Nostalgia | Svetlana Boym

Nostalgia need not be conservative, stultifying or sentimental. Rather, expressions of nostalgia are one way we communicate a desire for the past, dissatisfaction about the present, and our visions for the future. My version of nostalgia will be joyful, creative and progressive.

The dynamic echoes social and cultural geographer Tim Edensor’s idea of ruins as fluid spaces, where limits on material curiosity and imagination are let go, and exploration of alternative futures can thrive.

When ruins become places for celebration and growth, they challenge the narrative of inevitable decay. They offer us the chance to cultivate Lefebrve’s ideas of “the right to the city” through the experience of everyday inhabitation.

People have been inspired to create new spaces, rituals and infrastructure amongst ruins for millennia, artists in particular. From London to Berlin to Rome to Manila, many cities have been continually built anew atop the wreckage of their pasts, with creative groups often leading the way.