This spring, Deem presents its second live symposium: Designing for Dignity 02: A Convening of Possibilities. In continuation with last year’s inaugural gathering, this hybrid in-person/online event will be co-hosted by the MCA Chicago on May 17, 18, and 19, 2024. Deem will expand on the guiding premise of dignity as the intrinsic lens for liberatory design practices with two days of presentations and conversations, as well as interactive workshops and on-site experiences happening both at the museum and throughout the city of Chicago. This year’s program will bring together innovative and acclaimed artists, designers, scholars, and organizers to reflect on a range of design-related topics, disciplines, methodologies, and agendas.

Deem will again organize a three-day Reference Room to provide a public gathering space in which anyone can encounter and experience reading materials that have inspired our five print issues. Literature in the form of books, articles, and essays will reflect thoughtlines in our research, specific mentions from our pages, and recommendations from our contributors. We hope to create context and access to educational tools around Deem’s processes and beliefs, as well as a haven for reflection and repose. The Reference Room will be located at the MCA and open to any visitor from 10 am to 6 pm on May 17–19.

With the exception of Englewood Arts Collective’s activation (which will happen concurrently with the program at the MCA on 5/18), on-site workshops are separate from general Symposium ticketing. You can register for them individually through Eventbrite.

Participation is limited to 20 guests per workshop.

English and Spanish CART captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) will be provided.

Schedule

FRIDAY MAY 17

6—7:30 pm | Conversation 

Artist and designer Norman Teague and International Interior Design Association Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst will exchange ideas around ontologies of beauty within the design industry, and how to build practical and theoretical frameworks for more liberated aesthetic languages. This intimate conversation to kickoff our program will be moderated by Deem cofounder Marquise Stillwell and will take place at Blanc Gallery 4445 South King Drive Chicago, IL.

Please note: The Friday, May 17, event will not take place at the MCA. For Friday tickets, RSVP through Eventbrite.

SATURDAY MAY 18

10 am | Doors Open

10:15 am | Opening Remarks 

10:30 am | Keynote 

Tricia Hersey—the visionary founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that uplifts rest as a form of resistance—will share an immersive daydreaming activation while exploring the power of designing rest as a practice of love, liberation, and community care.

11:30 am | Conversation 

Writer, entrepreneur, and philanthropic innovator Rachel Cargle, multidisciplinary artist, curator, and educator Andrea Yarbrough, and multidisciplinary artist and author Jezz Chung, with moderation from curator and arts administrator Marguerite Wynter, will speak on designing for and through healing, and the vital modalities of restoration and transformation.

12:30 pm | Lunch

1:30 pm | Expansive Practice Presentation 

How can video games inspire positive change in a world facing uncertain futures? Creative technologist, artist, and educator Ami Mehta will explore how game design, storytelling, and social impact can intersect to address issues across representation, climate change, cultural preservation, and community collaboration.

2:30 pm | Expansive Practice Presentation 

Independent curator, gallerist, and space-shifter Ciera Alyse McKissick will share how she has built platforms, connections, and partnerships that center the needs of artists and communities. Expanding on the intersections of interdisciplinary art practices, journalism, and public engagement, she will illustrate how her various projects have helped shape the ways that audiences interact with, view, and experience art in unconventional ways.

3:30 pm | Coffee Break

4 pm | Conversation 

Frankie Knuckles Foundation Founder, President, and Executive Director Frederick Dunson, DJ, producer, remixer, and music publisher DJ Lady D, and designer and curator Joseph Henry, with moderation from Deem cofounder and creative director Nu Goteh, will examine the dynamic relationship between sound and spatial practices, with particular attention to Chicago’s music culture history.

5 pm | Endnote with Dori Tunstall

In her talk, “Decolonizing Design: Designing for Liberatory Joy,” Dr. Dori Tunstall will close the day by addressing two aspects of decolonizing design: putting Indigenous first and dismantling the racist bias in the European modernist project in design.

6 pm | Closing Remarks

Official Website

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Tags: Ami Mehta, Andrea Yarbrough, Chicago, Ciera Alyse McKissick, Deem Symposium | Designing for Dignity 02: A Convening of Possibilities, DJ Lady D, Dori Tunstall, Frederick Dunson, Jezz Chung, Joseph Henry, Marguerite Wynter, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Near North Side, Nu Goteh, Rachel Cargle, Tricia Hersey