Beyond the Aestheticization of Modern Ruins
The Case of 'Incompiuto Siciliano'
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v3i1.30469Keywords:
aestheticization, modern ruins, unfinished public works, Incompiuto Siciliano, art and archaeological activismAbstract
The modern Italian landscape includes a large number of public construction projects begun over the past 50 years but abandoned before completion—a testament to the misuse of public funds through political corruption and the influence of the Mafia. Since 2007, a group of artists named Alterazioni Video has been developing the project Incompiuto Siciliano, through which they have sought to counter the negative perception of these ruins by considering them as an aestheticized architectural style. The group’s approach is significant because visual arts, and especially photography, have in recent years been accused of pursuing a merely romanticizing objective that ignores the political, economic and social contexts in which modern ruins arise. Embedding the current paper within this discussion makes it possible to align Incompiuto Siciliano with literatures on contemporary archaeology that regard the aestheticization of ruins as a first step to a critical comprehension of the reasons behind their origination—which ultimately leads to their re-valorization and eventual re-activation.
References
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____. 2012. Per Troppo Amore. Film. Reggio Emilia: Dispari & Dispari Productions.
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____. n.d. 2. “Workshops.” Available online: http://www.alterazionivideo.com/new_sito_av/workshop/workshop.php
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____. 2011. “Gli Usi Sociali e Politici dell’arte Contemporanea fra Pratiche di Partecipazione e di Resistenza.” Antropologia 13: 75–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.14672/ada2011169%25p
____. 2012. “Between Hollywood and Bandjoun: Art Activism and Anthropological Ethnography into the Mediascape.” Journal des Anthropologues 3(130–131): 101–130.
Barndt, K. 2009. “Memory Traces of an Abandoned Set of Futures.” In Ruins of Modernity, edited by J. Hell and A. Schönle, 270–293. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Bella, C. 2015. La Rovina Moderna: Progetto di Rigenerazione Urbana dell’area d’ex Campo di Polo di Giarre. MA Diss., University of Catania.
Berger, J. 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books.
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Bonnett, A. 2014. Off the Map: Lost Spaces, Invisible Cities, Forgotten Islands, Feral Places and What They Tell Us About the World. London: Aurum Press.
Buchanan, I. 2010. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chu, K. W. 2012. “Constructing Ruins: New Urban Aesthetics in Chinese Art and Cinema.” In Modern Art Asia, edited by M. Munro, 191–212. Didcot, UK: The Enzo Press.
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Cramerotti, A. 2009. Aesthetic Journalism: How to Inform without Informing. Bristol, UK: Intellect.
Crang, M. 2010. “The Death of Great Ships: Photography, Politics and Waste in the Global Imaginary.” Environment and Planning A 42(5): 1084–1102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a42414
Cresswell, T. 2004. Place: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
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De la Barra, P. L. 2006. “Maria Papadimitriou and Pablo León de la Barra Do Some Kippenberger Tourism in Syros.” Available online: http://centrefortheaestheticrevolution.blogspot.com.es/2007/08/maria-papadimitriou-and-pablo-leon-de.html
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Fein, Z. 2011. The Aesthetic of Decay: Space, Time, and Perception. MA Diss., University of Cincinnati.
Felici. B., dir. 2011. Unfinished Italy. Film. Bolzano, Italy: Zelig.
Garrett, B. 2013. Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City. London: Verso Books.
Gibas, P. 2010. “Globalised Aestheticisation of Urban Decay.” In Beyond Globalisation: Exploring the Limits of Globalisation in the Regional Context, edited by T. Siwek, V. Baar, R. Istok, B. Hnizdo and M. Sobczynski, 155–161. Ostrava, Czech Republic: University of Ostrava.
Gill, S. 2008. “Hotels in the Afterlife.” Available online: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com.es/2008/04/hotels-in-afterlife.html
Gravino, M. 2013. “Italia Incompiuta.” Available online: http://www.nationalgeographic.it/dal-giornale/2013/08/12/foto/italia_incompiuta-1779445/1/#media
Harrison, R. 2004. Shared Landscapes: Archaeologies of Attachment and the Pastoral Industry in New South Wales. Sydney: UNSW Press.
Harvey, D. 2000. Spaces of Hope. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hernández, S. and K. Zammit. 2012. (Neo)Ruinas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme.
Herstad, K. 2014. “Ruin Photography as Democratizing Social Practice.” Available online: https://rustbeltanthro.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/ruin-photography-as-democratizing-social-practice/
High, S. and D. W. Lewis. 2007. Corporate Wasteland. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Hinojosa, L. 2007. “Day’s End.” Available online: http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/days-end
Jaua, M. V. 2008. “Hotel Palenque: El Poder Entrópico de la Risa.” Letras Libres 85: 78–79.
Kemp, W. 1990. “Images of Decay in the Picturesque Tradition.” October 54: 102–133.
Krieger, W. L. 2011. Framing the Dilettante: The Art of Martin Kippenberger. MA Diss., Wesleyan University.
Lago, E. 2015. Incompiuto Pubblico Veneto: Un Manuale. MA Diss., University of Venice.
Leary, J. P. 2011. “Detroitism.” Guernica: A Magazine of Arts and Politics, 15 January. Available online: https://www.guernicamag.com/features/leary_1_15_11/
Lee, P. M. 1999. Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Magi, L. 2012. “Monumentos a la Burbuja Inmobiliaria.” El País. 17 August. Available online: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/08/17/actualidad/1345232388_345931.html
Mah, A. 2012. Industrial Ruination, Community, and Place: Landscapes and Legacies of Urban Decline. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Manaugh, G. 2008. “Foreword.” In Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, edited by T. Paiva, 6–7. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Martin, D. 2014. “Translating Space: The Politics of Ruins, the Remote, and Peripheral Places.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38(3): 1102–1119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12121
Matos, D. 2012. “(Neo)Ruins: Why We? If They Done It… Or May Be We Too?” In (Neo)Ruinas, edited by S. Hernández and K. Zammit, 23–28. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme.
Mullins, P. 2012. “The Politics and Archaeology of ‘Ruin Porn’.” Available online: https://paulmullins.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/the-politics-and-archaeology-of-ruin-porn/
____. 2014. “Imagining Ruin Images: The Aesthetics of Ruination.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 27–29.
O’Reilly, S. 2009. “Foreword.” In Aesthetic Journalism: How to Inform without Informing, edited by A. Cramerotti, 7–9. Bristol, UK: Intellect.
Pálsson, G. 2012. “These Are Not Old Ruins: A Heritage of the Hrun.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16(3): 559–576. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0189-7
Pétursdóttir, T. and B. Olsen. 2014. “Imaging Modern Decay: The Aesthetics of Ruin Photography.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 7–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.7
Piccini, A. 2014. “Profane Archaeologies: Erotic Ruins and a Case for Pornography.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 29–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.29
Picon, A. 2000. “Anxious Landscapes: From the Ruin to Rust.” Grey Room 1: 64–83. Translated by K. Bates.
Pusca, A. 2010. “Industrial and Human Ruins of Postcommunist Europe.” Space and Culture 13(3): 239–255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1206331210365255
____. 2014. “The Politics of (Ruin) Photography.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 33–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.33
Remenapp, E. 2015. Ruin Porn and Urban Representation in Photography: The Aesthetic and Politics of Appropriation in “The Ruins of Detroit”. Cultural Studies Capstone Papers 12. Chicago: Columbia College.
Rosenberg, E. 2011. “Motown or Ghostown? Ruin Porn in Detroit.” The Wire, 20 January. Available online: http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2011/01/motown-or-ghostown-ruin-porn-in-detroit/21443/
Ryzewski, K. 2014. “Ruin Photography as Archaeological Method: A Snapshot from Detroit.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 36–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.36
Santangelo, V. 2009. “Paesaggi Interrotti: Opere Incompiute come Risorsa.” Paper presented at the XII Conferenza Nazionale Società degli Urbanisti, Bari, 19–20 February.
Scalia, S. 2013. Made in Sicily: Piccolo Manuale d’Uso sulle Architetture Incompiute. MA Diss., University of Catania.
Schama, S. 1995. Landscape and Memory. London: HarperCollins.
Shanks, M. 2014. “Archaeology’s Aesthetics.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 42–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.42
Smithson, R. 1995. “Insert Robert Smithson: Hotel Palenque, 1969–72.” Parkett 43: 118–132.
Stead, N. 2003. “The Value of Ruins: Allegories of Destruction in Benjamin and Speer.” Form/Work: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Built Environment 6: 51–64.
Strangleman, T. 2013. “‘Smokestack Nostalgia’, ‘Ruin Porn’ or Working-Class Obituary: The Role and Meaning of Deindustrial Representation.” International Labor and Working-Class History 84: 23–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0147547913000239
Vergara, C. J. 1999. American Ruins. New York: Monacelli Press.
Vultee, F. 2013. “Finding Porn in the Ruin.” Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality 28(2): 142–145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08900523.2013.784670
Wakefield, N. 1995. “Yukatan is Elsewhere: On Robert Smithson’s HOTEL PALENQUE.” Parkett 43: 133–135.
Zalman, S. 2005. “The Non-u-ment: Gordon Matta-Clark and the Contingency of Space.” Octopus: Journal of Visual Culture, History and Theory 1: 15–28.
Alterazioni Video. 2008. “Incompiuto Siciliano.” Abitare 486: 190–207.
____. 2012. Per Troppo Amore. Film. Reggio Emilia: Dispari & Dispari Productions.
____. n.d. 1. “Turbo Film Manifesto.” Available online: http://www.alterazionivideo.com/new_sito_av/projects/turbo.php
____. n.d. 2. “Workshops.” Available online: http://www.alterazionivideo.com/new_sito_av/workshop/workshop.php
Antolino, A. 2013. “The Unfinished Country.” Available online: http://angeloantolino.com/albums/the-unfinished-country/
Augé, M. 2003. El Tiempo en Ruinas. Barcelona: Gedisa. Translated by T. F. Auz and B. Eguibar.
Bargna, I. 2009. “Sull’arte come Pratica Etnografica. Il caso di Alterazioni Video.” Molimo, Quaderni di Antropologia Culturale ed Etnomusicologia 5(4): 15–40.
____. 2011. “Gli Usi Sociali e Politici dell’arte Contemporanea fra Pratiche di Partecipazione e di Resistenza.” Antropologia 13: 75–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.14672/ada2011169%25p
____. 2012. “Between Hollywood and Bandjoun: Art Activism and Anthropological Ethnography into the Mediascape.” Journal des Anthropologues 3(130–131): 101–130.
Barndt, K. 2009. “Memory Traces of an Abandoned Set of Futures.” In Ruins of Modernity, edited by J. Hell and A. Schönle, 270–293. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Bella, C. 2015. La Rovina Moderna: Progetto di Rigenerazione Urbana dell’area d’ex Campo di Polo di Giarre. MA Diss., University of Catania.
Berger, J. 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books.
Blackmar, E. 2001. “Modernist Ruins.” American Quarterly 53(2): 324–339.
Bonnett, A. 2014. Off the Map: Lost Spaces, Invisible Cities, Forgotten Islands, Feral Places and What They Tell Us About the World. London: Aurum Press.
Buchanan, I. 2010. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chu, K. W. 2012. “Constructing Ruins: New Urban Aesthetics in Chinese Art and Cinema.” In Modern Art Asia, edited by M. Munro, 191–212. Didcot, UK: The Enzo Press.
Cowie, J. and J. Heathcott. 2003. “Introduction.” In Beyond the Ruins: The Meanings of Deindustrialization, edited by J. Cowie and J. Heathcott, 1–16. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.
Cramerotti, A. 2009. Aesthetic Journalism: How to Inform without Informing. Bristol, UK: Intellect.
Crang, M. 2010. “The Death of Great Ships: Photography, Politics and Waste in the Global Imaginary.” Environment and Planning A 42(5): 1084–1102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a42414
Cresswell, T. 2004. Place: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
CTzen. 2011. Giarre, Dopo 27 Anni la Prima Partita di Polo nel Campo Incompiuto. Video. Catania: CTzen.
Cunningham, J. 2011. “Boredom in the Charnel House: Theses on ‘Post-industrial’ Ruins.” Variant 42. Available online: http://www.variant.org.uk/42texts/CharnelHouse.html
De la Barra, P. L. 2006. “Maria Papadimitriou and Pablo León de la Barra Do Some Kippenberger Tourism in Syros.” Available online: http://centrefortheaestheticrevolution.blogspot.com.es/2007/08/maria-papadimitriou-and-pablo-leon-de.html
Faris, S. 2012. “Sicily, a Portrait of Italian Dysfunction.” Bloomberg Business. 4 October. Available online: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-10-04/sicily-a-portrait-of-italian-dysfunction
Fein, Z. 2011. The Aesthetic of Decay: Space, Time, and Perception. MA Diss., University of Cincinnati.
Felici. B., dir. 2011. Unfinished Italy. Film. Bolzano, Italy: Zelig.
Garrett, B. 2013. Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City. London: Verso Books.
Gibas, P. 2010. “Globalised Aestheticisation of Urban Decay.” In Beyond Globalisation: Exploring the Limits of Globalisation in the Regional Context, edited by T. Siwek, V. Baar, R. Istok, B. Hnizdo and M. Sobczynski, 155–161. Ostrava, Czech Republic: University of Ostrava.
Gill, S. 2008. “Hotels in the Afterlife.” Available online: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com.es/2008/04/hotels-in-afterlife.html
Gravino, M. 2013. “Italia Incompiuta.” Available online: http://www.nationalgeographic.it/dal-giornale/2013/08/12/foto/italia_incompiuta-1779445/1/#media
Harrison, R. 2004. Shared Landscapes: Archaeologies of Attachment and the Pastoral Industry in New South Wales. Sydney: UNSW Press.
Harvey, D. 2000. Spaces of Hope. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hernández, S. and K. Zammit. 2012. (Neo)Ruinas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme.
Herstad, K. 2014. “Ruin Photography as Democratizing Social Practice.” Available online: https://rustbeltanthro.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/ruin-photography-as-democratizing-social-practice/
High, S. and D. W. Lewis. 2007. Corporate Wasteland. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Hinojosa, L. 2007. “Day’s End.” Available online: http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/days-end
Jaua, M. V. 2008. “Hotel Palenque: El Poder Entrópico de la Risa.” Letras Libres 85: 78–79.
Kemp, W. 1990. “Images of Decay in the Picturesque Tradition.” October 54: 102–133.
Krieger, W. L. 2011. Framing the Dilettante: The Art of Martin Kippenberger. MA Diss., Wesleyan University.
Lago, E. 2015. Incompiuto Pubblico Veneto: Un Manuale. MA Diss., University of Venice.
Leary, J. P. 2011. “Detroitism.” Guernica: A Magazine of Arts and Politics, 15 January. Available online: https://www.guernicamag.com/features/leary_1_15_11/
Lee, P. M. 1999. Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Magi, L. 2012. “Monumentos a la Burbuja Inmobiliaria.” El País. 17 August. Available online: http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/08/17/actualidad/1345232388_345931.html
Mah, A. 2012. Industrial Ruination, Community, and Place: Landscapes and Legacies of Urban Decline. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Manaugh, G. 2008. “Foreword.” In Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, edited by T. Paiva, 6–7. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Martin, D. 2014. “Translating Space: The Politics of Ruins, the Remote, and Peripheral Places.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38(3): 1102–1119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12121
Matos, D. 2012. “(Neo)Ruins: Why We? If They Done It… Or May Be We Too?” In (Neo)Ruinas, edited by S. Hernández and K. Zammit, 23–28. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme.
Mullins, P. 2012. “The Politics and Archaeology of ‘Ruin Porn’.” Available online: https://paulmullins.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/the-politics-and-archaeology-of-ruin-porn/
____. 2014. “Imagining Ruin Images: The Aesthetics of Ruination.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 27–29.
O’Reilly, S. 2009. “Foreword.” In Aesthetic Journalism: How to Inform without Informing, edited by A. Cramerotti, 7–9. Bristol, UK: Intellect.
Pálsson, G. 2012. “These Are Not Old Ruins: A Heritage of the Hrun.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16(3): 559–576. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0189-7
Pétursdóttir, T. and B. Olsen. 2014. “Imaging Modern Decay: The Aesthetics of Ruin Photography.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 7–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.7
Piccini, A. 2014. “Profane Archaeologies: Erotic Ruins and a Case for Pornography.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 29–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.29
Picon, A. 2000. “Anxious Landscapes: From the Ruin to Rust.” Grey Room 1: 64–83. Translated by K. Bates.
Pusca, A. 2010. “Industrial and Human Ruins of Postcommunist Europe.” Space and Culture 13(3): 239–255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1206331210365255
____. 2014. “The Politics of (Ruin) Photography.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 33–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.33
Remenapp, E. 2015. Ruin Porn and Urban Representation in Photography: The Aesthetic and Politics of Appropriation in “The Ruins of Detroit”. Cultural Studies Capstone Papers 12. Chicago: Columbia College.
Rosenberg, E. 2011. “Motown or Ghostown? Ruin Porn in Detroit.” The Wire, 20 January. Available online: http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2011/01/motown-or-ghostown-ruin-porn-in-detroit/21443/
Ryzewski, K. 2014. “Ruin Photography as Archaeological Method: A Snapshot from Detroit.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 36–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.36
Santangelo, V. 2009. “Paesaggi Interrotti: Opere Incompiute come Risorsa.” Paper presented at the XII Conferenza Nazionale Società degli Urbanisti, Bari, 19–20 February.
Scalia, S. 2013. Made in Sicily: Piccolo Manuale d’Uso sulle Architetture Incompiute. MA Diss., University of Catania.
Schama, S. 1995. Landscape and Memory. London: HarperCollins.
Shanks, M. 2014. “Archaeology’s Aesthetics.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 1(1): 42–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jca.v1i1.42
Smithson, R. 1995. “Insert Robert Smithson: Hotel Palenque, 1969–72.” Parkett 43: 118–132.
Stead, N. 2003. “The Value of Ruins: Allegories of Destruction in Benjamin and Speer.” Form/Work: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Built Environment 6: 51–64.
Strangleman, T. 2013. “‘Smokestack Nostalgia’, ‘Ruin Porn’ or Working-Class Obituary: The Role and Meaning of Deindustrial Representation.” International Labor and Working-Class History 84: 23–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0147547913000239
Vergara, C. J. 1999. American Ruins. New York: Monacelli Press.
Vultee, F. 2013. “Finding Porn in the Ruin.” Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality 28(2): 142–145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08900523.2013.784670
Wakefield, N. 1995. “Yukatan is Elsewhere: On Robert Smithson’s HOTEL PALENQUE.” Parkett 43: 133–135.
Zalman, S. 2005. “The Non-u-ment: Gordon Matta-Clark and the Contingency of Space.” Octopus: Journal of Visual Culture, History and Theory 1: 15–28.
Published
2016-08-22
Issue
Section
Research Article
How to Cite
Arboleda, P. (2016). Beyond the Aestheticization of Modern Ruins: The Case of ’Incompiuto Siciliano’. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 3(1), 21-44. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v3i1.30469
