ENTROPY: Urban Exploration Photography Exhibition

ENTROPY – URBEXHIBITION: Urban Exploration Photography Exhibition

On Saturday, November 1, 2025, the NOTL Contemporary Gallery at Ironwood Cider House hosted ENTROPY – URBEXHIBITION, a one-night-only photography event celebrating the art of urban exploration and the beauty found in decay.

The exhibition transformed the Niagara-on-the-Lake gallery into a visual adventure through forgotten spaces, featuring powerful imagery from some of the most talented urban exploration photographers. Each artist revealed quiet, compelling stories hidden within abandoned places and structures across North America and beyond.

The evening featured photography by @Brentsoutdoors, @Dauntless_obscura_, @Efp_urbex, @FrankXPhoto, @Freaktography, @GLMTphotos, @International_Adam, @amidtheabandoned, @Rantropolis, @S0S1NC3R3, and @TrueNorthUrbex.

Guests also enjoyed live DJ sets by DJ Marinko and s1nc3r3, creating an immersive atmosphere that complemented the visuals on display.

Presented by The NOTL Contemporary, ENTROPY – URBEXHIBITION brought together photographers, artists, and urban exploration enthusiasts for an unforgettable evening celebrating creativity, decay, and discovery.

Exhibition Recap Video

My Exhibit at Entropy: Urban Exploration Exhibition

It was several weeks in the making, planning, selecting artists, collecting their work – my friend s0s1nc3r3 handled the brunt of that element while I was almost entirely focussed on my part of the exhibit.

For my contribution, I wanted to do something entirely different, my idea was to give the visitors a sense of what it is like in an abandoned house and to experience the things that we see and that we find.

I was very lucky to have made contact with the nephew of a woman who passed away several years ago, he is now the executor of her estate. The woman’s house has been abandoned for several years and in very rough shape. I asked the man if I could enter the house, capture photos of items in the house, and then bring those items into an exhibition to accompany the photos that I took.

The result was a tangible viewing experience where the visitors could see and smell the items in the photos. I left them dirty and dusty, almost exactly as they were when inside the house.

He allowed me to use anything I wanted from inside the house, so I borrowed tables, a rocking chair, an old blanket and several items that I found scattered around the house. I even used the actual working lamps in the house to illuminate the photos and the items.

Aside from this was the work on the walls, the right wall – industrial, the back wall – exteriors of abandoned places, the left wall – all vertical interiors.

Here is my digital mock up of how I envisioned the walls in my room

Here is that Vision Brought to Life

Finally, for those with a sharp eye, three photos that were displayed with a multi-layered 3D effect – not everyone caught onto that.

In addition to the items that I found and photographed, I also displayed several different itemns that I found scattered around the house to display in the room. I wanted the viewers to see the kinds of things that we find in abandoned houses and to see them with their own eyes. I used tables from inside the house, end tables, a hutch, a beside table and a coffee table to display the work and the relics from inside the house.

The event was well attended, with 12 exhibiting photographers and many friends, famiy and spouoses in attendance. There were also many people who follow the work of the artists online. We were also lucky to get some media coverage in the St Catharines Standard, and NOTL Local.

s0s1nc3r3 had set up a great open concept gallery with 100’s of photos on three walls as well as two large old windows hanging from the ceiling with photos on each panel on both sides.

Many of the photos featured models posing in abandoned places and some of those models were in attendance.

With so many photos on the three walls as well as the two hanging windows, there was lots to look at and admire from the guests, who all seemed to be enjoying the cider drinks courtesy of Ironwood Cider in Niagara on the Lake.

The following photos are courtesy of Dauntless Obscura, s0s1nc3r3 and Freaktography.

Full Transcript of the St Catharines Standard Article with s0s1nc3r3 and Freaktography

The Standard
NIAGARA LIFESTYLE

Urban exploration art exhibit in Niagara-on-the-Lake focused on abandoned buildings

Photographers James Mattiazzo and Dave Conlon have organized “Urbex, The Urban Exploration Exhibit” happening Saturday in the gallery at Ironwood Cider House.

Pushing past the decades old urban decay, exploring a long forgotten abandoned building and documenting a moment frozen in time is what drove a pair of urban explorers to launch an art exhibit in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Photographers James Mattiazzo and Dave Conlon, with a combined 20 years’ experience exploring abandoned buildings, have organized “Urbex, The Urban Exploration Exhibit.”

The interactive feature is being hosted by The NOTL Contemporary art gallery at Ironwood Cider House, 1425 Lakeshore Rd., on Saturday 6-9 p.m.

More than 12 urban explorers from Canada, the United States, and China will display photographs and items, taken with permission, highlighting their explorations.

Urbex is the act of exploring abandoned buildings and derelict dwellings not generally accessible to the public.

Mattiazzo became involved in 2017 while working as an outreach worker venturing into the fringes looking for people living in unused buildings.

“When we had the abandoned St. Catharines General (hospital), there were many homeless (people) living there, and nobody would want to go in,” he said.

“Police wouldn’t go in there, outreach wouldn’t go in there, so I would go in there to see if they were OK, bring them supplies or offer them housing.”

Bringing a phone for communication, Mattiazzo took photos of the dilapidated building and posted the decay across his social media platforms.

“When I started posting, I found there was a big community of urban explorers who’ve been doing it for a lot longer than me,” he said.

“I became part of the community … since then I’ve travelled all over Canada.”

Recently, Mattiazzo spent the summer travelling across Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia chronicling the abandoned buildings he came across.

“I purely like it for my mental health. I can get out and get into a place … I got into urban exploring to get that feeling, get out of my head, and take pictures. I go exploring at night. Sometimes it’s a totally different feel.”

Conlon said he caught the urbex itch in 2012 after a divorce, when looking for a new hobby.

“This happened to be at a time in my life when I had nothing going for myself. So a friend told me about this abandoned house in Niagara-on-the-Lake,” he said.

“It’s a haunted house … so I started looking up the history of this house.”

During his research Conlon came upon the urbex community online, and quickly became a part of it.

“I found these photos that people take in abandoned buildings and I’m like, that’s cool, so I grabbed my camera … and I started just going out to Milton, Burlington, Oakville, back roads, looking for abandoned houses,” he said.

“I got the bug fast and it caught on. I started to get to know people in the community, making friends, and that’s what got me into it.”

Conlon said for him it is just as much about the history of the building as it is exploring it.

“When I (go into) a place, I’ll go home and I’ll try and do some research and learn what this building was and try to find some photos of the building,” he said.

Conlon has been involved in competitions, but has never been able to display his art for people.

“I placed in the Toronto urban photography competition twice and had my photos up, but this is my first time doing something larger, a bigger deal,” he said.

“I’ve been doing this for almost 13 years. I’ve got a lot of work, and it’s been a lot of fun picking my photos, and it’s exciting.”