Learning from Decay

Max Ryynänen is Senior Lecturer of theory of visual culture and the head of the MA program Visual Culture and Contemporary Art at Aalto University.

Zoltán Somhegyi is a Hungarian art historian and Assistant Professor at the College of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Architectural decay as well as the reasons, effects, appearance and representation of ruination have always been important sources of understanding the state of our culture. The essays in this co-written book offer broad perspectives on the potential of ruins, on the use and appropriation of derelict architecture and on the aesthetics and also touristification of places by analysing a variety of phenomena in the range from classical to fake ruins, from historic city centres to hot dog stands, from debris to theme parks. The survey travels from Tallin through Venice and Istanbul to Beirut, discussing among others actual spaces, allegorical monuments and nostalgic aestheticisations of the past in high and popular culture, thus showing numerous inspiring opportunities of learning from decay.

The essays in this co-written book examine architectural dereliction and its experience, interpretation and even appropriation in classical arts and popular culture, with a special focus on how the various forms of aestheticisation of the past can serve the understanding of our contemporary state of culture.

Decay - Architectural dereliction - Ruins - Monuments - Memorials - Aestheticisation of the past - Nostalgia - Historical cityscapes - Venice - Museums and theme parks - Interpretation of the experience and appropriation of architectural decay