Decay and Transformation: Thinking through selected works by Caitlin DeSilvey
Preservation, safeguarding and continuity through time and space have defined how heritage is taken care of. Consequently, a fear of loss and change has driven the field since the notion of heritage itself was born. However, it is becoming clear that limiting change in objects, practices and sites is impossible in an increasingly uncertain world. Caitlin DeSilvey, professor of cultural geography at the University of Exeter, grapples with these issues in her body of work, with perhaps her best-known publication being her 2017 book titled Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving, where she problematizes the embedded relationship between heritage management and our obligation of care. We invite you to join us as we think through two selected works by DeSilvey, in preparation for her visit to Saxo on 22 October 2024. We will be reading a chapter on Curated Decay on “Postpreservation” and her chapter on “Ruderal Heritage” from an edited volume titled Deterritorializing the Future: Heritage in, of and after the Anthropocene.
In preparation
Please read the two texts mentioned below (they should be available online via the library) before we meet so that we can have an in-depth conversation!
- DeSilvey, Caitlin. “Postpreservation: Looking past loss.” In Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving. University of Minnesota Press, 2017. Pages 1-21.
- DeSilvey, Caitlin. “Ruderal Heritage.” In Deterritorializing the Future: Heritage in, of and after the Anthropocene, edited by Rodney Harrison and Colin Sterling. London, Open Humanities Press, 2020. Pages 289-310.
Everyone is welcome. Please write to Margaréta Pintér if you would like to participate.
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