“ A square is porous , balancing its porousness with some focal point , like a fountain or a reliable patch of sun with some benches that marks a break from the cars and streets and invites people to stop , look , exhale , find one another 3 .”
If one defines a square by these criteria , Blaha does not comply . One must see it as an in-between space . At the everyday level , Blaha ’ s identity consists of a transaction of mundanity . The repetitive actions are merely a surface level interaction which includes walking , waiting , standing and staring . People are present yet there is no engagement with the place-space . Our act of communicating with the inhabitants of Blaha was an attempt to break this pattern , revealing moments of personal history and individuality : an organised chaos that breaks through the ordinary .
A singular Harmony is a short documentary which witnesses our intervention in the square . It consists of all the spoken words , all the paths tracked and all the faces we encountered .
Conclusion
Our experience of the mapping the local module was a true challenge . The format of the week long seminar was on one hand enlightening with the concentration of topics and ideas in such a short space of time . However , as we have stated , time is an important factor , and a longer seminar period or a weekly lecture could have provided more support and comfort for developing our ideas . It was also interesting to work in a new way with a group of previously unknown people , as it provided unexpected thinking methods and different media for expression . Conclusively , we ’ re proud of how we faced this challenge . This project made us question everything we previously knew and has armed us with a new way of mentally tackling these issues .
3 Michael Kimmelman , Part one culture : Power of the place . Introduction , in City Squares , Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World , Non-Places , HarperCollins Publishers , 2016 , p . 11
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