My essay “What of Conservation? After Permanence—On Decay as Critical Ethics,” published in the South African electronic journal herri, asks what conservation might become if decay were understood not simply as loss, but as a material, ethical, and political mode of becoming.
Conservation has traditionally been organised around resisting deterioration and extending the lives of artworks and objects of material culture. Yet this orientation risks treating change as a negative value and permanence as an unquestioned good. Taking decay seriously exposes some of these deeply held assumptions and reveals objects as temporal and relational formations, entangled with environments, organisms, technologies, and practices of care and upkeep.
The essay argues for a critical conservation after permanence: one that asks not only how and whether things should endure, but also what forms of change might be supported, negotiated, or carried forward. From this perspective, decay is not simply the opposite of preservation. It can become a way of thinking about heritage’s future—not by assuring permanence, but by learning how to attend to transformation, loss, and a world in flux.
The essay developed from my contribution to the “Decay without Mourning” conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and appears alongside contributions by fellow participants in herri Issue 13, curated and edited by Aryan Kaganof.
Read the essay: https://herri.org.za/13/hanna-b-holling/
Explore herri Issue 13: https://herri.org.za/13/
