In Search of Ruins / Decay

ru·in  << ˈro͞oin/ >>
noun 
1. the physical destruction or disintegration of something or the state of disintegrating or being destroyed.
synonyms: disintegration, decay, disrepair, dilapidation, ruination; 
antonyms: preservation, reconstruction
verb
1. reduce (a building or place) to a state of decay, collapse, or disintegration.
synonyms: destroy, devastate, lay waste, ravage; 
antonyms: repair, rebuild

The evidence and process of decay is commonly used to define a ruin, as per a quick Google web search shown above. Decay is the result of inaction by people -- it is to let nature take its course. 

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Occupying one of the original barracks of the Chinati Foundation grounds is School No. 6. As neglected as the building seems, it was carefully crafted by Ilya Kabakov to replicate an abandoned school house of the Soviet era. Kabakov fabricated a state of decay to establish the building to be understood as a ruin. The installation evokes a sense of nostalgia and contemplates the demise of the Soviet Union culture. 

Upon a recent visit to the Chinati, the permanent installation was closed to restore the faux ruin. Despite the intentional fabrication of an abandoned school house left to degradation, a team of conservators are working furiously to maintain the illusion of decay -- adding UV protective film to the windows to inhibit decay.  Dust had been vacuumed, to be eventually dispersed again throughout the carefully orchestrated ruin. Flags on the outside had already been replaced with a "new" set of tattered red flags. The tour guide said the foundation consulted directly with the artist and was directed to maintain the level of decay at which he first depicted.

My initial reaction was of utter disgust. Kabakov, like many artists, seems to have missed the point of decay -- the process of degradation. The artist in this case claims control of the deterioration, which seems against the nature of decay itself.  It's dishonest, but perhaps this perversity is the artists intent, or not [for the record, I have not read any comments by the artist]. The power of a ruin is in the loss -- of time, matter, and understanding.  Kabakov draws on this and presents a specific moment to be experienced, rather than experiencing the destruction of the memory. In other words, Kabakov resists the ruin of the ruin. Or maybe it's just his ego. 

Ilya Kabakov, School No. 6  [1993]

In Search of Ruins / Intro

“Ruins remain.  They persist, whether beneath the ground or above.  In remaining, they are always already of the past, yet given to the future.  Ruins collapse temporalities.  Landscapes and buildings in ruination, reduced to abandoned sites, are traces that embody a sense of loss.  Ruins hold out an image of a once glorious present, another time, revealing a place of origin no longer as it was.  Their presence is a sign of that loss and of the impossibility of overcoming it.  They remind us of finitude as both disruptions and continuity, of the necessity of living on among ruins.”     -Charles Merewether

This summer I will be conducting an independent study to investigate the ruin, specifically establishing the characteristics of what makes an architectural ruin and those qualities that have made them so alluring over time. This blog will play host to my observations and investigations.

To provide context, the initial research will explore the perverse infatuation of designing for ruin, as seen through the lenses of the Romantic painters and the architectural visions of John Soane, Albert Speer, and Lebbeus Woods, as well as identifying contemporary examples. This research will inform a definition of ruin, such as defined by the characteristics of impermanence, imperfection, and abandonment.

Ruins are absent of their original context in time and function, and in the present allow for their own interpretation.  In experience, ruins evoke a variety of responses, of mortality, impermanence, loss, and the persistence of time despite it.  They seem defined by abandonment, although are valued through their experience. Thus the coursework will include a travel component to the historic ruins of Chaco Canyon and in comparison, the occupied Taos Pueblo of New Mexico. Both sites are significant and historic to northern New Mexico, however one is now a ruin, the other a still living and breathing occupied settlement. The experiences of these sites will be documented on this blog through imagery and text.  This experience will serve as the basis for further research and exploration during the summer session.

The culmination of research and experience will be physical and visual manifestations of these findings and a concluding statement on ruins as it relates to the life of a building in present context. Through this process I hope to address questions of the designers intent and control over the ruined state.

Alvaro Siza's Boa Nova Tea House in Ruin [Photograph by Tyler Noblin, 2013]

Lyons, Claire, Charles Merewether, and Michael S. Roth. Irresistible Decay: Ruins Reclaimed. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Research Institute, 1997. Print.