A scale model as a public space

In visual culture studies, a scale model (franc. Maquette) is usually considered in two cases: as a phase in the realization of sculptural and architectural tasks or as an element of museum documentation and exhibitions. A scale model serves as a test for the development of creative ideas, while in the second case, it serves to present an existing, real, three-dimensional structure. In addition to being proportionately reduced, a model is often formally condensed, in terms of the use of details. Yet, all these losses (in scale and design) actually open up the space to another element - imagination. A model offers a visual stimulus, which by means of imagination (individual or public) completes the notion of a signified object. Located in a public space, a model becomes its part, keeping its imaginative potential. In other words, a model in a public space brings imaginative content and thus expands the existing public space. In this sense, a very specific model is a model which announces the construction of a public space: the public space represented by a scale model does not exist in reality; a model itself ­ though its imaginative content - is the only reality of this public space. To the public, by announcing a public space, this kind of scale model induces something that might be called 'public imagination'. In this case, public imagination is seen as a process of constructing public opinion by using imaginative stimulants (primarily visual). Starting from these assumptions, this paper will analyse the scale model of the project 'Belgrade Waterfront' as a generator of public imagination. This means that the 'Belgrade Waterfront' scale model will not be viewed simply as an announcement for the public space, but as an original reality in a public space in which it is exhibited, and as an element in the construction of the expanded public space based on imagination. In other words, this means that the 'Belgrade Waterfront' scale model is not examined as a sign that represents something else (future look of the river Sava waterfront), but as a visual structure that builds its own public space.