Political Participates in Common Space
How the community changes the public space or public sphere into political use by commoning and to attract the community to participate in that space?
Introduction
Politics must affect city development in many ways, such as economic relativise, identity diversity, religion, etc. The architecture and city serve the vested interest mainly under particular needs and purpose. The public may not have the rights to participated in unless they follow some condition. The differential treatment may make people lack a sense of belonging and resist. I think the public should have the rights to speak out their opinions and involved in any discussion, persuasion and debate. As Arendt (1958) mentioned, ‘The pools, properly speaking, is not the city-state in its physical location; it is the organisation of the people as it arises out of acting and speaking together, and its true space lies between people living together for this purpose, no matter where they happen to be.’
As MA students, we need to think more and consider more about the social public and the realist world. We need to act as a bridge to communicate with different stakeholders and provide solutions for solving any problems or arguments, rather than focus on the aesthetic only. Nowadays, there are a lot of construction sites in a lot of districts. I want to transform all of them into a political assembly hall for the public to use, whatever during the construction period or as a part of the social hall in a built estate. Study the community how to use the public space by ‘[…] create new forms of social life, forms of life-in-common’, mentioned by Stavrides (2016, pp3), which is the starting point of my whole advance research project.
Antisocial behaviour | Graffiti
In the beginning, I did some fieldworks by taking photos on the inspired construction site, Silwex House, which is in the Shoreditch and nearby the Quaker Street and Brick Lane. I found out that there was a lot of graffiti (Fig.1) painted on the white chipboard outside the construction site, which made me recognise that the public needs a space to speak out there voice to the local council. I had some quick chats and interviews with the local; most of them said that the graffiti had become the signature, identity and icon of that area. The local community tend to use graffiti to express their feelings, opinions and political stances. Do the graffitis on walls is one of the examples to explain environmental antisocial behaviour that is ‘affect the wider environment, such as public spaces or buildings’ by Thames Valley Police (2020). The Shoreditch community tend to use graffiti as the tool to express and explain their mind to the world.
Figure 1. Yeung, J. (2020) Graffiti on white chipboard outside the Silwex House Construction Site
(Source: personal archives, 2020)
By the observation and the historical background combined in the Brick Lane and Shoreditch, there are many art pieces, and graffiti did on the wall surface on the street. The graffiti did on the construction site chipboard panels make interested in it. I want to study more and deep understanding of the political messages from the graffiti.
You may found out that there were some against the Conservative Party (Tories) graffitis on the chipboard panel (Fig.2) since the London Borough of Hackney is lead by the Labour Party. There may be some antagonistic within the local community, since there is some new-in community work in Greater London and live in Shoreditch, especial the Shoreditch is on the boundary in-between The Greater London and Hackney. Moreover, there are some graffitis which are about global issue such as war and peace (Fig.2).
Figure 2. Yeung, J. (2020) Graffiti on white chipboard outside the Silwex House Construction Site
(Source: personal archives, 2020)
The relationship between arts and politics
As the relationship between arts and politics in the world history, artworks may only be owned by politicians or religious organisation in the past. In the past 100 years, there was much evidence shown that the paintings can act as brainwash tool for the politician or government to control the public or direct the society. As Demirel and Altintas (2012, pp 444) mentioned ‘[…], it was determined that art contributes politics in different areas such as critical thinking, aesthetic, directing societies, providing peace and order.’ In the past western, Germany used this poster (Fig.3, right) to promote Hitler as their saviour to lead Germany to way out from the great depression in the presidential elections of 1932. In the East-Europe, Alexander Rodchenko from the Former Soviet Union painted the poster (Fig.4, right) to promote knowledge. Even in the modern era nowadays, China propaganda the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong and (Fig.5, below) and agitation Chinese to follow Mao’s policies. In North Korea, they promote socialism and agitation people to fight against the U.S.A (Fig.6, below). There are a lot of political art drawings, paintings, posters, events (Arirang Folk song), slogans, which all are included the political messages and may be used to direct the society and order. That’s why I want to deeply study the political messages from the artworks and understanding how they work.
As Terzi (2008) mentioned, ‘Art deals with socioeconomic as well as political facts in the community in the light of behaviour patterns of human beings in certain periods, and it leads the community’s artistic wants and demands.’ I am interested in the relationship between art and politics. Those produced artworks are clearly to deliver the political messages by the authorities or government and brainwash the community.
The political paintings used to agitation and propaganda, ‘[…] galvanising public opinion and communicating their message to the largely illiterate peasantry’ by the Art Limited (2016). Here is the evidence to show that those paintings are a great tool to promote messages and agitation the people get to interact and participate in it. Those paintings are powerful to deliver messages to the public, specially installed on the streets.
Figure 5. N.A (2011) The Darkly Seductive Art of Chinese Propaganda. Available at:
http://meuploads.com/2011/09/24/the-darkly-seductive-art-of-chinese-propaganda/
The design project needs some case studies to evaluate the further development, and the purpose, which used to give confidence the audience to believe the way of progress is possible and may suitable under similar situations and background. Since my project is exploring the relationship between the local community and the political, so I need to do some case studies to explore how political effect local community; the spatial use or transformation based on the political needs in the local community. The following examples and cases used to study how people take place or placemaking in public for political participation only.
Commoning in the public with politics paintings
China
In mainland China, there are a lot of politic paintings, and slogans drew on the public street. In the past few years, the Communist Party of China established the Chinese Dream concept and presented it to the world. At the same time, the government asked for cooperation from the public. The aims of the Chinese Dream drew on the wall (Fig. 7, right), which are national prosperity, national rejuvenation and people happiness.
In the 20 th century, the politic stances of China were required people to follow the Communist Party of China. There were a lot of proclaiming and praise wordings drew on the exterior political paintings on the street. ‘The majesty of the greatness, honour and glory and proper Communist Party of China’ (Fig.8, right).
Figure 3. Mjolnir (1932) Our Last Hope: Hitler. Available at:
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/100-years-of-propaganda-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Figure 4. Rodchenko, A. (1924) Books (Please)! In All Branches of Knowledge. Available at:
Figure 6. Unknown North Korean artist (1960s) Socialist Cuba and Socialist Korea, united against U.S. imperialism. Available at:
https://eastiseverywhere.tumblr.com/post/107586511541/unknown-north-korean-artist-socialist-cuba-and
Figure 7. Unknown artist (2018) Scholars Warn of Chinese Influence Operations in U.S. Available at:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/scholars-warn-of-chinese-influence-operations-in-u-s-1543449490
Figure 8. Schumaker, B. E. (1972) Spectators in front of a large sign on Nixon's motorcade route in China. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spectators_in_front_of_a_large_sign_on_Nixon%27s_motorcade_route_in_China._- _NARA_-_194413.tif
Hong Kong SAR
Figure 9. Studio Incendo (2019) HK Protest Art, Kwai Fong Lennon wall. Available at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/studiokanu/48955755633/
Figure 10. Studio Incendo (2019) HK Protest Art, Kwai Fong Lennon wall. Available at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/studiokanu/48956305741/
Durning the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in 2019, there were a lot of powerful paintings stuck on the public wall for spreading the politics stances and democracy exceptions to the world. It is not hard to understand the core meanings of those paintings with the slogans at the back (Fig.9). There’s a female protester drew on the paintings with the wordings behind, which means ‘Liberate Hong Kong; Revolution of our time’. These powerful paintings deliver the meaning of ‘fight against corrupt governments, unjust policies’ by Stavrides (2016, pp 02). That female protester had been identified as the Hong Kong version of Goddess of Democracy.
Moreover, the paintings may not only used to express political stances but also used as a media to recount the stories (Fig. 10). Generally, the public tends to believe the evidence which shown the 721 attack* and 831 attack** in MTR station are because of the MTR Corporation allowed the mob and police force to take operation and attack passengers randomly. From figure 8, there are some wordings at the bottom right-hand side, which means ‘The Diary of Young Lady Protester’.
* Well known as 721 attack, 2019 Yuen Long attack was a mob attack that occurred on 21-22 July 2019, in Yuen Long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Yuen_Long_attack
** Well known as 831 attack, 31 August Prince Edward station incident refers to an incident in which Hong Kong police allegedly indiscriminately.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Prince_Edward_station_attack
Commoning in Hong Kong Victoria Park
As mentioned a MA student who is doing art and interior design could contribute to the community and doing a postgraduate degree. I think we need to consider more about the society and provide some spaces and possibilities for the public to speak out their opinions and thinking through the artistic way. I strongly believe that the local community is the largest group and beneficial to the district, not the vested interests only. The local community will speak out their demand through action emotionally, maybe commoning by protest, panda and assembly.
Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, acts as the bridge to connect the international and China. Nowadays, there are a lot of policies may against the local citizen’s opinions or political stances which are released by the Communist Party of China, which may affect the public come out and speak out their opinions and stances.
In the past twenty-three years, after the handover, there were five protests happened. Moreover, the assembly of Memorials for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests has been held in the Hong Kong Victoria Park annually. The Victoria Park had picked as the venue or the meeting point for those mega parades and assembly.
Hong Kong Victoria Park | The temporary assembly Venue
The Hong Kong Victoria Park was opened in October 1957 and named after the statue of Queen Victoria, which built complex sports facilities with other leisure architectures. You may found out that there are a lot of outdoor courts (Fig.11 & Fig.12) in the park and formed as a public space. When the Tiananmen candlelight vigil assembly held, those public spaces will become temporary ‘collectively private space […] the outdoor space of a gated community’ (Fig.13) by Stavrides (2016, pp 04). Those public spaces transfer as collectively private spaces by ‘placemaking’, mentioned by the Placemaking Chicago (2008), which tallying with the following specific principles: ‘the community is the expert; create a space rather than design; cannot do it alone, develop a vision; money is not the issue’.
Case 1 | Annual Memorials for 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
Traditionally and historically, the Hong Kong Victoria Park had become the assigned venue for the assembly. ‘Common space is a set of spatial relations produced by commoning practices’, mentioned by Stavrides (2016, pp 03). The Hong Kong Victoria Park as the public space for the leisure activities such as exercising, which is ‘managed by authorities which act in the name of a community,’ Stavrides (2016, pp 04). On the 4 of June each year since 1990, the park had been transferred into an exterior assembly venue for memorising the Tiananmen Square protests by ‘reflecting on their identities, […], and the meanings of the place’ as Chan’s review article mentioned (2018, pp 399).
During the memorial assembly, all participants have distributed candlelight (Fig.14) to join the assembly at the entrance. At the beginning of the assembly, the host will give a speech with the list of the victims (Fig.15). After that, they will lead all participants to observe a moment of silence in tribute. After that, there are some memorial events will be ongoing such as to lay flowers and bowing to the monument; after that, the organiser will play the documentaries and the records of interview Tiananmen Mothers.
In 2019, the assembly had ‘broaden the impact of this civic space by coordinating schedules for programming and improvement projects’, mentioned by the Placemaking Chicago (2008), by combing the social issue such as Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement and the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Mainland. The social background at that time increased the impact of the assembly indirectly.
Case 2A | Occupy Central With Love and Peace (OCLP) in 2014
The Hong Kong citizen not satisfied the limitation for the council and chief executive election (831 decision) issued by the twelfth National People's Congress of China set limits on 31 August 2014, which against the promise made by the basic law and Sino-British Joint Declaration. The Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholars organised the 922 and 926 Class Boycott. These two organisers respond to Benny Tai, the Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, started The Occupy Central with Love and Peace. Protesters began to take place in the forecourt of the East Wing of the Central Government Complex (Fig. 16), which is commonly known as ‘Civic Square’. The land use originally planned as public space (according to the document from Town Planning Board) but had blocked because of the temporary installation of the fence and postponed without rational reason. According to Stavrides’s article (2016, pp 04), the ‘Civic Square’ became ‘collectively private space’ because the government accepted the postponed decision made by an external contractor, which is not acceptable. The protester asked for withdrawing the 831 decision and restart the Political Reform Advisory. Civil disobedience is the core of OCLP and people expressed their opinions and politics stances by taking place in the ‘Civic Square’ (Fig. 17) and occupied the Tim Mei Avenue and Harcourt Road on 28 September.
However, the police shot the tear within 10 seconds later when they unfurled a banner that stated ‘WARNING, TEAR SMOKE’, which made the protesters and Hong Kong people angry about the excessive force. The excessive force was the reason derived The Umbrella Movement later.
As ‘public space’ and ‘collectively private space’, the Case 1 and Case 2A, ‘those forms of closed common space tend to “corrupt the common” and to block the liberating potentialities of commoning practices’ Stavrides (2016, pp 04). That’s the reason the OCLP didn’t gain massive impact in the international, not like The Umbrella Movement.
Case 2B | The Umbrella Movement in 2014
People did spontaneous occupation on the main roads in a different district by parades, assemblies and sit-in at that night immediately, protesting the police to disperse the demonstrators with escalated force. The Occupy Central gradually evolved into the ‘Umbrella Movement’ after the long-term occupation.
The protesters who occupied the main roads and created a new character for those exterior spaces during The Umbrella Movement, which had ‘[…] expresses the power commoning has to create new forms of life-in-common and a culture of sharing’ by Stavrides (2016, pp 04-05).
Generally, those main streets used for transportation purposed only. The Harcourt Road (Fig. 18) is the major highway in Admiralty, and connecting Central and Wan Chai. This highway suddenly transformed as a vast exterior commoning space by protesters’ ‘communication practices and their premises, especial when focused on cultural terms for communicative action’ Carbaugh (2017, pp 19). The protesters occupied that major highway by pitched the tents (Fig. 14) with some supply stations (Fig. 19). The movement had affirmed as a long-term occupation at that moment.
The occupation on Harcourt Road was an iconic operation because that action ‘remarks on the distinctive characteristics of power mechanisms, space plays an important role’ by Stavrides (2016, pp 17). The highway played a vital role and delivered a message to the local public and international. The road nurtured the spirit of local democracy had been wake-up.
By comparing with the Annual Memorials for 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Victoria Park and OCLP in ‘Civic Square’, the most successful point of The Umbrella Movement was capture the sight internationally and created a significant impact and message o the world of the Hong Kong democracy development.
Case 3 | The Exterior Temporary Documentary Theatre set-up in 2019 Hong Kong Protest
In the general news background of the protest in Hong Kong last year, the largest broadcasting medium company - TVB hid a lot of truth and edited the footage which may mislead the public to understand the protest in a different way. The TVB press has lost the function of inspection of the government and presents the truth to the public. There was a lot of local representatives anger with that and agreed that the government wants to control the populace by fake news as it afraid people know the truth. There were some of the temporary protest video replay theatres had disturbed or dissolved forcibly by the Hong Kong police force. As Oldenburg (1989, pp 66) mentioned, ‘In totalitarian societies, the leadership is keenly aware of the political potential of informal gathering place and actively discourages them.’
The picture (Fig.20, right) shows there was a 2019 Hong Kong Protest Video Replay Activity under a bridge on the street in the local community, to expose the police force violence hadn't displayed on the TV or any broadcasting channels.
Fig. 11 - Time Out (2014) Victoria Park. Available at:
https://www.timeout.com/hong-kong/attractions/victoria-park
Fig. 12. Victoria Park, Leisure and Cultural Services Department (2014) Park Map. Available at:
https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/parks/vp/layout.html
Fig. 13.Fei, L. Y. (2019) Thousands of people gathered at Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Tuesday, the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on a student-led democracy movement at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/world/asia/tiananmen-anniversary-china.html
Fig. 14. realhknews (2014) Use the Candle Lights at Victoria Park to Light Up the Torch of Localism. Available at:
Fig. 15. だ＊ぜ (2019) The main stage used in 30th Anniversary Memorial of Tinanmen Square Protests. Photographed in Victoria Park, Hong Kong. Available at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:30th_Anniversary_Memorial_of_Tinanmen_Square_protests_3.jpg
Fig.16. Wing1990hk (2015) CGO East Wing Entry Plaza Compare. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CGO_East_Wing_Entry_Plaza_Compare_2012_vs_2014.jpg
Fig.17. Sam Tsang (2014) Protesters being surrounded by police after storming ‘Civic Square’ in 2014. Available at:
Fig.18. Wing1990hk (2014) Harcourt Road under Umbrella Movement. Available at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harcourt_Road_under_Umbrella_Movement_20141101.jpg
Fig.19. Pasu Au Yeung (2014) Umbrella Revolution in Admiralty Night View. Available at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Umbrella_Revolution_in_Admiralty_Night_View_20141010.jpg
Fig.20 - Aboluowang (2019) Temporary Protest Replay Assembly under the bridge. Available at:
https://tw.aboluowang.com/2019/0908/1340009.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (Accessed:2019)
Conclusion
By studying the archives of the community to use the public space through political participation, the commoning practices are the core to make the public space meaningfully. Moreover, those examples exposed the way to attract the public to get into those political spaces in public by huge impacts with significant meanings and played an essential role for society and community. The research exposed the way and perspective for me to work from for my experimental design project. As Scheeren (2015) mentioned, ‘We can think of architecture as complex systems of relationships. Both in a programmatic and functional way, and in an experiential and emotive or social way.’ The design project can develop more on the impact way with massive art installation to bring out the atmosphere with some iconic graphics or logos which can make space create some noise in society and let people memorise it easily.
Annotated Bibliography
Arendt, H. (1958) The human condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Art Limited (2016) Exhibition Agitation and Propaganda: The Soviet Political Poster 1918–1929. Available at:
(Accessed: 02 March 2016)
Carbaugh, D. (2017). Terms for talk, take 2: Theorizing Communication through Its Cultural Terms and Practices. In D.Carbaugh (Ed.), The handbook of communication in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 15-28). New York, NY: Routledge.
Chan, N. K. (2018) ‘Place-Making and Communication Practice: Everyday Precarity in a Night Market in Hong Kong’, Space and Culture. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, 21(4), pp. 439–454.
doi: 10.1177/1206331217741085.
Demirel, I. N. Osman Altintas, O. (2012) Relationship between art and politics. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 51 (2012) 444 – 448. SciVerse ScienceDirect.
Available online at: www.sciencedirect.com
(Accessed: 01 August 2012)
Oldenburg, R. (1989) The great good place : cafés, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts, and how they get you through the day. New York: Paragon House.
Placemaking Chicago (2008) ‘11 principles of placemaking’. Available at:
http://placemakingchicago.com/about/principles.asp (Accessed: 01 January 2008).
Scheeren, O. (2015) Why great architecture should tell a story, Available at:
https://www.ted.com/talks/ole_scheeren_why_great_architecture_should_tell_a_story (Accessed: 13 April 2017)
Stavrides, S. (2016) Common space the city as commons / . London: Zed Books.
Terzi, S. (2008), 12 Eylül 1980 Sonras Sanat-Siyaset likisi ve Plastik Sanatlara Etkisi, Yaynlanmam Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Eitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, zmir.
Thames Valley Police (2020) What is antisocial behaviour? Available at:
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/asb/af/antisocial-behaviour/
(Accessed: 01 January 2020)
Illustrations
Figure 1. Yeung, J. (2020) Graffiti on white chipboard outside the Silwex House Construction Site
(Source: personal archives, 2020)
Figure 2. Yeung, J. (2020) Graffiti on white chipboard outside the Silwex House Construction Site
(Source: personal archives, 2020)
Figure 3. Mjolnir (1932) Our Last Hope: Hitler. Available at:
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/100-years-of-propaganda-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Figure 4. Rodchenko, A. (1924) Books (Please)! In All Branches of Knowledge. Available at:
Figure 5. N.A (2011) The Darkly Seductive Art of Chinese Propaganda. Available at:
http://meuploads.com/2011/09/24/the-darkly-seductive-art-of-chinese-propaganda/
Figure 6. Unknown North Korean artist (1960s) Socialist Cuba and Socialist Korea, united against U.S. imperialism. Available at: https://eastiseverywhere.tumblr.com/post/107586511541/unknown-north-korean-artist-socialist-cuba-and
Figure 7. Unknown artist (2018) Scholars Warn of Chinese Influence Operations in U.S. Available at:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/scholars-warn-of-chinese-influence-operations-in-u-s-1543449490
Figure 8. Schumaker, B. E. (1972) Spectators in front of a large sign on Nixon's motorcade route in China. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spectators_in_front_of_a_large_sign_on_Nixon%27s_motorcade_route_in_China._- _NARA_-_194413.tif
Figure 9. Studio Incendo (2019) HK Protest Art, Kwai Fong Lennon wall. Available at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/studiokanu/48955755633/
Figure 10. Studio Incendo (2019) HK Protest Art, Kwai Fong Lennon wall. Available at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/studiokanu/48956305741/
Fig. 11 - Time Out (2014) Victoria Park. Available at:
https://www.timeout.com/hong-kong/attractions/victoria-park
Fig. 12. Victoria Park, Leisure and Cultural Services Department (2014) Park Map. Available at:
https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/parks/vp/layout.html
Fig. 13.Fei, L. Y. (2019) Thousands of people gathered at Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Tuesday, the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on a student-led democracy movement at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/world/asia/tiananmen-anniversary-china.html
Fig. 14. realhknews (2014) Use the Candle Lights at Victoria Park to Light Up the Torch of Localism. Available at:
Fig. 15. だ＊ぜ (2019) The main stage used in 30th Anniversary Memorial of Tinanmen Square Protests. Photographed in Victoria Park, Hong Kong.
Available at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:30th_Anniversary_Memorial_of_Tinanmen_Square_protests_3.jpg
Fig.16. Wing1990hk (2015) CGO East Wing Entry Plaza Compare. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CGO_East_Wing_Entry_Plaza_Compare_2012_vs_2014.jpg
Fig.17. Sam Tsang (2014) Protesters being surrounded by police after storming ‘Civic Square’ in 2014. Available at:
Fig.18. Wing1990hk (2014) Harcourt Road under Umbrella Movement. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harcourt_Road_under_Umbrella_Movement_20141101.jpg
Fig.19. Pasu Au Yeung (2014) Umbrella Revolution in Admiralty Night View. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Umbrella_Revolution_in_Admiralty_Night_View_20141010.jpg
Fig.20 - Aboluowang (2019) Temporary Protest Replay Assembly under the bridge. Available at:
https://tw.aboluowang.com/2019/0908/1340009.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (Accessed:2019)