Ruins gathers a series of writings in the form of verses, fragments, and short essays that Gabriele Tinti has dedicated to the ?living sculpture of the actor?.nnThe poet moves from the tragic sense of death and vacuity which afflicts even those masterpieces we wish eternal, with the aim of giving new life and thought to Graeco-Roman statuary, to all those relics of a now-lost humanity. Through its many courses and varied ideas, the book explores a distinctive relationship with the ancient world, and with the very reasons behind the making of art.nnThis book is the culmination of live readings by some of our times? best-known actors: Kevin Spacey, Malcolm McDowell, Abel Ferrara, Joe Mantegna, Stephen Fry, James Cosmo, Robert Davi, Marton Csokas, Franco Nero, Jamie McShane, Vincent Piazza, Michele Placido and Alessandro Haber?all performed before important works of ancient art.nnRuins includes essays by the eminent scholars of ancient art Seán Hemingway (Metropolitan Museum), Kenneth Lapatin (Getty Museum), Christian Gliwitzky (Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek), Andrew Stewart (UC Berkeley), Lynda Nead (Birkbeck, University of London), and Nigel Spivey (University of Cambridge).