The Political Mission of Contemporary Urban Statuary. Image, History and Territorial Identity in Montpellier (France)

This paper deals with the political dimension of the urban public space. It examines the political meaning of a contemporary statuary. The research carried out in Montpellier (France) deals with three public spaces which gather most of the contemporary statues. We explore the emblematic images (or images of images) of universal, real or mythical characters as several arguments in order to overhaul a new political order in and by the urban public space. This order is read in the perspective of an historical assertion of the territorial identity of the city of Montpellier. We use some aspects of the semiotic triad (icon, index, symbol) of Charles Peirce's theory of signs. First, we consider the new mesh size of the urban public space, which is understood as the expression of a territorial personal foresight, thought by Georges Freche, former mayor of Montpellier. Then, the obsolete civic imagery is reformulated by valuing a social imagery which takes part in an historical urban rhetoric. A triple dimensioning of the historical path of Montpellier is identified: it appears as Mediterranean, revolutionary and global. Finally, in line with the critical urban geography developed, it results in three political effects of the statuary: the first formulates new principles for public-spiritedness and civility through the citadinity; secondly, in a form of paradox, these statues tell a story about the future of the city; last, it shows how a political leader makes space a political one.