Genius loci et temporis : time capsules for recording memories

The trace of humans, on the places we were occupying, has always been a violent sign. It is about the alteration of a pre-existing balance. We can say that these repairs took place in search of Beauty. Not always, indeed rarely. Of course, many and different ideas of Bello have gone through Time. But also, Places. The last century, a tiny time segment in the history of mankind, has upset the precious evidence of differences. The very long and slow work of time (Time spirit, genius temporis) is upset. Contexts and places did lead to the wealth of identities, a treasure of diversities. Urban settlements and architectural forms use to fix the material culture of places. The idea of living, and the relationship with one's own stories, plastically represented the spirit of the inhabitants, their way of relating to the forces present in the places (Place spirit, genius loci). Like for the Time, the constant influence of the Place is messed up too. Globalization has enormously enriched knowledge and speeded up sharing information. At the same time, globalization has eradicated the memory of different histories, with violent immediacy. Memories fixed in urban environments, in territories tamed by human presence. The prevalence of spatial models and the reduction of languages are producing new configurations at various scales. Non-places, which did enter the collective imagination as Passepartout environments, have pervasively occupied every inhabited place. The identity of the places is fading out. It is vanishing as material presence, fixed by buildings and urban environments. But above all, the identity of the places is fading away of collective memories. The challenge awaiting the next generations has many, perhaps too many, questions. What should be taken care of? Why should be looked after? How to preserve it? Among the various theses in progress, let’s point out the two extreme poles within which the dialectic takes place. These are Protection and Time capsule strategies. On the one hand, there is the protection aimed at a dominant ethics, that pushed to the fetishistic preservation of the past. On the other hand, there is the choice of "samples" to be encapsulated and entrusted to transmission over time, for recording memories. The cynicism of the choice of fragments to be saved versus the hypocrisy of an impracticable conservative ethic. Probably there is no third way, unless as temporary choice and practices of compromise.