Val Benoît University – Liège

After a first failed attempt due to increased site surveillance featuring guards and guard dogs, I returned a year later to try this legendary Belgian spot again: the Val-Benoît University in Liège. The weather is absolute trash; I’m in Liège, and the scenery is so incredibly depressing that if I were prone to it, I probably would have ended it all right there. Security is still present, but this time, I truly intend to complete this exploration. After scaling a wall, I find myself in front of one of the buildings of this university campus, which has been abandoned since 2006. I reach an open window just as two junkies are climbing out; they tell me to watch out for the guards and warn me that some of their friends are still inside—it’s a squat. Just what you need to feel ‘at ease’ starting an exploration. In fact, I was so ‘at ease’ that throughout the visit, my tripod served only as a self-defense weapon; I didn’t bother mounting my camera on it once. The quality shows: it’s blurry and poorly framed—totally worth risking a suicide attempt in Liège. The place is trashed. I spot the guards making their rounds outside, and too exhausted to try the other buildings, I cowardly decide to leave Val-Benoît with a heavy sense of unfinished business.