Impressions on the Park Fiction Project
- by Rhoda Viajar -I was greatly impressed by the Park Fiction Project. The film which serves as a documentation of the initiative shows how a project that involves a community’s open space is all at once personal, local, global. It is personal because of the aspect of “wish production” where residents were asked to articulate and express the kind of park they wanted. It is local for it involves a common space for the community. And it is global because it fuses together various cultural symbols and practices, and discusses urban processes that affect many cities all over the world.
The process undertaken is amazing because of its participatory nature. The project operated on a very loose organizational structure and process. Yet, it successfully managed to get the deep personal involvement of individuals in planning the design of the Park through what they called “Wish Production.” More than collectively working for an entitlement or the right to a public space, the project was also clearly about individual aspirations or wishes expressed in a communal undertaking.
I absolutely affirm Margit’s statement that the project has been worthwhile -- that the residents’ participation and expression are already achievements by themselves. However, having entered into the very personal sphere of wishes and aspirations puts the artist activist in a dilemma.
This is a dilemma that confronts social workers, community organizers and advocates: How do we build on the little/big achievements we have made? How do we persist in tapping into individual and collective power? How do we continue so that we are able to deal with, confront, overcome the struggles, difficulties, triumphs that come with transformation – whether they be large-scale or small-scale. How do we continue with concrete actions at the same time that we contemplate on theories and strategize our practices?
It is quite sad that the initiators view the project as finished. It seems that from the beginning, they may have already confined themselves to the goal of having a Park. Now that the Park has been constructed, they consider the endeavour done. I am however inclined to think that if an organization had been formally established, even if a loose structure was still maintained, there could have been an opening to other initiatives that the community might just decide to undertake. These initiatives could be political and involve engagements with the local government on development of programs and policies that affect human rights.
The need to address the sustainability of self-organizations is, I think, an important lesson of the Park Fiction Project. Still, whatever has been achieved can be maximized. One way is to make the film available to the public, especially those engaged in community projects, because Park Fiction is clearly a good example of a participatory process. With its blatant messages and subtle texts, its free and inspiring spirit grounded on firm convictions, “Park Fiction” can be a powerful tool to ignite action.
