CELEBRATING FINE CRAFT

ARTICLES: Wendy Weseen, Albert Speer and the Law of Ruins

Written by: Mark Stobbe
March 08, 2009

In the late 1930’s, Adolph Hitler’s favorite architect articulated what he called the “Law of Ruins.” According to Albert Speer, architecture was the long term memory of a society. Long after a society had faded, the memory of its greatness would be kept alive through the ruins of the buildings it had created. These ruins would serve as the repository of the memories of greatness, and serve as the seed for regeneration and future greatness.

The “Law of Ruins” almost cost Speer his life, since some of Hitler’s colleagues understood that Speer’s theory anticipated the decline and fall of the Third Reich. Hitler, however, supported the theory by proclaiming that his Reich was meant to last a thousand years and that was, after all, good enough. Speer was entrusted with the task of designing the major monument buildings of the Reich – and in so doing, designed them with an eye to their future as ruins. For example, structural steel was not used since rust made it transitory. Only self-supporting stone buildings would form the basis of imposing ruins that would last past the millennium predicted for the regime he served. Despite this, the ruins of the regime did not last even a decade. Some planned monument buildings were never built – sacrificed in the name of the war effort. Others crumbled beneath the bombs of B-24’s and Lancaster Bombers. Others were ground to dust by the treads of Soviet tanks. The dream of creating lasting memories of greatness crumbled with the collapse of the regime.

In rural Saskatchewan, there are ruins that also serve as the historical memory of human dreams. They are, however, the embodiment of more modest dreams. Rather than being designed to recall military might and racial supremacy, these ruins are the artifacts of humble people concerned with making a modest living, raising their children, and cultivating their crops. These ruins are the second stage of housing built by European settlers. They represent the hard won attainment of a level of prosperity – the one room sod huts being replaced with houses featuring wooden floors and private bedrooms. These structures were designed for function and economy rather than grandeur and conquest. The Saskatchewan structures became ruins when they were abandoned – either by their builders as they fled the ravages of the depression or by subsequent generations as increasing affluence made the construction of better building possible. These ruins were the complete opposite of those envisioned by Speer – they were designed to be functional rather than inspirational. In many cases, the transitory nature of the buildings was celebrated as an indication of increasing affluence.

There is no celebration of the Saskatchewan ruins. In a thousand years, they will leave no trace – nothing to indicate the struggle of humanity against nature for a better life. The ruins themselves will not inspire, since they will not exist.

That is why it is important that there are people like Wendy Weseen. In her exhibition Obsolete Spaces showing at the SCC Gallery on Broadway Avenue, Weseen uses both photographs and intricate three dimensional collage pieces to capture the hopes, dreams and memories of the families that built these structures. Ironically, the artistic representation of these buildings will likely last much longer than the structures themselves. The memories created by these ruins will be visited in galleries rather than in the fields.

The hopes and dreams of these early settlers are fortunate to have a steward as skilled and perceptive as Weseen. Her photographs capture the outside of the buildings – the abandoned decay symbolized by peeling paint, rotting boards, and collapsed roofs. However, the heart of the exhibition captures the heart of the houses – the little symbols of everyday life that were abandoned along with the structures. Whether it is through a pile of worn-out shoes or a cupboard of preserves that will never be eaten, Weseen captures the intimacy of lives lived almost a century ago.

Both Speer and Weseen recognized the importance of ruins, and celebrated them. However, their approaches are as different as the nature of the ruins themselves. Speer set out to create ruins that would evoke a sense of grandeur. Weseen set out to document ruins in a way that recalls the ordinary lives of generations past. Speer set out to overwhelm with scale, Weseen set out to inform through detail. One succeeded, the other created rubble.