Ruins of Modernity
The “Ruins of Modernity” Research Group (RoM for short) seeks to investigate approaches to literature and culture that interrogate contemporary understandings of modern forms and processes of ruination, as well as their material, aesthetic, philosophical, and political implications.
The Collaborative Research Project aims to bring together scholars across disciplinary boundaries and in different stages of their careers whose work explores complex attitudes and treatments to this theme. It convenes recurring meetings throughout the academic year in the form of public conferences with guest speakers, reading discussions, and “work in progress” presentations by PhD candidates.
“Ruins of modernity” engages with questions that are central to understanding the contemporary production of space. It is a query that recurs today as increasing gentrification and recurring economic crises – including the current global pandemic – destabilize our cities and notions of progress. The group hopes to create an opportunity for cross-linguistic and interdisciplinary collaborative research among faculty and students and to contribute to the study of a critical topic of enduring yet renewable scholarly interest.
RoM is coordinated by Prof. Joan Ramon Resina and graduate student Laura Menéndez (ILAC.) For more information, please contact jrresina [at] stanford.edu (jrresina[at]stanford[dot]edu) or lauramen [at] stanford.edu (lauramen[at]stanford[dot]edu).
SPRING 2022-2023
May 19th – “What To Do With Ruins: An International Conference on Contemporary Ruination” RSVP here
Updated information: https://events.stanford.edu/event/ruins-of-modernity-2023-conference
SPRING 2021-2022
April 19th 12pm PDT – Alain Schnapp (Université Panthéon-Sorbonne): “A Universal History of Ruins from Antiquity to the Enlightenment.” Hosted on Zoom.
May 10th 12pm PDT – Julia Hell (University of Michigan). "Triumphs and Laments or Ruins of Empire: Peter Weiss's Pergamon Altar and William Kentridge's Tiber Mural." Hosted on Zoom.
[POSTPONED]
May 16th 12:30pm PDT – Francesc Torres (Installation and Visual Artist). "Memory Remains, a Museum of Un-Natural History." On campus. Building 260, Room 252.
May 26th 12pm PDT – Amir Eshel (Stanford University): “Too much Holiness: Paul Celan in Jerusalem and the power of sacred ruins." On campus. Building 260, Room 252.
WINTER 2021-2022
Monday, January 24th 12pm PST – Miray Cakiroglu (Stanford University): “Ruin in the Turkish Aegean: Futures in the aftermath of empire.” Hosted on Zoom.
AUTUMN 2021-2022
November 18, 1:30 PST – Reading Discussion: Walter Benjamin, Georg Simmel, and Svetlana Boym (discussion in English). Hosted on Zoom.
December 2, 11:30am PST – Mercè Picornell (Universitat de les Illes Balears): “Las dudas del trapero: las ruinas contemporáneas como reto metodológico.” (talk and discussion in Spanish). Hosted on Zoom.
