Traversing the fantasies of urban destruction: Ruin gazing in Varosha
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 19; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13604813.2014.962877
ISSN1470-3629
Autores Tópico(s)Political Theology and Sovereignty
ResumoAbstractThis paper explores the relationship between the imagination of urban destruction and a personal experience of a particular urban ruin: the former resort town of Varosha in Cyprus, abandoned since 1974. I draw out the connections between my experience of Varosha's ruined spaces and three imaginative tropes that emerged out of and influenced that experience: first, the fantasy of urban annihilation (or urbicide), an enduring trope of apocalyptic cinema and actualized in modern aerial warfare; second, the fantasy of being the first/last witness in a post-apocalyptic ruined world; and, third, the fantasy of disanthropy, or the imagination of the world as post-human. The result is to open up a space of dialogue between the experience of being in urban ruins, the contested histories of those ruins and the imagination of urban destruction in order to address the wider questions of how large-scale ruins might be remembered and reconstituted in ways that promote inclusivity, hold together contradictions and maintain the hope of healing.Key words: ruinsfantasyVaroshaCyprusurban explorationaesthetics AcknowledgementsThis article forms part of a larger research project 'Dead cities and the imagination of disaster'. I am extremely grateful to the many people who have engaged with the work on Varosha, particularly Avghi, who was generous and gracious in her correspondence with me, and also to Olia Papacosta and George Koumis for their reminiscences.Notes1 Examples of apocalyptic destruction in cinema post-9/11 are legion and including, in 2013 alone, large-scale urban ruination generated by aliens (Oblivion), a zombie pandemic (World War Z), global apartheid (Elysium), mythic forces of evil (Thor: The Dark World) and a satirized version of the Biblical apocalypse (This is the End). Recent examples of post-apocalyptic computer games include the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series (2007–) and The Last of Us (2013). Jane and Louise Wilson are perhaps the best-known contemporary artists engaging with large-scale ruins such as Pripyat and Orford Ness, while the exhibition Ruin Lust, curated by Brian Dillon, was recently held at Tate Britain (4 March–18 May 2014).2 One of the few journalists to gain access to Varosha was Weisman (Citation2007) who described the abandoned town in his bestselling book The World Without Us (91–100). As Weisman stated to me in an email correspondence (13 January 2013), obtaining official permission to visit Varosha took him many months, writing to officials to arrange to be escorted to selected areas of the town.3 As Yablon (Citation2009) has noted, the earliest representations of the Brooklyn Bridge in ruins emerged soon after its completion in 1883 (173–174). Recent examples include the films I am Legend (2007), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Oblivion; and Alexis Rockman's painting Manifest Destiny (2004).4 Paraphrased from an email correspondence between the author and Afghi, 8 September 2013.5 Indeed, the establishment of a 'bi-community' in Varosha is the aim of 'The Famagusta Initiative', a Turkish-Cypriot association that is calling for the old city of Famagusta to be designated a World Heritage site and Varosha to be reconstructed as a resort (Uludag Citation2013).6 Broderick (Citation1993) relates the theme of the 'hero' in post-apocalyptic cinema of the 1980s to the emergence of increasingly pessimistic imagery of genocidal nuclear stockpiles in the late 1970s coupled with a 'renewed bellicose Christian fundamentalism' (379). The latter has also dominated the political life of the USA post-9/11 which has also seen a plethora of apocalyptic films in the 'hero' mould, including The Matrix Revolutions (2003), War of the Worlds (2005), I am Legend (2007), The Road (2009), The Book of Eli (2010) and After Earth (2013).7 In To the Lighthouse, the section 'Time Passes' charts the interior of a house as it ages and without the presence of its inhabitants (Woolf Citation1927, 143–163).8 A number of factors have contributed to the renewed interest in Varosha: Cyprus's presidency of the European Union in 2012; the decision by the European Court of Human Rights in January 2012 ordering Turkey to pay about 20 million euros to 13 hotel and other business owners in Varosha for the loss of their property; and the discovery of vast fields of natural gas off the coast of northern Cyprus (Yackley Citation2012).Additional informationPaul Dobraszczyk is a Research Associate in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at the University of Manchester. Email: paul.dobraszczyk@manchester.ac.uk
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