Ruins as pieces of the Real: Images of a post-apocalyptic present

The world of today has been increasingly described in post-apocalyptic terms. This paper is dedicated to the ruin as an emblematic image of this post-apocalyptic present. In contrast to the debates surrounding ‘ruin porn’, which critically engage ruin imagery as creating apocalyptic fantasies that distort the non-apocalyptic social realities of places facing urban decline, this paper claims that the ruin image is providing a proper image of today’s post-apocalyptic condition. Based on Jacques Lacan’s concept of the Real, which is defined as designating ‘what does not work in a world’, the paper traces how the ruin can be considered as a ‘piece of the Real’ that allows to condence and materialize the non-working dimensions of the world today. The paper identifies three motifs in ruin porn as Reals of the post-apocalyptic present: the wastelands produced by the catastrophic drive of capital, the unnatural natures faced by the ecological crisis, and the absence of humans, which resembles the radical absence of any common sense of humanity today. By identifying these motifs in ruin porn, the paper aims to offer a referential frame for navigating through a world haunted by the specter of permanent crisis. In the conclusion, the paper addresses the hopelessness expressed in ruin porn as a starting point to reflect on the possibilities of building a future in the ruins of the present.