Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving

by Caitlin DeSilvey

Transporting readers from derelict homesteads to imperiled harbors, postindustrial ruins to Cold War test sites, Curated Decay presents an unparalleled provocation to conventional thinking on the conservation of cultural heritage. Caitlin DeSilvey proposes rethinking the care of certain vulnerable sites in terms of ecology and entropy, and explains how we must adopt an ethical stance that allows us to collaborate with—rather than defend against—natural processes.  Curated Decay chronicles DeSilvey’s travels to places where experiments in curated ruination and creative collapse are under way, or under consideration. It uses case studies from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere to explore how objects and structures produce meaning not only in their preservation and persistence, but also in their decay and disintegration. Through accessible and engaging discussion of specific places and their stories, it traces how cultural memory is generated in encounters with ephemeral artifacts and architectures.  An interdisciplinary reframing of the concept of the ruin that combines historical and philosophical depth with attentive storytelling, Curated Decay represents the first attempt to apply new theories of materiality and ecology to the concerns of critical heritage studies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Architecture, Philosophy, History, Art

232 pages, Paperback

Published February 14, 2017

Reviews

[Lauren Tarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a "Cultural Geography: Materialities" course, the book had a lot a neat insights about moving beyond a preservation mindset and accepting entropy/change/decay as part of life. Accessible language and interesting read where each chapter is a different case study (all tend to be rural western sites). Especially loved how she strove to include multi-disciplinary and multi-species perspectives.

[Larissa Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and often opposing way to look at heritage. What if we didn't save every little thing? What if we let nature take its course, and instead of mourning the 'loss' of heritage, we envisioned new ways of interpreting heritage as it continues through this process? DeSilvey presents several case studies of examples where variations of this approach have been taken, to what effect, and how they were perceived by heritage practitioners and the public. A great read for anyone involved in the heritage sector!

[india123 · Rating 2 out of 5]

It doesn’t make sense.