From Timbuktu to Odessa, from Bamiyan to Gaza, armed conflicts have turned cultural heritage into a prime target. In response to these acts of destruction, the exhibition Heritage in Resistance examines not only the gestures of erasure, but also the forms of resistance and repair that make it possible to envision a future emerging from ruins.
In 2012, the destruction of the mausoleums of Timbuktu, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, marked a historic turning point: for the first time, the deliberate destruction of cultural monuments was recognized as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. An unprecedented international mobilization was then launched to reconstruct the destroyed sites, drawing on archaeological excavations and the memory of Malian artisans.
Although war has always caused destruction, the beginning of the 21st century has revealed an intensification and systematization of attacks against cultural and natural heritage. The exhibition sheds light on this contemporary reality and raises an essential question: how does war reveal what is irretrievably lost, while at the same time bringing forth acts of resistance that make future repair possible ?
Through a remarkable collection of maps, texts, models, photographs, videos, contemporary artworks, and digital replicas created by Iconem, the exhibition unfolds in three sequences. Conceived as a large-scale documentary narrative, it weaves together a documented, visual, and sensitive account, bringing into dialogue the perspectives of architects, artists, researchers, field practitioners, and witnesses.
The exhibition brings together an exceptional collection of graphic documents, contemporary artworks, and digital replicas of lost sites. Like a major documentary report, the ensemble constructs a documented, visual, and sensitive narrative in which the perspectives of witnesses and practitioners intersect with those of architects and artists.
Curators
Élisabeth Essaïan – DPLG architect, researcher at the IPRAUS laboratory, and senior lecturer in theory and practice of architectural and urban design at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville.
Mathilde Leloup – Political scientist, senior lecturer in political science at the Institute of European Studies at Paris 8 University, and deputy director of the CRESPPA research center.
Yves Ubelmann – Architect specializing in 3D digital surveying of sites, particularly archaeological sites.
