Participation Is Risky: Approaches to Joint Creative Processes

The term ‘participation’ is used frequently within the contexts of design, art, new media and innovation. What is called participation is often no more than simple interaction with participants. A recent generation of designers and artists are noticing an increasing desire for real cooperation, but setting up projects in a participatory way is often not part of their skills.
Participation Is Risky describes the negotiations that designers and artists engage in when setting up participatory projects with familiar and strange, public and private, professional and amateur, and other participants. These negotiations are defined as risky trade-offs.

‘Risky’ reflects the uncertainty that artists, designers and participants experience in participatory contexts. Based on case studies of real-life participatory projects and a review of the literature, this book offers insight in these uncertain, but valuable trade-offs in a hands-on and reflective way.
Liesbeth Huybrechts is researcher and lecturer at the Media, Arts and Design Faculty (MAD-Fac Genk, LUCA/KULeuven, BE), Cultural Studies KULeuven and Design Academy of Eindhoven, NL. She leads the research Unit Interactions and is associated with the group Social Spaces, both exploring the social and participatory meanings, uses and applications of art, design and new media.

Yanki Lee, Cristiano Storni, Jessica Schoffelen, Katrien Dreessen and Selina Schepers work at various research institutes and focus on design methodology and technology for participation and social innovation.