on ruins

Watched Children of Men this evening, and the commentary by Zizek in the Bonus Features section of the DVD. One need not have to say much regarding the bleakness of the film, if this brief commentary seemed the most animated part of the viewing. Zizek gave his interpretation of the film. On infertility as a foreground (the plot) and background (the lack of historicity in a post capitalist-apocalyptic scenario) etc, etc. What struck me, in the film and his commentary, was the bit on the preserved art - that all art looses its meaning when deprived of a world. And by that, I am guessing both the film and Zizek mean a historical continuity. Without that continuity, the art has no meaning, and a certain "cutting off of the moorings and drifting as though in a boat" (film ending) is the only course/recourse. I wonder.
My father, on a recent trip to the US, was often amused by the stud construction going on all around him. It wasn't so much the honesty of materials that seemed to be the issue, really. He simply wondered if this form of building would ever produce ruins.
Coincidentally, I have encountered recently an intriguing form of treasure hunting, that has nothing to do with pirates or parties. It gives a whole new meaning to a walk in the park.