Gone are the days when an informal orator would step onto an upturned wooden crate (often used to ship soap) in the middle of a bustling public square, to deliver an impromptu speech to a chance gathering—an unregulated creative act involving a self-appointed stage to deliver opinions—a soapbox. What would you consider its current equivalent?

Now, this soapbox takes on a more allegorical garb, equated to designed platforms driven by control, as opposed to the autonomous nature of literal soapboxes. Art fairs, design festivals, and architectural conventions may be paralleled to creative soapboxes. But who gets to speak here? Whose opinions are deemed worthy? Who truly has access?

This issue puts on stage soapboxes likened to events of creative commentaries: STIR has its finger on the pulse of London Design Festival 2023— Material Matters returns with a renewed focus on ‘material intelligence’ as the Shoreditch Design Triangle gears to lift moods with design; digital art abounds during Seoul Art Week 2023; and the opinion piece unboxes the impact of ongoing ‘starchitect’ retrospectives.

The relevance and role of critically perceiving the privilege and subsequent influence of such contemporary soapboxes must be examined. What constructs the voices from these soapboxes?