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INTERVENTION IN URBAN SPACE - Artistic intervention as a tool for artistic research and teaching.

Published by Aalto ARTS Books, Finland
Copyright: Anna Jensen, Denise Ziegler & Taina Rajanti 2018
ISBN 978-952-60-7792-5

Intervention In Urban Space presents three different perspectives on intervention art through projects done by the authors Anna Jensen, Denise Ziegler and Taina Rajanti as well as a collective introduction that considers the concept and background of intervention art.

The book grows from the ‘Pori School’ tradition and the way it has evolved, using artistic interventions done in city of Pori as its concrete examples to discuss a variety of issues involved in artistic interventions in urban space.

From 2004 to 2014 Aalto University had two master’s programmes in Pori. During that time it’s projects, teaching and art left classrooms and galleries and spread to the city space, combining art and research, social structures and contexts and interaction between these different questions. The city of Pori became a laboratory and a platform for experimental artistic acts. Now this so called Pori School is continued by the teachers, researchers and former students, involving also more theoretical frameworks and projects implemented elsewhere than in the city of Pori.

In this book experimental artistic intervention is considered as a social interaction, act or an artwork that is time and site specific, takes a stand on the prevailing situation and challenges conventional ways of thinking and using our surroundings. In interaction with a city space and citizens it raises questions about public space, it’s limitations and possibilities. The book introduces its readers to the history and concept of intervention art but also presents recent interventions related to the Pori School and the authors through texts and images. Throughout the book we get a closer look at these interventions, their main research questions and the context of urban space - for example the interventional event Pori World Expo (2015) explores the urban space of Pori and possibilities of monumental art during the Pori Jazz Festival when the city is filled with tents and stands. The sculptural intervention Oars for a Fence (2016) approaches the theme of the sublime experience in public space from the point of view of a person walking through the city.

The books is for all interested in artistic intervention and issues of urban space, students, teachers, researchers, artists and all users of urban space.

For further information contact:
Anna Jensen +358 50 5986606 / anna.jensen@aalto.fi
Denise Ziegler +358 50 3320 965 / denisezieglerdeniseziegler@gmail.com
Taina Rajanti +358 50 3845662 / taina.rajanti@aalto.fi