Intervention

Noun

  1. The action or process of intervening.
  2. Interference by a state in another’s affairs.

Intervene, verb

  1. Take part in something so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.
    1. (in an event or circumstance) act as a delay or obstacle to something being done.

At Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) the term intervention is used when a designer or design researcher adds to, or alters, the status quo. Interventions are often carried out in public space (indoors or outside), with the aim of changing the perspective towards that space of the people that use it. Intervention can also be aimed at improving the design and use of the space. Interventionist art or design practices are often driven by a desire to reclaim common rights to public space and, as such, regularly use ‘hit-and-run’ tactics, aiming to create a temporary disruption (Gielen, 2013; Markussen, 2013).

Most definitions of intervention are based on the model of the autonomous practitioner, whereby a person, or a group of people, decide whether a situation demands a particular action. They enter – often unannounced, unadvertised, and not commissioned – and, making use of a particular context, instigate a change (Markussen, 2013). In this sense, interventions are seen as short-lived and seemingly isolated actions – as opposed to the approach of long-term, participatory processes that seek dialogue with different stakeholders.

The research of DAE alumnus and TRADERS researcher, Pablo Calderón, (see also dialogue) shows the roles that short-term interventions can play in long-term participatory processes (Calderón Salazar, 2017b). In such an approach, the focus is not only on the specific qualities of a given intervention, but also on how it is embedded in a larger narrative. This is the case when an intervention is reiterated with the participation of different people over an extended period of time, becoming an evolving participatory action rather than remaining a one-off event; or when interventions are made at specific moments over the course of a longer trajectory as a way of consolidating the people’s engagement. If this approach is followed, interventions can be part of – and affect – broader systems that extend over time and space.

Dae examples

  • Bouke Bruins, Boyscout designer, Graduation project Man and Leisure, 2017

Literature

  • Alexander, C. (1965). A city is not a tree. In: Architectural forum, 122(1), 58-62.

  • Altes Arlandis, A. & Lieberman, O. (2013). Intravention, durations, effects: Notes of expansive sites and relational architectures. Baunach: Spurbuchverlag.

  • Beer, S. (1975). Platform for change: A message from Stafford Beer. Chichester: Wiley.

  • Boyd, A., & Mitchell, D. (Eds.). (2012). Beautiful trouble: A toolbox for revolution. New York: Or Books.

  • Calderón Salazar, P. (2017a). Lexicon. In: D. Hamers, N. Bueno de Mesquita, A. Vaneycken & J. Schoffelen (Eds.). Trading places: Practices of public participation in art and design research (pp. 21-24). Barcelona: dpr-barcelona.

  • Calderón Salazar, P. (2017b). De Andere Markt: a logbook. In: D. Hamers, N. Bueno de Mesquita, A. Vaneycken & J. Schoffelen (Eds.). Trading places: Practices of public participation in art and design research (pp. 25-34). Barcelona: Dpr-Barcelona.

  • Gielen, P. (2013). Artistic praxis and the neoliberalization of the educational space. In: The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 47(1), 58-71.

  • Huybrechts, L., & Van der Sluys, V. (2017). On interventions and institutions. In: D. Hamers, N. Bueno de Mesquita, A. Vaneycken & J. Schoffelen (Eds.). Trading places: Practices of public participation in art and design research (pp. 35-38). Barcelona: Dpr-Barcelona.

Markussen, T. (2013). The disruptive aesthetics of design activism: Enacting design between art and politics. In: Design Issues, 29(1), 38-50.

Mouffe, C. (2010). Artistic activism and agonistic politics: An atlas of transformation. Zürich: JRP Ringier, in collaboration with Tranzit.

Thompson, N., Sholette, G., Thompson, J., Noordeman, A., & Mirzoeff, N. (2004). The Interventionists: Users’ manual for the creative disruption of everyday life. Cambridge: MIT Press.