The Ruins of the British Museum

There are two forms in which architecture becomes a ruin: one during its construction, and the other after its abandonment. Can we return architecture to the state of a ruin-in-construction? The British Museum collects and stores objects marked by colonial histories from across the world, yet as these artifacts are repatriated and liberated, the empire begins to confront its own past. In this reversal, the building shifts from a collector to a releaser—an inversion that once again renders it a ruin.