Work Description
A poetic field guide and artistic promptbook designed to activate imagination in cities where public space is scarce—especially Jakarta. Mixing illustration, text, photography, and game-like quests, it invites readers to perform soft interventions in their urban surroundings, reclaim overlooked places, and contribute to a collective story of presence. The book emerged from a year-long research and design process supported by Locarno Film Festival’s BaseCamp 2025. It’s part publication, part experiment, and part invitation to reimagine what public life could feel like. A visual and spatial reflection on Jakarta’s urban condition, echoing collective public art, field notebooks, and poetic social design.
Publisher Note
Let This Book Be Your Public Space isn’t meant to be finished — it’s meant to be wandered, used, and quietly left behind.
It’s a book that doesn’t want to be read — it wants to be used. Part game, part toolkit, part poetic ritual, this book invites you to interact with the forgotten parts of your city: a park bench, a patch of light, a too-loud hallway, or the inside of a library shelf.
Inside, you’ll find characters who each offer their own lens on public space. Paired with them are quests — small actions, creative instructions, and soft disruptions — that invite you to reclaim your surroundings through presence, play, and invention.
It’s made for cities like Jakarta, where public space is rare — but imagination is not.
| Publisher | self-published |
|---|---|
| Release Place | Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland |
| Edition | 1st Original edition |
| Release Date | 14th August 2025 |
| Credits |
Editor:
Writer:
Author:
Designer:
Artist:
Supporters:
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| Printrun | 10 |
| Work | |
|---|---|
| Subform | Instructional Art Book, Interactive Workbook |
| Style/Movement | Participatory Art, Concrete Poetry, Urban Tactics |
| Genre/Content Form | Action/Project, City Map, Experimental Narrative |
| Topics | Jakarta, Libraries, Public Space |
| Themes | Soft Rebellion, Public Imagination, Resistance, Slowness |
| Methods | Action Performance, Activism, Activity, Illustration |
| References | Inspired by the spirit of Jenny Odell's "How to do Nothing". |
| Language | English |
| Work Creation Date | 20th September 2025 – 14th August 2025 |
| Object | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 17.0 × 26.0 × 3.0 cm |
| Interior | |
|---|---|
| Pages | 95 |
| Content | - Notes - Quests - A Daddy, The Ghost, The DJ - Mountains Beyond Mountains - Burn Baby Burn - Designated Soft Zone |
| Technique | Digital Offset |