How should we reconstruct the past? Is the ideal Virtual Reality and photorealistic simulation? A CGI (pre)history? Under the supposition that this would be like it was back then? My line is that this would be the death of the past. It forgets the material ruin, the archaeological condition that is our cultural and historical…
the shape of history
rural pursuits – crop circles and prehistory
On the subject of rural relationships [Link] [Link], Tim Dilworth, freelancing for National Geographic TV, contacted me last week about crop circles around Stonehenge – and we are definitely in the season for this kind of thing … Here are some extracts from our conversation. TD There are a couple of points I’d really like…
loss and history’s physiognomy
An elegy for the UK countryside Item in the BBC Magazine. Half a century ago, probably even in the last two or three decades, the UK countryside had a definite purpose. It was essential to the entire country, because it was where much of our food was produced, which meant employment. Today we depend on…
cupboard under the stairs
more of the abandoned apartment in San Jose [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]
the look of history – New York after 9/11
So just as I was finishing my short comment today about images and the physiognomy of history [Link] under the question – what does historical change look like? Al Bergesen (in Tucson) sent me this picture of the New York Skyline … my son is a photographer and took the attached image of the NY…
Cuba – on the verge – the physiognomy of historical change
Meg’s comments on the photos of the apartment in San Jose, and her story of small town America were about the way everyday things can be almost too painful, too intimate – because of their personal associations yes, but, also because of their attachment to temporal loss. It makes us think of how we look…