Using visually impressive ruins, the series MODERN RUINS highlights the great themes of the 20th and 21st centuries that have shaped our modern society: the battle of the social systems, globalisation, colonialism, our handling of resources as well as energy and mobility. The series takes a look at the remains of the most recent (economic) crises and shows that the history of modern civilisation has always and will always experience crises. The theme of “creative destruction” is a highly topical one. Via the bizarre landscapes of the individual episodes in the series, the viewer is granted a deep insight into the relevant cultures of various Western-influenced countries on three different continents, i.e. North America (Detroit), South America (Fordlândia in Brazil), Africa (Kolmanskop in Namibia) and Europe in Spitsbergen, Norway and Lohberg, Germany. MODERN RUINS is a five-part series about the fallen monuments of the modern era, which tells of advancement and decline, of flourishing economies, of broken dreams and ruined utopias, of structural upheaval and political changes in the 20th century and shows how nature, unimpressed and with stoic patience, re-conquers its lost terrain.
Modern Ruins
Current Affairs / Politics and Economy
- Title: Modern Ruins
- Original title: Modern Ruins
- Films by: Reinhild Dettmer-Finke, Markus Reher, Kai Christiansen, Christiane von Schwind, Alice Agneskirchner
- Format: Filmed in HD
- Long running series: 5 x 52’ / 5 x 45’
- Production: Gebrüder Beetz für ZDF / ARTE
- Year of production: 2012
- Language / subtitle version: EV, GV
