What happens in Palestine is a model of violence that could spread anywhere and in some much less intense form already here with us. The greatest danger is the feeling that nothing can be changed. That we don’t have a project of our own.
So, what if we set up an International(ist) Visual Assembly: a space where everyone, every group will be able to imagine and to describe their own vision of our common future. A good future, that we united us to build it together.
Our democracies still look like theaters: a few actors speak, the rest remain silent. Occupy broke this form with gestures and collective voice.
Visual Assembly goes further. It invites everyone — children, migrants, strangers — to draw, to place, to mark. It turns decision-making into a feast. A giant map spread across a square becomes a stage for care, freedom, and imagination. The Greek theater was a court; democracy became its stage. Occupy cracked the stage with hand signals and the murmur of crowds. Visual Assembly is the next step: a carnival of maps and drawings, where even silence speaks. It is not about representation but presence, not about speeches but traces left together.
We need a space where everyone can imagine and share their own vision. That’s Visual Assembly: an international attempt to draw a world that doesn’t exist yet.
How it works
Each group of people gets a map (download or by mail) showing the beginning of a social space.
First, each person draws and describes their own space without consulting others — this could be their home, or maybe a school they would like to build, or perhaps they want to spend the whole day in a garden. The map will provide this space.
The second step is to imagine the space around their homes (or other private spaces), and then meet with neighbors to discuss: How to make a common road? Where will food come from? Would we have public lights on the streets?
Step by step, people will need to arrange common space and discuss it with each other. But maybe someone will refuse to move towards the center, or prefer to remain in their own home. That is also fine.
Questions for the group (we would like to discuss them with you):
How do we deal with security? What if your beautiful city, neighborhood, or country is attacked?
How do we deal with internal security? What if neighbors go mad and start attacking others?
Should food be produced together, or should everyone have their own garden?
How should schools be organized?
Do you need a museum, a church, a parliament?
What happens with domestic animals?
If conflicts occur between people (and they always do), how will you resolve them?
We will provide examples of answers that have already been given by different groups who participated in Visual Assemblies over the past years — from China to Northern Syria, from London to New York, from Berlin to Lviv.
How people can get the map
The map can be printed by anyone who wants to take part in the project.
Potentially, we can also print some maps ourselves and send them to groups who want to participate.
Who could join us?
We are looking for groups of 2 to 50 people who would be willing to spend an hour or two imagining, describing (with writing and drawings) another world as they see it.
Results
The results will be collective maps of possible futures — what would be in them?
We have never done such a large project before, so (for now) we propose to:
publish all photos of submitted maps on one large online “sheet,”
create a text description of each project,
and then hold a collective discussion to try to create a shared vision of the common world we would like to build.
What next?
The results will be collective maps of possible futures. We all sow the vision of the future that is presented to us by all sorts of authorities. What would be the alternative vision, that provided not by one group or one person, but many people joining together?
This project is for everyone, wherever we live: Palestine, Congo, Ukraine, Sudan, Russia, Europe or anywhere else. In a time of climate crisis and conflict, it’s a way to imagine a world that belongs to us all.