Glotzt nicht so Romantisch!

If progress is the main weapon of the neoliberal market, then heritage is only a perverse form of its negation. With the change of the socio-economic milieu, the heritage becomes intensively subject to the norms of globalization. Crucified between embalming and constant resuscitation, any acceptance of the expected becomes a form of capitulation, just as any reconstruction necessarily becomes a form of plastic surgery. The main argument of heritage is the preservation of value. The value of a thing, according to Marx, is necessarily defined by its use. Therefore, objects deprived of function cannot be given values. Social value, on the other hand, is considered in relation to the period in which the buildings had use value.  

Trains exist only when they slip from the bottom, the more people die, the more trains there are. Planes only exist when they are hijacked. The only destiny of a car is to crash.

We see value only through negation. Heritage has lost the race against time, because prefabricated nostalgia does not recognize time. The question we ask should not be what to keep but what to give up? This implies a new view of the cyclicality of heritage, viewing deterioration as an integral part of the life of the object. Taking into account the time, the prepared choreography turns the object into a myth, forming a narrative that will outlive it. 

Author: Nenad Pavlovic

University/Study Programme: University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture / Master Studies in Architecture (Module Architecture)

Course: Design Studio M02 – Reprogramming Heritage: Leisure Culture

Mentorship: Ana Nikezic, Jelena Ristic Trajkovic, Aleksandra Milovanovic

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