Reading Ruins Week One: A Shattered Visage

Today. Course resources Aims and themes Structure About the readings Intro to ruins Galleries

Justin Hopper Our resources: – – Contact me: – (twitter)

Course Aims. To journey amongst the ruins

Course Aims. To journey amongst the ruins To map the continuum of ruins

Course Aims. To journey amongst the ruins To map the continuum of ruins To learn to read the ruins

Class Structure Readings and discussion Thematic questions Galleries

Readings

Readings for Next Week

The Ozymandian Moment

“It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth, and of nature, than the breakdown of late capitalism; perhaps that is due to some failure of our imagination…” – Frederic Jameson, as quoted by Patrick Keiller, regarding Robinson in Ruins

The Ozymandian Moment Ozymandias offers a stark view of power and civilization as prone to ruination

The Ozymandian Moment Ozymandias offers a stark view of power and civilization as prone to ruination Ruins become a code for understanding ourselves within history

The Ozymandian Moment Ozymandias offers a stark view of power and civilization as prone to ruination Ruins become a code for understanding ourselves within history Paradoxically, ruins in art become a fixed point

The Ozymandian Moment Ozymandias offers a stark view of power and civilization as prone to ruination Ruins become a code for understanding ourselves within history Paradoxically, ruins in art become a fixed point Yet ruins themselves do not remain the same

Children of Men

The Ozymandian Moment Ozymandias offers a stark view of power and civilization as prone to ruination Ruins become a code for understanding ourselves within history Paradoxically, ruins in art become a fixed point Yet ruins themselves do not remain the same The meaning of ruins can change, because…

…we invent ruins by looking at them.

Claude Lorain Capriccio with Ruins of the Roman Forum, 1634

“…the advent of a modernity that conceives itself in relation to the remains of the past.” - Brian Dillon

The Peplos Kore

JMW Turner, Ruins of West Front, Tintern Abbey,

Therefore let the moon Shine on thee in thy solitary walk; And let the misty mountain-winds be free To blow against thee: and, in after years, When these wild ecstasies shall be matured Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms, Thy memory be as a dwelling-place For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then, If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts Of tender joy wilt thou remember me, And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance-- If I should be where I no more can hear Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams Of past existence--wilt thou then forget That on the banks of this delightful stream We stood together; and that I, so long A worshipper of Nature, hither came Unwearied in that service: rather say With warmer love--oh! with far deeper zeal Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget, That after many wanderings, many years Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs, And this green pastoral landscape, were to me More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!

Joseph Gandy, Bank of England as a Ruin, 1830

Future-Ruins and Ruins in Reverse Robert Smithson: “That zero panorama seemed to contain ruins in reverse, that is – all the new construction that would eventually be built. This is the opposite of the ‘romantic ruin’ because the buildings don’t fall into ruin after the are built but rather rise into ruin before they are built. This anti-romantic mise- en-scene suggests the discredited idea of time and many other ‘out of date’ things.

Laura Oldfield Ford, Ferrier Estate, 2010

To the Galleries Divide into groups I’ll lead each group to an artwork After a few minutes, we’ll switch Discuss within your group: – What is a ruin? – What makes this ruin worthy of art? And what is its meaning within the artwork? Afterwards, we’ll come together as a group to look at a few of the artworks together