Extra – terranean archive:
a tactical withdrawal of Mediterranean monuments
In a not so distant future, Mediterranean cities kept struggling to sustain an ever increasing number of cultural world heritage sites and buildings. Diverse historical narratives coexisted in incoherent urban fabrics, while the only buoys of homogeneity were stores of multinational commercial chains.
Moreover, mass population movements in the Mediterranean had resulted to multicultural social contexts, rendering the role of local cultural heritage ambiguous. Interestingly, the right-wing movements of the early 21st century had receded.
At some point, an online DNA analysis software was leaked, making it possible for everyone to trace their genetic ancestral roots. In less than a decade, international groups of ‘new world genists’ started claiming territories surrounding monuments as ‘their righteous heritage’ based on gene analysis. Citizens of the Mediterranean were constantly targeted by extremists and many monuments suffered severe damage.
To rid themselves of the recurring attacks, the desperate citizens of Giza blew up the Pyramid of Cheops. The leaders of the Mediterranean countries, realizing that none of the other Seven Wonders had been forgotten despite their absence, reached a previously ineffable solution: they sent world heritage monuments to orbit Earth, to descend only on selected anniversaries.
The attacks stopped. The unintelligible past found its physical place in the unapproachable space. History’s transcendental character became apparent. One had to believe to accept any civilization’s chosen memories. Crystallized parts of the urban fabric gave their place to listed vacant lots, past’s utopias became atopias, bound to remain free of significations in a world of multiple meanings.
List of People: Christos G. Kritikos, Dionysios Koutsioumaris, Argyris Chronopoulos
Related Link: http://takeittotheskies.blogspot.gr/
