The Power of fiction and a shared framework in confronting contested pasts

Artistic memorial interventions that raise the question ‘what if?’–what life in the present would look like had past events unfolded differently–can be understood in light of the concept ‘as if’ in Jeffrey Goldfarb’s Politics of Small Things. ‘As if’ constitutes a shared framework for public debate that enables a more equal voice to participants with different identities and social positions who meet ‘as if’ they were equal. In cases of conflict over the past and present, like Nakba’s memory in Israel–Palestine, the creation of a joint framework in which all sides can participate without erasing asymmetrical violence and power relations is crucial yet difficult. By opening up space for the consideration of counter histories, a new public can be formed, even if temporarily, and potentially expand the horizon of public debate.