Re-Public- A Gentle Process of Collectively Inhabiting the Body in Space

When Ren Xin first reached out, inviting me to be part of Re-Public, I felt both excited and hesitant.  I’d long admired Ren Xin’s work and was honoured by her invitation, yet doubted my ability to contribute meaningfully.  Previously, we had participated in Su Feh’s Radical Tenderness (an essential element of Re-Public) workshop together, and I knew the depth and sensitivity Ren Xin brings to her craft.

Our first meeting was in a coffee shop in Section 17, coincidentally just a stone’s throw from Jalan Harapan (please watch her video essay).  We spoke for hours about Re-Public, and I was surprised to find how aligned our practices actually were.

She shared her curiosity about how public spaces are inhabited, wondering who was missing in them and why- "Is it because there is not enough public space, or is it that there’s not enough space in public for certain bodies?"  Her question struck a chord, resonating with my own ongoing exploration of identity, belonging, and Malaysianess - but whereas I’d thought of these themes in abstract or emotional terms, Ren Xin was bringing them into the body, into space.

As I got to know her, I became deeply inspired by her as a person.  Her gentleness and boundless curiosity are matched only by her ability to see things not just as they are, but as they might be.  And how she inhabits her body; her laughter—whole-bodied, as though a joke were a gust of wind blowing her to the floor—is a joy to witness.  Her curiosity, imagination and approach to the body form the foundations of Re-Public.

Our first session involved simply noticing the spaces around us.  I was initially afraid to intrude, not feeling entitled to occupy these spaces.  Yet, over time, I began to understand that space can be porous, shaped by those who inhabit it.  We can expand and reshape the space, gently altering its code to make it welcoming to other bodies and possibilities.

Explaining what Re-Public is proves challenging, as it’s a more embodied experience—one that must be felt rather than told. Still, I’ll try:

Inside

Each session begins by tuning into our bodies.  What sensations arise within?  This seems so simple but how often do we do this in our daily lives of screens and hustle?  Just noticing and expressing an ache or an ease, a pull or a pleasure brings an immediate connection to the body.

Later in the process, another question emerged: What does agency feel like in your body?  This question served as both a powerful connector and a reminder of the agency our bodies hold.  Sometimes, agency feels like being still, leaning or resting; other times, it feels like taking a step forward, stretching out, or even gesticulating wildly.

Outside

Next, we turn our attention outward, checking in with our surroundings and noticing what catches our eye or sparks our senses.  And which sense is stimulated.  The body took in so much during this process: the whiff of perfume and longkang scent, the sight of people from all walks of life going about their day, the feel of wet and dry, hard and smooth surfaces.  It was a feast for the senses.

In these check-in sessions the collective was very much present.  When someone notices something, it brings your attention to it, and suddenly you sense it too.  One person might feel the warmth radiating from the stone beneath them, and instantly you feel that warmth on your own skin.  The unique details others picked up on—patterns in the buildings around us, a couple on a date, the sound of the river—expanded our own awareness.  Someone might mention the sharpness of the grass, and your hand automatically reaches for it, compelled to experience the same sharpness.

Body in Space

With this deeper connection to both body and space, we bring the body fully into the environment.  Silver coined the term “registering” ourselves in the space, which I interpret as establishing a dynamic flow between self, body, and surroundings.  It’s about remaining open to invitations and impulses that arise both internally and from the environment.  For instance, I might shrug my shoulders in response to an ache, or perhaps I shrug because a passerby did, and my body’s curiosity wants to mimic the movement.  Similarly, I may shift my weight from side to side, responding either to an inner urge or to the cool breeze of an air cond that invites me to
sway.  Or both.

All of this unfolds while being fully present in the space—aware of our surroundings and the bodies it contains.

There were many instances where other bodies in the space showed us Re-Public in practice; a middle-aged passerby bopping his upper body joyfully to music, a well-dressed woman swinging her arms with abandon, a family picnicking by a fountain.  Witnessing all this helped activate us.

Nature, too, had a deeply activating effect.  The rough texture of a tree’s bark, the rustling of leaves, the calls of crows overhead—all of these sensations activate and awaken something within the body.

Collective Body

Having practised that, we then focussed on the collective.  Specifically, the collective rhythm.  We explored proximity and distance, movement and sound.  We played with what we called the "mundane-spectacle dial," finding moments to settle into ordinary, almost invisible motions, and others to amplify our presence as a shared spectacle.  This practice of “50% listening, 50% voicing” created a balance where we were both responders and initiators, attuned to one another's impulses and the collective rhythm that emerged.

All this while still honouring our individual agency.  The agency to inhabit the space in your own way, to respond to or reject the invitations that arise.  There is never any pressure to do anything that you don’t want to do, anything that doesn’t resonate with you.

We practised Su Feh’s TMHMLMG in Dataran Merdeka, with the night sky above, history beneath us.  We made pleasure our compass, letting it guide how we inhabited our bodies within the space. One night, after settling into the space by ourselves, we noticed something: a few groups of people began to slowly trickle into Dataran.  We exchanged glances.  A coincidence?  I don’t think so. An invisible invitation that was accepted, perhaps.

Power of the Collective

Why is this a collective practice?  If I see one person stretching in public, I might think, “That person is crazy.”  But if I see one person stretching, and then I walk a little further and notice someone else leaning against a pole, and another person swinging their arms, suddenly I start to think: maybe there are possibilities for my body in this space. It’s never a deliberate thought, more of a quiet, subtle invitation that is received.  A gentle encouragement for the body to be.

This whole process may sound very serious and humourless but I promise you we laughed a lot.  In a session, someone pointed out how rare it is to hear women’s laughter in public spaces, particularly in the spaces we were in.  It struck me how much power there is in women claiming space not just with our bodies but through sound. I like the idea of more women inhabiting spaces in this way—laughing, being present, and asserting their right to joyfully occupy the world.

Intention

During one sharing session, I kept mishearing Okui.  She said a term, but I heard a few others, each of which seemed to capture the essence of what our collective intention was.  It was a happy accident.  The terms I heard were:

• CORE-SHIFTING
• CO-SHIFTING
• CHORD-SHIFTING
• CODE-SHIFTING
• COURT-SHIFTING

Each of these reflected the shifts we wanted to make in the way we experience and inhabit public spaces.

Re-Public Vocabulary

Soft-Soft (Gentleness), Curiosity, Porous, Invitation, Agency, Impulse, Activation.

Re-Public is about extending an invitation to witness, to participate, to inhabit, to move together.  Through our collective presence we hope to reimagine public spaces as sites of belonging and possibility.  This vocabulary is a way of giving shape to that intention — a language that celebrates the power of being present, of moving and being moved, of finding joy and agency within the shared space.

Final Note

As I write this, we enter Phase V of Re-Public.  To quote Ren Xin, this next stage is “Embodied self-included-in-the-picture ethnography; to learn about the place and people, what was, what is, how.”  This will only deepen our practice and I look forward to the exploration.

This unfolding process resists any neat conclusion; the experience is too expansive to capture fully.  What I’ve shared here are fragments—small reflections of a much larger journey.  These glimpses highlight the moments that resonated most with me and parts of the process that have been transformative.  They hold meaning yet can only hint at the depth of Re-Public.  Each part connects to a shared journey of curiosity, possibility, and gentle transformation.

Photos: Hoe Hui Ting, Lee Ren Xin, Meshalini Muniandy