Call for Participation for a study-day

Organised by the Laboratory of research GRIEF (ENSA Bretagne, Rennes, France), and The Centre for Design Innovation at Swinburne University (Melbourne, Australia)

Public space and life in the polis were from the beginning public space tightly connected, both in terms of city governance and shared actions of its inhabitants. Whether carefully designed or loosely articulated, public space shapes behavior, providing a frame for the norms and rules of society. At the same time, it implicitly invites transgression. From the agora of Athens to the central squares in the former Communist Bloc, from the streets of San Francisco to the paths in the favelas or other informal communities, public spaces are arenas of political expression, where official discourse and unofficial voices meet/ overlap/ come into conflict with each other.
If official channels of political discourse are well-documented and built into the socio-political structures of modern society, unofficial means of expression are less studied. From explicit forms of protest to furtive integration, we are particularly interested in scenarios where distinctions between official and unofficial political discourses become blurred. This study day will examine how unofficial political voices are made manifest in the urban realm by focusing on one or more of the following questions: 

  • What tactics are used to make these unofficial voices ‘audible’? 
  • How does political expression turn the city into a space of dynamic visuality?
  • What is the impact of ephemeral events on public space?

By questioning a certain normativity (but not only), we seek to stress the connections and the tensions between officially shaped (and designed) public spaces and unofficially used, occupied or appropriated places and/ or itineraries. By viewing political expressions – be they official or unofficial – in this way, we also want to question the very meaning of ‘what is political’.

We invite scholars from the fields of architecture, urban studies, history, political, cultural or social studies and art to engage with these broad concepts. We seek papers that focus on the analysis of both historical and contemporary case studies exploring how the urban realm can shape, frame and even incite political discourse. Presentations can address a range of manifestations in both material forms (from posters, graffiti, art interventions to simple placement of objects) and immaterial practices (rallies, protests, soap boxes, public speeches, art events, etc.).

Send your abstract (300 words) and your short bio (1000 words) to Carmen Popescu ([email protected]) and Flavia Marcello ([email protected]) by July 31, 2018.

Speakers will have to ensure they travel expenses/ we will try to provide a number of fellowships supporting these expenses. Accommodation will be provided for all speakers.

The study day will be held on November 22, 2018 at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Bretagne. Please note that the language of the study day will be French and English.