Un/building

I have been thinking about the structures up on the Mountain and how different they are from the giant new homes constructed only a few feet away. The first difference is that one is brand new, made of synthetic materials, and vacant. The other is old--a ruin--made of natural materials from the woods, and is not vacant or full because it has no inside or outside. I am aware of the long history of artists and art historians fetishizing ruins or transforming them into triggers for a wave of nostalgia, but that is not my purpose here. I am interested instead in how these ruins in our own backyard suggest an interaction with the landscape that is not an obstacle. You can move freely around, in and out of these non-structure structures Their intended function is no longer known or remains unfinished, enough to let the person who happens across them in the woods the opportunity to imagine multiple uses for such places--was it a still? Was it a cabin? Was it a well? Or a home? They are so much more present that the new homes. Even in their decay they are thriving, vivid documents of the bodies of the people who made them.