RT Journal Article
SR 00
A1 Benson, Ciaran
T1 ‘Authenticity’ for the visited or for the visitors?  ‘collective memory’, ‘collective imagination’ and a view from the future
JF ICOMOS University Forum
YR 2018
FD 2018-01
SP 1
OP 11
K1 reconstruction
K1 theory of conservation
K1 theory of restoration
K1 presentation
K1 Cultural significance
K1 Social aspects
K1 Values
K1 personal memory
K1 collective memory
K1 collective imagination
K1 authenticity
K1 changing realities
K1 psychology
AB From the viewpoint of a psychology that is interested in how cultures shape and colour conscious states, selves, identities, emotions, memories, allegiances and so on, this paper reflects on the ways in which ideas from psychology characterise the thinking of policymakers in the area of heritage conservation and restoration. Specifically, it focuses on ideas of ‘memory’ and ‘authenticity’. It asks whether the concept of ‘authenticity’ is culturally and historically relative, and how it works towards an ideal of global unity, such as is espoused by the United Nations. It reviews how ‘personal memory’ relates to the notion of ‘collective memory’, and suggests that this latter idea is metaphorical in nature. It argues that a productive emphasis for those interested in monuments and sites might now be on the idea of ‘collective imagination’ rather than just on that of ‘collective memory’. This in turn would support the need to develop a greater understanding of the visitors to heritage sites, as well as on developing an understanding of what it is they are visiting. It concludes by speculating on the profound changes underway with world population growth, urbanisation, and the pervasive implications of the development of digital and virtual realities. It ends with the question of whether it matters that people may increasingly be unable to distinguish ‘the ersatz’ from ‘the real’, ‘the authentic’ from ‘the imaginatively (re)constructed’?
PB ICOMOS International
SN 2616-6968
LK http://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/1858/