My contribution to the conference is snapshots of the walk with a Greek Imbriot, Barba Nikos, through the ruins of his long-abandoned village on the North-Aegean Island of Imbros (also known as Gökçeada) in Turkey. This journey serves as a lens to examine the intricate dynamics of the insider's perspective versus the gaze of an outsider upon the enigmatic landscape of ruins. At its core, this study reflects on the nuanced processes of local sense-making when confronted with a lived past, all within the context of the discursive nature of ruins—simultaneity of presence and absence in its materiality.
The presentation unfolds across three distinct chapters, each offering a different perspective on the complex terrain of the ruinscape. The first chapter focuses on a non-representsational reading of Barbar’s the path-making and walking. Here, the habitual cadence of his steps through the landscape becomes a gateway to evoke the past, offering a remarkable means to rekindle historical experiences. Moreover, it peers into Barba's sensory and tactile engagement with the tangible vestiges of bygone eras. These on-site encounters breathe life into the abandoned village, transforming it into a Proustian dreamscape, a living memory landscape where the essence of material culture springs to life through the tapestry of lived experiences.
Transitioning to the second chapter, the narrative pivots to examine Barba Nikos' role as a storyteller. His narratives transcend personal engagement with individual objects, extending instead into the collective consciousness of a social milieu. Through his words, the audience is drawn into a collective memory shared by the Imbrian community, with past acts of state violence and collective experiences of loss emerging as poignant markers of their shared history. The ruins and remnants, once inert artifacts, now serve as tangible and evocative evidence of this collective memory.
In the final chapter of our journey, we adopt a rather radical approach by critically examining the process of ruination itself. Ruins, we propose, are not static entities but dynamic processes, akin to living beings rather than mere stable objects. This audacious perspective prompts a reevaluation of the role of other-than-human actors and their role within the realm of material culture, ultimately raising profound questions about their contribution to the heritage-making process.
Keywords: Heritage, Ruins, More-than-human ladscape, Proustian Landscape, Imbros.
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Aysegül, Dinccag KAHVECI is an architect and urban planner. In 2010, she graduated as Dipl.Ing. Architect from the Universität der Künste Berlin. She has been working as an architect and urban planner in various offices in Istanbul, Berlin and New York for the last decade. Since 2019, she is a PhD candidate and research affiliate in the DFG Research Training Group 2777 "Identity and Heritage" at the Technical University Berlin (https://www.identitaet-und-erbe.org/personen/ayseguel-dinccag/). Her research interests include interdisciplinary approaches on spatial and material studies, critical heritage studies, more-than-human-geographies.
My contribution to the conference is snapshots of the walk with a Greek Imbriot, Barba Nikos, through the ruins of his long-abandoned village on the North-Aegean Island of Imbros (also known as Gökçeada) in Turkey. This journey serves as a lens to examine the intricate dynamics of the insider's perspective versus the gaze of an outsider upon the enigmatic landscape of ruins. At its core, this study reflects on the nuanced processes of local sense-making when confronted with a lived past, all within the context of the discursive nature of ruins—simultaneity of presence and absence in its materiality.