MA Thesis
About This Project
The destruction of art and architecture is arguably as old as humanity itself from Troy to Byzantium, and from World War II to the present in ancient Mesopotamia. Violence continues to threaten cultural heritage today through both accidental destruction (such as the fire that devastated Cathedral of Notre-Dame in 2020) and intentional destruction (such as iconoclastic terrorism). Though the destruction of cultural heritage is far from a new phenomenon, the rise of the digital age– particularly the use of laser scanning and 3D modeling technologies– has altered the impact and legacy of destruction. These tools provide unprecedented possibilities for preservation and reconstruction. A wide range of projects have already been established that create digital models of terrorist-destroyed sites; furthermore, the post-fire restoration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame will rely upon existing digital scans of the building. While an extensive body of scholarship investigates the role of digital technology within cultural heritage, media attention to digital projects has subjugated this scholarship, instead focusing on the use of digital technologies as the means to save the world’s heritage in the wake of both accidental and intentional heritage destruction.
This project examines standards of digital heritage, and raises questions about inherent bias within digital projects. In what ways does Western interest in digital reconstruction harm the agency of local populations? How are worthy sites determined, and to what extent has Western-centrism already determined the focus of digital projects? The need to address the ethics of digital approaches to destruction is more urgent than ever. Through an examination of ethical issues within the digitization of destroyed heritage at Palmyra, Bamiyan, and Notre-Dame, this project will investigate and propose best practices for the digitization of destruction. |