thinking  about  
time  as  a  linear  matter.  The  outside  world  somehow  ceased  to  exist.  To  explore  
MWPMOIEPSZIEàEMVERHRSXLMRKIPWIQEXXIVW[LMPI]SYEVISRXLIXVIO-JIPPMR
love  w ith  walking  into  a  dark  nothingness  w ith  a lmost  everything  I  needed  for  
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the  whole  expedition  in  my  r ucksack.  It's  not  rational,  it's  a n  absurd  thing  to  
do,  but  love  makes  you  blind.
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Steve  a nd  I,  plus  f riends  t hat  joined  parts  of  t he  expedition  were  above  g round  
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every  day  to  change  t unnels,  but  most  of  t he  time  was  spend  beyond  day  a nd  

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night.  The  land  below  most  cities  is  one  of  t he  few  remaining    white  spots  
on  the  map.  No  one  k nows  how  many  t unnels  t here  a re  in  New  York.  No  one  
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knows  how  many  people  live  t here.    It's  terra  incognita.  Urban  exploration  
may  not  be  about  exploration  in  t he  proper  sense  of  the  word:  going  to  places  
almost  u ntouched  by  man.  It's  more  about  rediscovering.  There's  hardly  even  
a  surveillance  camera  in  t his  a rea,  which  would  make  the  city  if  it  was  t urned  
180  degrees  upside  down.    

An  interesting  question  is  whether  a ll  t he  shit,  d irt  a nd  g arbage  in  big  cities  
MWXLIVIEPMX]SVMJMRHIIHMXWIVZIWXSLMHIXLIVIEPMX];IPPEJXIV³ZIHE]WERH
nights  in  it,  I'd  suggest  it's  t he  former.  
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Erling  Kagge.  Moving  in  the  sewage  in  Soho,  
Lower  Manhattan.  Photo  by  Steve  Duncan
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Erling  Kagge    and  Steve  Duncan.
In  a  tunnel  in  East  New  York,  Brooklyn.
Photo  by  Steve  Duncan  (self  exposure)
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Erling  Kagge  and  Steve  Duncan.
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They  have  reached  the  Atlantic,  the  
geographical  goal  of  the  expedition.
Photo  by  Andrew  Wonder
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