As the gamut of profitable goods becomes stagnant and market competition reaches its limit, the final marketable aspect is experience. This is why high-end restaurants have turned into performance art shows. You can’t really compete just on food anymore, you have to provide a unique experience. The future of commerce is selling experiences more than selling quality goods.
I don’t know much about Italian politics but I assume Rome is strapped for cash as well as other major tourist locations featuring historical sites. I think the various orgs who own and run these sites are going to start doing this kind of stuff. They’re going to turn the sites into unique locals for restaurants, venues, and other businesses. A restaurant in The Great Pyramid. A U2 concert in the Colosseum. A strip mall on Stonehenge.
Of course it won’t happen fast and it won’t be as gaudy starting out.
https://archive.is/5V4Yf#selection-991.0-995.244
One decision has already been made which may disappoint fans of Gladiator, the Oscar-winning film. Despite earlier plans to bring back gladiators for mock battles, Ms Russo said that the ministry was aiming higher. She said: “The arena will be used for high culture, meaning concerts or theatre but no gladiator shows.”
Yes it will start out as high-tech but historically respectful. Preserve the site, but offer some flexibility in how it’s displayed. Only “high culture” allowed. So opera, theater, that kind of stuff. That is until a decade or two from now when Rome needs even more cash and they decide to start letting pop bands play there. If they can pull it off then other places will start doing it to make up revenue.
Sure this isn’t super new. People have been exploiting these sites for centuries. But I feel a lot of them have been able to strike a balance between commercialization and being a museum. With everything going to shit though, I think things will tip into commercialization’s favor and we’re going to get billboards on the great wonders of the world. Or they’ll slowly be chopped up and sold off to commercial/private interests. We’re going to see a hiving off of culture the way we’ve seen it happen to all public interests.
I’m not against updating ancient spaces or adding some kind of use. It’s just that before this is the top of a slippery slope. And when the bottom of that slope is a giant pile of money, then slipping isn’t so bad. Again, I’m not familiar with Italian or Roman politics, so maybe they’re genuinely good stewards and are in a tough spot. But all I can imagine is the wrong people jumping on this idea and commercializing these spaces. So you can’t even get a break from it and immerse yourself in history without that too having to serve some for-profit goal.
Meh, if they can make it without damaging the building it’s kinda cool… problem is they probably wont
Depends on how it is run, but historical sites such as this often do not run at a very big profit, even the Colloseum, or the profits end up ocvering for other less popular sites. Museums are notoriously underfunded everywhere in the world. Very often curators and the like are also looking at ways to bring more people in, both for profit but to inspire interest, promote culture, etc.
So yes, it is a capitalism move, because we live in a capitalism system, and things in it have to use the tools of capitalism in order to survive. Is it just a money-grab? Could be. But it could be a number of other things, perhaps a bit of all.
The Colosseum is at least meant for entertainment, it’s not like a temple or something
They should fill it with water again and do stunt boat shows with crazy pyrotechnics
haha fucking hell
i mean i genuinely think its cool to use old things, even ancient and culturally important things, as they were intended. but modifying an ancient structure to use it more or less as intended but with modern technology just doesn’t sit right with me. if they were planning to restore it using the same methods the romans used to build it, so that we can see more or less what it looked like originally, that would be badass, and i think the romans themselves would probably be far more pleased with that than the idea that their entertainment arena has become some delicate artifact left to crumble and be looked at from afar.
