write 400-500 words.

The Ruins of Democracy:

A Once in a Lifetime Tour of the Collapse of the Empire

ABSTRACT

The apocalyptic nature of the changes caused by the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century world order, represented socially and through the media, is characterized by the concepts of collapse and ruin.

Is it possible to consume and commodify the end of an empire, its ruinous collapse, and the final traumatic moment in which all events conjure the traumascape? What role, if any, can art have in the representation of a humanity unable to reconsider its responsibility in and to the world, beyond a purely anthropocentric perspective of commodification and consumption?

This essay will explore, via a literature review and the production of an artwork in the form of an organized tour of ‘The Collapse of the Empire,’ the appeal of the ultimate processes of commodification. Witnessing the collapse and being present within the traumascape are both commodified and commodifiable forms of entertainment, which allow the possibility of presenting the concept of disaster as a twenty-first century spectacle. What if it were possible to take part in the fall of the Roman Empire, the destruction of Pompeii, or the end of World War II? What if we could really have a seat at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [1] and participate in the end of the American Empire and of the world?

The artwork, entitled Post-Grand Tour (working title), envisages a reverse approach to the concept of the Grand Tour as a way of learning from, as well as consuming, the ruins and traumascapes of the recent past, present, and future. Without moving away from a patronizing perception of primitivism and a concept of the ‘other’ as an unblemished carrier of ‘a better humanity,’ the artwork reverses roles and, for once, places American democratic history under observation. It will analyze present institutions, people, and events using the traditional Western imperialistic framework of exploitation, commodification, and consumption, but will also focus on the original subject: the empire that is now collapsing.

If democracy is exportable, then so are post-democracy, pre-dictatorship, and dictatorship. The tourists will visit Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, and New York wearing anti-contagion hazmat overalls, bearing witness to the historical, traumatic, and contemporary events which will shape the world for generations to come.

The essay will conclude by providing a framework for reflection based on an analysis of contemporary societies’ complexities beyond fascistic frameworks and the collapsing conservative versus liberal dichotomy, which continue to characterize contemporary American and Western socio-political discourses.

KEYWORDS: Traumascape, art, populism, ruins, collapse, apocalypse, post-democracy

ENDNOTES AND REFERENCES

[1] Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (New York: Del Rey, 1995).