Stills of the Piers from Gay Sex in the 70s by Joseph Lovett

“The waterfront was probably never anything but tough and dangerous [he continued] but now with this long slow transition period has become a veritable muggers’ playground, both for people who go only to enjoy walking there and for a recently popularized sado-masochistic fringe. Since most or all the terminals that are not still in use are standing wide open without no-trespassing signs or public warnings of any kind so that it would seem a state of city condonded anarchy reigns there. If in the midst of this state of affaiars it would seem within the rights of an artist or any other person for that matter to enter such a premises with a desire to imrpove the property, to transform the structure in the midst of its ugly criminal state into a place of interest, fascination and value.

To the police, he presented himself as something of a benefactor to the sexual cruisers - though - it is doubtful how many of them really wanted great floods of light admitted to the space, not to mention hazardous chasms gaping in the floor. To Becker, he casually acknowledged (in a way that would find little favor im artistic circles today) his being in competition for the space with “the teaming [sic] s&m renaissance that cruises the abandoned waterfront.” To some friends in Texas, he described his temporary conquest in even more jocularly combative terms: ”I simply appropriated the pier by keeping my crew of henchmen boarding and barbwiring up all the alternative entrances except for the front door in which i substituted my own lock and bold.” He was also highly conscious of the theatrical potential that lay in the enterprise....”
[Thomas Crow: Gordan Matta Clark page 14-15]











Not too sure who the original photos are by.