Author(s): John Beck

Culture and Ideas

Once the playgrounds and raw material for the avantgarde, abandoned places and things--decommissioned military sites, postindustrial spaces, contested and forgotten edgelands--are now just as likely to be seen as assets for entrepreneurs or connoisseurs of the authentically worn-out. This is the age of patina, where the material remains of times past--the fields and factories, test sites, back alleys, machines, and statues--are coveted, adored, mourned, and commemorated, as well as sometimes despised. Through an exploration of a wide range of recent film, photography, art, and writing about place, Landscape as Weapon argues that these abandoned sites are a critical arena for debate about the meaning of space and time under late capitalism.