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Terms of Assembly  
 for hybrid public spaces


WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT PUBLIC SPACES

WE NO LONGER ASSEMBLE IN PURELY ANALOGUE, PHYSICAL AND ROMANTIC SPACES.
(WE NEVER HAVE)

WE NEED TO REWRITE THE TERMS OF ASSEMBLY FOR HYBRID PUBLIC SPACES
(THEY ARE NOT DEMOCRATIC BY DEFAULT)



1.    ALL PUBLIC SPACES ARE HYBRID
1.1    The boundaries between real and digital publics have collapsed
1.2    No public spaces are fixed to territory
1.3    They fluctuate across screens, platforms, algorithms, comments and feeds


2.    NO ASSEMBLY IS PURELY DIGITAL, NOTHING IS PURELY PHYSICAL
2.1    IRL public spaces have never been pure and real.
2.1.1    It has always been ideological and commercial interface 
2.2    Architecture has never been pure and real
2.2.1    It has always been ideological and commercial interface
2.3    The internet has never been pure and real
2.3.1    It has always been ideological and commercial interface
2.4    IRL public spaces and architecture have never been a counter part to the internet
2.4.1    They are rooted in the same selective political and financial interests


3.    HYBRID PUBLIC SPACES REASSEMBLE OUR REALITIES
3.1    HPS are simplified realities
3.1.1    They are cutified, gamified, filtered, commercialized, polararized mixed realities
3.2    HPS are exporting Tiktokified worldviews
3.2.1    They turn identity, state and market in to malleable real-time renderings



4.    HYBRID ASSEMBLY METHODS OFFER NEW URBAN TOOLS
4.1    HPS are constructed by gamification, filtering, life-styling
4.1.1    These are just construction methods, they are neither good nor bad
4.2    HPS are reconstructions of the past
4.2.1    They are used for a technologized revival of populist, neoliberal and patriarchal pasts


5.    THE TERMS OF ASSEMBLY NEED TO BE REWRITTEN
5.1    HPS have terms of assembly
5.1.1    The access is limited, otherwise they could not be simplified mixed realities
5.1.2    The terms of assembly are not inherently public. they are becoming privatized and polarized
5.1.3    The terms of assembly need to be rewritten, shifting from private control to collective agency
5.1.4    The terms of assembly can be reapproprated, the same construction methods of HPS can built democratic futures



I AM AWARE OF HYBRID PUBLIC SPACES

I AGREE TO REWRITE THE TERMS OF ASSEMBLY


AGREE



       
       ToA - Terms of Assembly

A project by N. Bashnyak, L. Oschmann, O. Ostermann

2025