ABSTRACT
In 2001, the Taliban desecrated Bamiyan’s Buddhas, colossal 1,500-year-old sculptures that had long been the centerpiece of Afghanistan’s material cultural heritage, leaving behind hollow niches and staggering voids. Reflecting on some terms we use to discuss artworks and heritage objects, I note that meaning and value seem invariably to be conjoined. Using Bamiyan as an example, I argue that this is a mistake, for meaning and value, which coalesce in an achievement like the Buddhas, come apart in cases of massive desecration. I examine the absence of value, perhaps even the presence of “anti-value,” in the willfully produced vacuity at Bamiyan, seeking to comprehend the nature of deliberately induced emptiness.
