https://doi.org/10.31261/errgo.17929
The classical definition of ruins, as developed by Alois Riegl, emphasizes the respect for and the opportunity to engage with the “patina of the ages.” A similar perspective is presented by Georg Simmel, who, while acknowledging the “naturalization” of ruins, focuses his reflections on the melancholy arising from a sense of almost biblical vanitas associated with human-made objects. This definition, therefore, primarily concentrates on the past and the irretrievably lost grandeur of human creations. However, contrary to this definition, from a biological, post-anthropocentric standpoint, ruins are never static, passive objects – instead, abandoned spaces become inhabited by other “more-than-human communities” (Anna Tsing). The objective of this article is to reframe the definition of ruins in terms of their active, processual form as a verb (Ann Laura Soler) and to expand the concept of prospective ruination, understood as the active inhabitation of ruins by more-than-human actors (as defined by Bruno Latour), particularly ruderal plants (Latin: rudus, rubble), which are the first to undertake succession in habitats abandoned by humans.
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2025
Published: 2025-02-24
10.31261/errgo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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