Atmospheres and Occasions of Informal Urban Practice

Abstract

An architect and an artist discuss approaches to working with public space, social engagement, aesthetics and politics. Whilst the architect has been more concerned with agonistics and the artist with hospitality, they share interest in fostering informal urban practices. Their dialogue explores the potential contemporary role of the creative public practitioner, referring to different projects, ranging from action-based provocations and surgical interventions in public space, to a series of open-ended socially engaged public events and provisional transportation situations. The conversation unravels both their conflicting and shared desires for how informal creative practices may engage in the ongoing re-conditioning of different kinds of participatory urban atmospheres and occasions, whilst circling around how creative criticality might be more publicly valued and lived by urban citizens.