Presentation Andréa De Oliveira Tourinho*
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Apresentação Presentation Andréa de Oliveira Tourinho* Memory and Cultural Heritage in São Paulo: modernity (or at least a certain kind of modernity) multiple dimensions of a relationship in was trying to impose on humanity. transformation However, instead of the disruption that seemed A memory vector, the cultural heritage, after the forthcoming, the so-called processes of economic Second World War, mainly since the 1980s, has globalization –resulting from the collapse of been a field in continuous and rapid transformation the socialist world, the end of the Cold War, the due to changes, especially in the way memory – triumph of the market system and the business together with history - have been understood and and economic neoliberalism that began in the faced. 1980s – led to greater flexibility, mobility and internationalization of capital, producing the Since the end of that war, the so-called “crisis intensification of the processes of centralization of modernity”, as we know it today, is the heir of and concentration of capital in a few hands. an impasse situation, characterized by multiple Wealth left production - and nations - to settle in questions about the social, economic and cultural the world of finance, stocks, stock exchanges, conditions that modernity, and its fundamental futures markets, globalized economy, offshore, *Professor at the Universida- Paulo; M.A. in Aesthetic and concepts – “constant progress”, “dominant tax havens, money laundering - and, from this de São Judas Tadeu of the Arts Theory by the Univer- Post-Graduation Program sidad Autónoma de Madrid; reason”, “neutral technique”, mechanicism, totalizing position of the rich world simulacrum, Strictu Sensu of the Architec- Architect and Urbanist by the among others –, presented to the world, whether the real world was displaced. ture and Urbanism and of the Universidade Presbiteriana on the capitalist or socialist side. The movement Architecture and Urbanism Mackenzie. Coordinates the against the Vietnam War, the Prague Spring, May The speech of State disqualification as a provider Graduation Course. PhD in research group “Cultural heri- Architecture and Urbanism tage and urbanism: practical 1968 were undisputed events of a worldwide of physical and institutional infrastructure or by the Universidade de São speeches”. change of attitude, questioning the values that as a representative of the collective interest, usjt • arq.urb • número 26 | setembro - dezembro de 2019 i Apresentação legitimized new social forms. Neoliberal policies already revealed, society remembers memory in were sustained by the dismantling of the welfare times of loss; an answer to the need for temporal State, the concentration of capital and income, continuity of the human being: and the unsustainable prolonged indebtedness to finance consumption, while the center of gravity of social production shifted from industry to services The advancement of communication technology (deindustrialization and outsourcing). and the fast pace of daily life remind the individuals the fact that they always live the same historical time, the present, and disrupt the In this context, “truth”, as a positive instance of sense of continuity previously perceived between modernity, ceased to have any value, became past-present-future. Thus, we seek to overcome relativized as all other aspects of society. The the rupture with the past, which originated “devaluation” of truth was first accompanied by the insecurity regarding the future, imaginary relativism about truth itself, that initially began dimension of time, where the expectations prior to this one are fulfilled. (RODRIGUES, 2008, no to have various interpretations (including in the page number) field of science, post Einstein) to later, finally, end up with no value. Any tradition could be used or The spread of “heritage appreciation” throughout reused to inform about the state of society. the world over the last decades (CHOAY, 2001, p. 237) reveals precisely the moment when society This change in social paradigms would inexorably is no longer what it was, but does not yet know influence the appropriation of memory. As one of what it will be. The loss of traditional forms of its vectors, it is well known as the field of cultural artifacts, whether architectural or urban, of the heritage has expanded since the second half of doings and knowledge that begin manifesting the 20th century. More than that, the fragmentation in the Enlightenment period, in the 18th century of the contemporary world – which has replaced (TAFURI, 1985), grow bigger in the last third of the the compartmentalization of the modern world, 20th century. At this time, society sought memory as noted by Milton Santos (2000) – has been as a means of valuing specific cultures and represented by Pierre Nora’s “places of memory” recognizing various identities. (1984), which well translate the fragmentation of the memory use in a world with no rituals. In Brazil, the Federal Constitution of 1988 well reflects this moment of expansion of the concept The valorization of memory, that intensifies since of cultural heritage and enhancement of the the 1980s, is precisely related to the feeling of loss memory and identity of the various social groups, of a world whose solid foundations crumble in shifting the attribution of value from the state to the air (Berman, 1982). As Halbwachs (1990) has society. usjt • arq.urb • número 26 | setembro - dezembro de 2019 ii Apresentação The right to memory, initially advocated in the have been used in the search for resignifications late 1980s and 1990s, finds a complex and of social places. contradictory field of action today. If, on the one hand, heritage preservation agencies are This new dimension of memory values requires, threatened by conservative instances that seek therefore, great care in addressing these issues. to weaken these institutions, on the other, society The production of knowledge about memory and resists by means of actions that claim the right to cultural heritage, in this situation, is fundamental memory. More than resisting, these actions point for the understanding of an increasingly dynamic out new paths. Paths that show the change in field that, as previously more static, was almost values that society has been giving to memory. As exclusively based on the choices of the official a lived experience, as a social practice, memory institutions, responsible for identifying and has been used to relocate old and pending protecting this heritage. cultural issues under new perspectives, such as those related to social groups less represented in It is in this context that the 26th edition of arq.urb official choices of cultural heritage: Journal is inserted, thematic edition on memory and cultural heritage in São Paulo. The articles of Finally, from the last quarter of the last century this edition feature recent approaches that reflect onwards, the pragmatic character of memory the new dimensions, issues and challenges of a dominates. From a knowledge tool to ethical changing relationship such as the one that unites criteria and a powerful weapon of claim and st political action, it is now subject to a multivariate memory and cultural heritage in this early 21 analysis of disciplines. Political practices, century. The articles refer to multiple aspects of especially the ones related to identity, replace this relationship, seeking new readings on social the knowledge function. (MENESES, 2018, p. 2) meanings, Afro-Brazilian memory and religiosity, the natural, urban, industrial and local heritage, Of a political nature, the fields of memory and the perception of the resident, the issue of the cultural heritage demand caution to avoid surroundings of landmarked properties, as well manipulation, trivialization or even mystification as queries regarding pictorial representation of concepts and values. On the other hand, and the construction of memory. These diverse places of memory – unlike places of history (Nora, dimensions respond to the changes highlighted 1993) -– have played a significant role in the herein. construction and enhancement of identity, since they constitute a representation that mobilizes An edition built from various approaches, mainly certain social groups, not only through individual from professionals in History and Architecture and but also collective memory. Memory and heritage Urbanism. However, there are different views from usjt • arq.urb • número 26 | setembro - dezembro de 2019 iii Apresentação the technical staff from preservation agencies, to em: <https://www.sisemsp.org.br/wp-content/ university researchers, as well as from the civil uploads/2018/08/Ulpiano-Bezerra-de-Meneses. society organized in the form of a collective of pdf>. Acesso em: 24 out. 2019. professionals from diverse areas. NORA, Pierre. Entre memória e história. A In these approaches, there is no separation problemática dos lugares. Tradução Yara Aun between tangible and the intangible. Places are Khoury. Proj. História, São Paulo, nº 10, dez. always unique and their meanings multiple. 1993. Disponível em: <https://revistas.pucsp.br/ index.php/revph/article/viewFile/12101/8763>. Acesso em: 24 out. 2019. REFERENCES RODRIGUES, Marly. Memórias, preservação e BERMAN, Marshall. Tudo que é sólido representações do passado. Palestra proferida desmancha no ar. A aventura da modernidade. na Associação de Arquivistas de São Paulo, em São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1987. 19 dez 2008. HALBWACHS, Maurice. A memória coletiva. SANTOS, Milton.