Abstract

Nowadays, the role of monuments in public space is a matter of controversy around the world. While public space is being reshaped by social movements worldwide, digital rights to the city raise questions about physical spaces and address them through the digital realm. The purpose of this research-creation project is to examine the possibilities of Augmented Reality (AR) as a platform made for expression and speculation in public space. Critical and speculative design methods are used to foster engagement by examining the capacity of social and cultural movements to produce democracy in public space. Through this research-creation process, qualitative data is used to investigate the capabilities of Augmented Reality as a participatory medium, and Anti-monumentalism as a gradual response concerning the city and memories is explained. Consequently, each stage of this dissertation tries to unveil a particular aspect of the central phenomenon that could form a multifaceted online platform that amplifies the unheard voices of the city. In this framing, decision-making is no longer a one-way relationship, where information is produced and spread by responsible authorities but could be redefined more collaboratively through active engagement.