Écueils du patrimoine affranchi du territoire à l’heure du numérique : limites d’une gestion managériale et dématérialisée de châteaux en ruine

Abstract

This article deals with a supposed new model of heritage management: the collective purchase through crowdfunding of ruined French castles located in rural areas. It has the particularity of bringing thousands of micro-financers from all over the world to the bedside of “endangered” heritage, under under the rule of a start-up whose priorities are above all financial gains and growth. This model also aims to revolutionize the way of looking at asset management in a context of asset inflation concomitant with the decrease in financial support from the State.What are the salient features of this system and how is it received within its reference community, as well as the institutional and expert world? What changes does the arrival of a start-up in the heritage arena provoke, at a time when social networks and the media are stimulating laymen’s enthusiasm for heritage? How do narratives and marketing techniques interact with the anchoring in a particular territory of these buildings exposed to the world? Are these micro-scale upheavals likely to affect established heritage hierarchies and existing registers of value?To answer these questions, around twenty interviews were conducted from 2018 to 2020. They were supported by the analysis of the conferences from the 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions of the International Cultural Heritage Fair, and by the constant monitoring of Facebook pages of the three castles. Finally, the first results were compared with the prospective work carried out by the Pa.ter.mondi consortium.

Keywords

• model
• heritage
• social networks
• values
• start-up
• crowdfunding