Contravention in Contemporary Architectural Ruins

Abstract

The article discusses ruins as concept and substance: a construction that marks a time that no longer exists, by losing its substance and function, provokes unease with its incompleteness or abandonment, which repositions it in time, requiring a new comprehension. Understanding that their relationship with society is established in a plural manner — through nostalgia or trauma —, the article has the objective to understand the values that lead to their preservation or destruction, as well as the ways they are reinserted in the present. As such, the research is based on previously established concepts and theories (such as the concept of value developed by Alois Riegl) as well as contemporary ones (expressed here in Andreas Huyssen's approach to nostalgia and memory). Some highlighted examples - artistic and architectural works - contribute to this view: they are actions that are able to break with traditional readings, insofar as they intensify our experience and awaken critical capacity. The hypothesis introduced here is that the restoration of ruins, as discourse or as space for updated use, can be understood as a transgression of the natural course of time or the actual value attributed to them.