The sublime object of Detroit

Abstract

If there is one object that characterizes the rising interest of human geographers to study the ruins of the recent past, it is the Michigan Central Station in Detroit. While no city has more often been used as a blueprint for contemporary urban decline than Detroit, its ruined train station has become the global symbol for ‘ruin porn’. Ruin porn is often criticized for stimulating the viewer’s imagination instead of taking into account what ‘really’ goes on in the city. However, in this article, I argue that ruin porn does not create a fantasy of ruination, but on the contrary eliminates the space for fantasy. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, I explore how local ruin gazers turn Michigan Central Station into what Jacques Lacan calls a ‘sublime object’, a remainder of loss that triggers a strong nostalgia. Subsequently, I retrace how ruin porn ‘desublimates’ the ruin by exposing its ‘naked’ materiality, and how the first reopening of Michigan Central Station during its renovation ‘resublimates’ the object by projecting a comeback of Detroit onto its dilapidated walls. In conclusion, I call for deeper consideration of the intertwining between fantasy and materiality in geographic research on urban decay.