Ruins in the Present, Ruins of the Present. Practices, Contemporary Imaginaries, and Architectural Conservation

Abstract

The essay explores the role of ruins in the contemporary landscape, examining how they are perceived, represented, and transformed through artistic practices, media imaginaries, and the disciplines of architectural conservation. In the age of presentism, the ruin tends to lose its historical linearity to become an immersive aesthetic device—a suspended space that concentrates collective anxieties and desires for authenticity. Through examples drawn from art and photography—from Randa Maddah’s political interventions to the aesthetics of ruin porn—the essay shows how the erosion of boundaries between the natural and the artificial generates new forms of monumentality, often amplified by digital technologies and generative AI.

At the same time, practices such as Urbex and experiential tourism contribute to redefining our relationship with abandonment, revealing tensions between valorization, commodification, and the exploitation of degraded landscapes. Within this context, reflections on ruins acquire increasing relevance for architecture and conservation: while ruins can activate narratives that renew the meaning of places, they also risk obscuring their political and testimonial value, particularly when connected to historical trauma, conflict, or urban failure. The essay therefore invites us to consider ruins not as mere aesthetic epiphanies but as critical devices that challenge design responsibilities, ethics of memory, and contemporary perspectives on architectural conservation.