Political Protest, Temporary Urbanism and the Deactivation of Urban Spaces

Abstract

This chapter opens new avenues of research in positioning ‘temporary urbanism’ as a manifestation or rise of a particular so-called ‘aesthetic-political regime’ established during periods of public political contest. To do so, it examines temporary urbanism through the scope of artistic interventions aiming to deactivate spaces, in other words, challenge their value and symbolism through a form of visual political protest. It draws on Rancière’s theoretical insights on the relationships between space, political protest and art. Further, it challenges the traditional approaches of temporary interventions and their related areas of queries. It uses Skopje and the example of the ‘Colorful Revolution’ in the Republic of Macedonia to develop this argument.