Is it modern terms to be without history? How can we today relate to past heritage in a meaningful way?

History and identity are closely linked, and if we purchase on one, we get problems with the other. We see that all around us in our society, in its cities and buildings. The architecture, the physical setting for our life, appears to have particularly difficult circumstances, because we restrict ourselves to operate with two overly simple models: Radical modernity in new construction or frozen, museum-like preservation of the historic city center.

THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: ON RECYCLED CULTURE AND CULTURE RECYCLING TODAY gathers and puts into perspective observations about our relationship to the past both in architecture and in a wide variety of other cultural activities, art, music, theater, literature. The texts and images is a multifaceted characteristic of recycled culture and cultural recycling currently and in a historical perspective. With the goal to make us more aware about how we can relate to the present today.