ABSTRACT
Linking the everyday with the transformational, the author looks to contemporary claims about space and public art, sussing out the potentials for such dilemmatic spaces that can cultivate new subjectivities, pulling us out of the sovereign imaginary that locks us in the present. That space helps shape who we are is well-established, owing in large part to the work of Henri Lefebvre. Space has a disclosive quality, revealing a particular and contingent world to us, one shaped by the choices made by policymakers, artists, engineers, and private individuals over time. And, in turn, this particular world then acts on us, in ordinary, everyday ways, shaping who we are, providing both subtle and unnoticed influence, as well as the occasional dilemmatic moment or obvious affective force. Picking up on this for political theory, both Susan Bickford and Margaret Kohn have raised the alarm about the connection between spatial practices, the loss of public space, and the potential for democratic political activity.
