Interventions

There were some years when we threw the students in at the deep end and gave them a challenging assignment in their first class. For example, we divided them into small groups and asked them to perform an intervention at the Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For the duration of the class, which was about three hours, they were asked to pay close attention, to observe, and to get a feeling for their surroundings, before planning and executing an intervention in the space and also documenting their activity. Among the interventions they conceived were: writing messages and concealing them inside books; offering an origami workshop to people studying at the library; riding bicycles through the library; taking naps together on the tables; to name a few. Most of the first semester of the course was devoted to studying theoretical materials; observing projects together and analyzing them; and individual and group exercises. During the summer semester the students created projects in the community. Over the years some of the summer projects comprised complex and ongoing interventions.