Main entry:

Arrhenius, Thordis.

Title & Author:

The fragile monument, on conservation and modernity / Thordis Arrhenius.

Publication:

London : Artifice Books : Black Dog Publishing, ©2012.

Description:

160 pages : illustrations (some color), map ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 146-154) and index.
The Fragile Monument 4 -- The Historiography of Conservation 11 -- The Space of Conservation 48 -- The Discourse of Conservation 16 -- Monuments Historiques 17 -- Destruction and Conservation 19 -- The Invention of Vandalism 22 -- The Space of Conservation 26 -- The Museum 30 -- Conservation or Destruction of Art 38 -- The Authentic 14 -- National History 50 -- Restoration 53 -- The Need for History 54 -- Authenticity 61 -- Origin 62 -- Sundrawings 64 -- The Original 67 -- The Enchanted Land 68 -- Instrument of Conservation 70 -- Stone to Stone 77 -- The Pleasure of the Surface 79 -- Blurred Space 81 -- The Modern Cult of Monuments 92 -- The Reception of the Modern Cult of Monuments 94 -- Vienna 1903 94 -- The Monument 96 -- Age 97 -- Conservation 98 -- History 99 -- The Present 100 -- The Cult 103 -- The Past as Utopia 104 -- Restoration in the Machine Age 112 -- Modernity and Restoration 112 -- Le "Plan Voisin" De Paris Et Le Passé 115 -- Et in Arcadia Ego 128 -- Displacing the Past 129 -- Proximity and Distance 138 -- Postscript 143.

Summary:

The Fragile Monument is a study of the discourse of conservation and its effect on the notion and role of the monument in contemporary western society. Through a revisionist account of the history of conservation, the book explores how the monument has been transformed from an object that originally communicated permanence to an object that is perceived as fragile and in need of protection. The argument put forward is that the expansion and popularisation of conservation is bound to a narrative of loss and danger that reveals a paradoxical relationship between destruction and preservation. In a series of case-studies the book shows how spatial devices have been used to negotiate this paradox and how this use of space has contributed to the defining of the monument as an object of conservation. Throughout its history, conservation has been surrounded by a polemic dominated by concepts of authenticity, origin and authorship. By studying that debate in relation to the case-studies, The Fragile Monument adumbrates the implications these concepts carry with them, both for the discipline of conservation and for the discourse of architecture as a whole. Identifying and examining particular 'sites of conflicts' where critical uncertainty, ambivalence, and heated debates have surrounded the 'object' of restoration, The Fragile Monument contributes significantly to expanding and shifting architectural discourse into a direction of crucial relevance today.

ISBN:

9781907317477 (paperback)
1907317473 (paperback)

Subject:

Architecture Conservation and restoration.
Monuments Conservation and restoration.
Monuments Conservation and restoration Philosophy.
Historic preservation.
Architecture Conservation et restauration.
Monuments Conservation et restauration.
Monuments Conservation et restauration Philosophie.
Préservation historique.
historic preservation.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 281172
Call No.: BIB 218298
Status: Available