Episode 24: Design Studio for Social Intervention
Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), is a Boston-based “artistic research and development outfit” that operates in response to social justice and its literal and figurative resonations in public space.
“We’re interested in what it means to start to go from having a temporary productive fiction like a public kitchen that helps communities imagine new arrangements; to what would shift if we started to see a community that wanted to really hold on to that as a more permanent arrangement.”
Founded by Kenneth Bailey and Lori Lobenstine in 2006, DS4SI invites activists, artists, academics, designers, dreamers, tricksters, organizations, and foundations to respond to critical and urgent social problems in a light and playful manner. Through these encounters, DS4SI questions the impacts of change in social relationships that may affect everyday life and intervenes in the ways of practicing it. In their words, they are “dedicated to changing how social justice is imagined, developed and deployed in the U.S.A”.
Episode Notes & Links
https://www.ds4si.org/#test-section
Written by DS4SI, IDEAS ARRANGEMENTS EFFECTS could be considered a roadmap for using social interventions to invite the larger public into imagining and creating a more just and vibrant world. The book unpacks how ideas like racism and sexism remain sturdy by embedding themselves in everything from physical and social infrastructure to everyday speech and thought habits and provides tools to sense, intervene in and imagine new arrangements. https://www.ds4si.org/bookshop/ideas-arrangements-effects-systems-design-and-social-justice-paperback-book
SUMMITT undertakes the role of executive dog within the team of DS4SI. She brings a deep passion for wide-open public spaces to all of her work. Her leadership positions at DS4SI include Public Relations Lead for the Upham’s Corner Street Buffet (and street buffets everywhere), Co-Captain of the Snoozing Team, and Chief Lunch Procurer. https://www.ds4si.org/people/2021/3/1/summitt-executive-dog
Inspired by the family kitchen as a gathering place, the Public Kitchen invited Upham's Corner and Dudley Street residents to feast, learn, share, imagine, unite and claim public space. Over 500 community members joined DS4SI as the Public Kitchen launched a week of fresh food, cooking classes & competitions, a mobile kitchen and Hub, food-inspired art, and other events. https://www.ds4si.org/creativity-labs//public-kitchen
Alongside various other academic positions, Ceasar McDowell is a Professor of Civic Design at MIT. He teaches civic and community engagement and the use of social technology to enhance both.
The Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) at MIT supports the Department of Urban Studies Program by bringing together the best thinking in planning and information technology with the learned experience of community practitioners. https://dusp.mit.edu/programs/overview
Trickster Makes This World is a book by Lewis Hyde. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56450.Trickster_Makes_This_World
Razorfish is one of the world’s largest interactive agencies.
Created by David Walsh, MONA is a museum in Hobart, Tasmania. https://mona.net.au/museum/about
Initiated by DS4SI, Black Citizenship Project engaged artists from the Boston area and beyond to provide a public, artistic response to police-sanctioned violence against Black bodies and Black communities. https://www.ds4si.org/interventions/2016/7/25/black-citizenship-project#:~:text=Black%20Citizenship%20Project%20engaged%20artists,Black%20bodies%20and%20Black%20communities.
Dating back to 2010, The Church Street Partners’ Gazette by Can Altay was an exhibition that took place in Showroom, London. https://www.theshowroom.org/projects/can-altay-the-church-street-partners-gazette
MÇPS was a work by Can Altay realized in 2017. It was a walk-in jamming/recording studio that popped up in the artist-run space İMÇ 5533, İstanbul.
Lagoon is a novel by Nnedi Okorafor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_(novel)
Sun Ra is a god who walked on earth and made music. https://splice.com/blog/who-is-sun-ra/
Ezra Collective is a band of extremely skilled, visionary jazz musicians. http://ezracollective.com/
Bringing together residents, artists, activists, and passers-by, inPUBLIC highlights the importance of “public-making”—the collective creation of opportunities for interaction, laughter, dialogue, learning, and surprise. https://www.ds4si.org/interventions/inpublic
Social Emergency Response Centers are temporary, emergent, and creative spaces co-led by activists and artists. They pop up in response to a new attack on a population or to a long-standing injustice. Check DS4SI’s detailed manual to learn more or start one in your city! https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c7166ee4b0e7db2be69480/t/5914a3dd579fb3c20cf4ab9a/1494524919092/DS4SI-SERC-Manual.pdf
Ferguson riots in Ferguson, Missouri, involved protests and riots which began on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.
This season of Ahali Conversations is supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. The Graham provides project-based grants to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society.
This episode was also supported by a Moon & Stars Project Grant from the American Turkish Society.
This episode was recorded on Zoom on March 15th, 2022.
Interview by Can Altay. Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.