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DEMOCRACY. ACADEMY

  • The relationship between language and democracy is indissoluble. First of all, democracy is freedom of speech and the ability to be heard. Freedom of speech in both directions, from the people to their representatives and the other vice versa. So a good sign of an actively lived democracy is what we might call a Babylonian diversity of language, sometimes also a confusion. If we claim that today the reference for any kind of design is democracy, then in this sense; to give space to the multitude of voices, space to unfold. Space is to be understood as any kind of object: Utilities, furniture, buildings, clothes, images, sounds, applications and so on. Behind every voice, whatever the current content may be, there is a narrative, that goes back in history. In a democratic society every object is a potential evidence of the subjective narrative, the attempt to avoid what might harm us, to achieve what promises pleasure and, above all, the desire to become part of a living togetherness.

    In the 18th century, the profession of design began with the Enlightenment. If we use today's terminology, with information design in order to enlighten people and encourage them to discover the world for themselves.

    In the 19th century, the main task of design was to provide what was needed in the form of information and objects so that the subject could enter its role and status in the increasingly powerful bourgeoisie. One of the main tools for this was what we now call the theme magazine – for women, for children, for men.

    In the 20th century, in the Western world, design became a tool to create products that could be perfectly produced on an industrial level and to get people to consume them, what was and is called advertising.

    Although this definition of how design has evolved and changed over the past 300 years is surly too crude, it shows that the primary task of a designer has always been to transform the idea or ideology of the respective time into a physical and communicative reality.

    All of this - from the Enlightenment to the so-called freedom to consume - was supposed to make the world, at least the Western world, a better place, and democracy seemed to be the appropriate form of government for that. This idea has turned out to be fundamentally wrong for a growing number of people. So democracy is both a burden and a responsibility. The burden of a world in which consumption and status have become the only values for a fulfilled life, and the responsibility to reinstall togetherness as the only state of being that has the power to make the „pursuit of happiness“ possible.

    The ability to do together what is necessary presupposes a state of mind and knowledge in which we are able to reflect that the diversity of habits and traditions is first and foremost the diverse formation in history of the basic fears, desires and hopes that count for every living being. In this sense, the world is global, a multidimensional multitude of interwoven threads. Each thread a subjectivized narrative, that together form the texture of being. If this sounds naive, I say that there is nothing more concrete than creating all the objects needed to create togetherness, and that togetherness is needed to create all the objects that make up our world - equipping this narrative is the task of design today.

What

The main themes of our "democracy.academy" program can be understood as dynamically intertwined fields of education, research, and practical implementation.

Each field includes different lessons, lectures, courses or petition.work activities.
"democracy.academy" is an ongoing program initiated by the Academy of Visual Arts, Frankfurt, starting in October 2024.

The offer of lessons, lectures, courses and activities that you can find on the home page is only the current state, which will be continuously expanded.

In 2026, when the city of Frankfurt / Rhein-Main will be the Design Capital of the World, democracy.academy is going to be an active part of the program

Design FOR Democracy

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Below are the three main themes of our activities, along with the corresponding courses and activities:

  • Togetherness and democratic participation

WHY

The relationship between democracy and togetherness corresponds directly to the dual influence of narratives.

How we design our individual narratives determines our collective history, whether it activates dictatorial governments or is oriented towards a democratically formulated togetherness.

What will be - and already is - the impact of artificial intelligence on these processes?

Why do we think it is needed: Since telling one's own story is an act that shapes politics on a very concrete level, we focus on the process of designing the narrative. That by becoming aware of the immediate impact of our narratives, the design of the individual narrative itself becomes a narrative of shaping democracy.

From our perspective, this requires that every story that is told (in terms of what we are trying to achieve, why we are trying to achieve it, and how we think is the best option to make it come true) contains the diversity as well as the unpredictable and unknown that in fact governs all existence.

Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence will more and more dominate the way we see and understand the world, already having a huge impact on the narrative of each individual and the common narrative we call history. Therefore, we have to face the question of how to actively deal with AI.

HOW

In general, the individual narrative is a basic element of the didactic method of the courses within our study program. Specifically for "Design for Democracy," we are launching a series of courses and lectures that explicitly point out the relevance of sharing your experiences in a narrative way for both the aesthetic quality of the designed objects and the ethical objectification of socio-political activities.

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In order to be prepared for the assignments that will be given in the context of Design for Democracy, students at the Academy will be required to read the book described below, which, by the way, we highly recommend to anyone who asks the question about the value and necessity of democracy:

  • "Is it meaningful to call oneself a democrat? And if so, how do you interpret the word?"

    In responding to this question, eight iconoclastic thinkers prove the rich potential of democracy, along with its critical weaknesses, and reconceive the practice to accommodate new political and cultural realities. Giorgio Agamben traces the tense history of constitutions and their coexistence with various governments. Alain Badiou contrasts current democratic practice with democratic communism. Daniel Bensaid ponders the institutionalization of democracy, while Wendy Brown discusses the democratization of society under neoliberalism. Jean-Luc Nancy measures the difference between democracy as a form of rule and as a human end, and Jacques Rancière highlights its egalitarian nature. Kristin Ross identifies hierarchical relationships within democratic practice, and Slavoj Zizek complicates the distinction between those who desire to own the state and those who wish to do without it.

    Concentrating on the classical roots of democracy and its changing meaning over time and within different contexts, these essays uniquely defend what is left of the left-wing tradition after the fall of Soviet communism. They confront disincentives to active democratic participation that have caused voter turnout to decline in western countries, and they address electoral indifference by invoking and reviving the tradition of citizen involvement. Passionately written and theoretically rich, this collection speaks to all facets of modern political and democratic debate.

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