Agency of the street

Abstract

The dynamic of the street in political struggles is not to be found merely in the fact that it is the space for visibility and representation, but also in that it is the space where potential emancipatory action and non-mediated modes of social conduct can play out. This paper will examine this notion of the street in the context of events of unrest and crisis in Athens from 2008 until 2012. The paper argues that the irregular changes of social, economic and political features in the city during that period transformed public space from primarily a ‘space for representation’ and a ‘space of representation’ to the site/space allowing the subversion of social relations in times of crisis.