Interrupting Everyday Life: Public Interventionist Art as Critical Public Pedagogy

In this article we explore two urban interventions art projects in the public sphere designed by our Masters’ students at New York University as they set the stage for a discussion on how urban art interventions can function as a form of critical public pedagogy. We argue that these kinds of public art projects provided a space for dialogue with people on the streets about the increased corporatisation of the public sphere. This kind of urban interventionism, we believe, is needed in art education today, as the public sphere is increasingly being eroded by private interests and it is only by reclaiming the public sphere that we can develop a cultural politics that in turn renews our democracy.