Although prevalent in the work of the APG and the IU, ‘incidentality’ is not a term that either iteration readily defines in a prescriptive manner. We can, though, get a sense of the concept’s significance in John’ Latham’s Event Structure and its description of the what an incidental person does:

Incidental Person is an individual who, when confronted by two opposing ideological fixes, ‘takes the stand of a third ideological position which is off the plane of their obvious collision areas. The function is more to watch the doings and listen to the noise [. . . .] In doing this, (s)he represents people who would not accept their premises, timebases, ambitions, formulations as valid, and who will occupy the scene later.’ (Latham, 1981, back cover)

The IU also uses the term ‘incidental’ to mean occurring without a predetermined intention. In other words, incidentality is independent of special interests, namely commercial, industrial, government and institutional premise. Incidental refers to what Barbara Steveni identifies as the “not knowing” experienced by an individual who enters an unfamiliar context or chooses to critically examine their own.

The IU seeks to encourage and foster an approach that interrupts existing institutional codes and therefore create the opportunity to develop new patterns in education, administration, planning processes and more.