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Selected Projects 2016-18
The first and possibly most instinctive way to
analyze photography of the post-industrial ruin is
from the perspective of memory and nostalgia. In
describing the famous photographs of abandoned
factories taken by her and her husband, Hilla Becher
says, “the olden days will never come back… there
is nothing left of the facilities but memories.” In that
same interview, Becher discussed how her husband
began to photograph factory ruins as a method of
preserving them and the memories they held (Becher
2012). The post-industrial ruin, from the moment
of the industry’s closing in America, was doomed
to crumble. Although the factory workers were not
living incredibly prosperous lives, the buildings still
represented the American Dream. The time of the
American factory was a time of self-made men and
affordable goals. The factory was a way to set out on
the path to prosperity, a fair-paying job that paved
the road to success. The Bechers’ photographs
reflect the sudden loss of a pervasive dream. The
world rapidly changed, leaving many without steady
jobs and a predictable role in society. With the economic
downturn and outsourcing came turmoil. The
Bechers’ abandoned coal tipple reminds the viewer
of the coal workers who had built lives around the
industry, lives that were made suddenly transient.
The reminiscence surrounding ruins is not entirely
innocent. Looking nostalgically back can inspire
“ideological phantasms” (Huyssen, 2011) where we
imagine better, more simple pasts and void this period
of American history of its underpinnings of racism,
sexism, and classism. Many argue for a return
to the factory period and neglect to acknowledge
Joachim Koester, Boarded Up House, Philadelphia, 2011. Screenshot
from Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen. Screen-shot taken
from www.nicolaiwallner.com/artists.php?action=details&id=3.
© Galleri Nicolai Wallner
the negative basis of the era. Art historians Magali
Arriola and Andreas Huyssen both warn against
this possible role of ruins, cautioning against the
destructiveness of the “picturesque ruin” (Arriola,
2011) on accurate historical memory. From this perspective,
the ruin can serve to delude recollections
into overly sentimental and optimistic views of a
deeply flawed past. However, the ruin can also act to
reignite memory. Rebecca Solnit (2007) argued that
our memory is incomplete and ruins are “our guides
to situating ourselves in a landscape of time.” Artist
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