Ruins

The "Ruins" of the modern era are the landmarks of recent art's turn toward site and situation, history and memory. The interest of artists in ruination and decay has led to the concept of the modern ruin—a site of artistic and architectural modernism, personal and collective memories, and cultural afterlife of eras such as state communism and colonialism. This anthology surveys the contemporary ruin in cultural discourse, aesthetics, and artistic practice, examining ruin aesthetics from the early modern era to today, and exploring the symbolic and political meanings of ruins in art and environmentalism.