The traditional conception of the public space in an urbanistic approach naturally brings us back to the idea of a square, as a place of exchanges and transactions (whether they be commercial or political and intellectual), which, in turn, brings us to the Antique prototypes of the Agora in Greece and of the Forum in the Roman world.
It is striking that this terminology, which was once reserved to archaeologists or historians, is now back in the usual language to designate the spaces for discussion and exchange on the web. This significant shift in the use of the words is quite revealing of a major social, economic, psychological and sociological evolution, which inevitably brings about a revisiting of the very concept of public space.
Projects that will be presented in a lecture addressed this idea of virtual public sphere as a shared space for encounters, exchanges and debate. All of these are or were linked to websites which, whilst structuring/informing at times their very concept, not only served as platforms of communication but were also used to connect with the potential audience and create a community. The a priori utopian dimension of these projects, which fundamentally aimed at eliciting / creating critical imaginaries (to dream / imagine something in an alternative way is already changing it) nevertheless triggered at times concrete changes.
Emmanuel Lambion is a Brussels-based art worker i.e. curator, critic and producer.