Collective Memory in Urban Spaces: Reclaiming Women’s Representation through Augmented Reality
Isabel Carvalho

This study examines how artivist Augmented Reality (AR) installations can act as critical expressions to (re)configure collective memory and enhance women’s representation in public spaces. Grounded in feminist urban studies and arts-based research, the study analyses the #MakeUsVisible project, with particular focus on #JulietToo by Tamiko Thiel, as a case study of digital counter-monuments. These artistic practices respond to the persistent underrepresentation and objectification of women in public monuments, challenging dominant representations by adding layers of different narratives to existing public monuments, without physically altering them. #MakeUsVisible AR installations address the ongoing underrepresentation and objectification of women in public monuments and transform spaces where gender is often invisible into canvas to create art for resistance, reflection, and collective care. The results highlight how these artivist interventions challenge culturally accepted patriarchal norms and urban social practices that are often unquestioned.
AR counter-monuments contribute to debates on how feminist artivism can generate artistic interventions that express diverse narratives and lived experiences, function as civic and pedagogical tools that promote spatial critical thinking and support the (re)construction of a collective memory that fosters more equitable forms of spatial representation.