How do we build the future on the past? Public spaces as solid forms filled with new content

Abstract

This article examines statues and monuments in public space as materialized narratives that shape collective memory, political values, and social inclusion. Drawing on theories by Ann Rigney, Friedrich W. Nietzsche, Sandra Shapshay, Sharon Zukin, and others, it argues that monuments do not merely represent the past but actively structure the present by naturalizing selective, often exclusionary histories. Their durability, scale, and placement produce emotional responses of awe and humility that can reinforce domination while rendering alternative memories invisible. Recent waves of statue toppling, particularly following the Black Lives Matter protests, are analyzed not as acts of erasure but as moments of visibility that expose the instability of monumental meaning. The article conceptualizes toppling as a collective, spatial practice through which marginalized voices contest inherited narratives embedded in the built environment. Through case studies ranging from Krzysztof Wodiczko’s performative public artworks, Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth project, to the grassroots “Buddha of Oakland,” the paper explores alternative forms of monumentality grounded in temporality, participation, and care. It concludes that public spaces should be understood not as fixed containers of memory but as solid forms filled with changing content. Monuments, therefore, are best approached as provisional instruments within negotiation over values, belonging, and the possibility of collective change.