In the end, then, what did we accomplish? Is saving a public green space enough compensation for the ways in which dog parc gallery ‘generated capital’ for the forces we would otherwise have hoped to challenge? While it is undeniable that our work was co-opted and the now-protected park was exploited for private profit, there are several distinct results from our process that deserve a final underscore. First, in an irreducible, material way, the park as historic space remains. For those who wish to learn more about its activist heritage, our public artwork, publications and blog are accessible traces. Second, the project foregrounded a type of urban resident very rarely prioritised in planning and development initiatives: dogs. In saving the park as a space of inter-species connection, dog parc gallery made a small but meaningful contribution to the greater recognition and inclusion of urban animal dwellers — in particular what Donna Haraway calls companion species, in Montréal’s built environment. Despite the intensification of capitalist processes around the park, the collaborative efforts of artists and resident-activists prevented private development on this citizen-created place. For us, dog parc gallery has inspired a sustained reflection on the process and consequences of community-engaged, site-specific work. While one cannot ignore the risks of interventionist spatial practice, the rewards in this case inspire us to continue to work through the ethics and rewards of the ongoing creation of truly public space. c
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Braidotti, Rosie. The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013. Deutsche, Rosalyn. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics . Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996. Grosz, Elisabeth. Chaos, Territory, Art: Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth . New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Haraway, Donna. The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness . Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003. Harvey, David. Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development. 2006; repr., London: Verso, 2008. Harvey, David. Spaces of Hope. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Latour, Bruno. Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005. Tureli, Ipek ‘‘Small’ Architectures, Walking and Camping in Middle Eastern Cities.’ International Journal of Islamic Architecture 2, no.1 (2013): 5-38.
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