Ryan Koopmans teamed up with Swedish artist Alice Wexell to create The Wild Within, a series that brings new life into abandoned buildings from a bygone Soviet era.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the buildings were deserted and fell into disrepair. Floors were ripped up for firewood, and the metal salvaged as scrap.

Since the early 90's, the buildings have been slowly dismantled and stripped of their valuable materials, leaving empty shells of what were once grandiose classical structures.

Koopmans visited this region over several years, exploring the ruins and photographing the spaces.

Upon returning, in collaboration with Alice Wexell, he digitally introduced vegetation, manipulated the lighting, modified the structures, and animated the scenes with the intention of reviving the empty spaces, essentially bringing life back into the rooms. With these pieces, Koopmans and Wexell aim to bring the viewer into an alternate place and time.

The results are a surreal collision between the past and future, as well as the physical and digital worlds.

Koopmans states that his aim was “ to create a sense of surreal tranquility whilst referencing the themes of urban exploration, architectural history and the resurgence of nature.”

There is also an uncanny and somewhat supernatural atmosphere reminiscent of the 1979 Soviet sci-fi film ‘Stalker’ by Andrei Tarkovsky, in the way the plants have beset the town’s mysterious architecture.

Many of the buildings depicted in The Wild Within have been demolished in recent months, further emphasizing the theme of time passing in the cycle of growth and decay.

See the complete series minted on SuperRare

Read the Press about The Wild Within

See Exhibitions of The Wild Within

See the complete series minted on