Designing for Dignity 04:
A Convening of Possibilities

This past October, Deem presented its fourth annual symposium, Designing for Dignity 04: A Convening of Possibilities. Hosted by the MCA Chicago on October 24, 2026, this hybrid in-person/online gathering positioned dignity as a foundational principle of design, with a weekend of programming that began the evening before at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

Our shared belief in the innate value and deservingness of all human beings grounds how we characterize liberatory design thinking, as well as how we incubate its potential expansions while connecting to the most pressing challenges of the moment. As dignity continues to be transgressed and disregarded by those in positions of leadership and power, this year’s symposium was an occasion to recommit to our most essential values, and to each other. As in past years, the program brought together presentations, conversations, and a participatory activation that merged a variety of approaches to social practice, convening an intergenerational community of experimentally-inclined thinkers and doers who represent a range of lived and professional experiences and perspectives.

Explore the programming recaps

● CONVERSATION

Kahlil Joseph and
jada-amina
Following the screening of BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, Joseph and jada-amina discussed his approach to the archive and why institutions need to center Black stories on Black terms.

Video coming soon

● KEYNOTE

Brendan
Fernandes
A participatory keynote that moved between speaking and movement, asking the room to see institutions as living spaces grounded in dignity, care, and belonging.

Video coming soon

● DIALOGUE

Curry J. Hackett, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Patricia Nguyen moderated by Ari Melenciano

A conversation on imagination as a working method, and how speculative work across art, design, and world-building can test ideas and open up alternative realities.

Video coming soon

● PRACTICE ACTIVATION

The Black School (Joseph Cuillier and Shani Peters Cuillier)

Opening with a lecture on the traditions of Black New Orleans, participants turned prompts into phrases, poses, movements, and sounds, which the room performed as one shared declaration: a living manifesto for liberatory design.

Video coming soon

● DIALOGUE

Debra Yepa-Pappan, Carrie Sandahl, Scott Vincent Campbell moderated by Elijah McKinnon

Drawing on Deem’s forthcoming issue, Inventing the Institution, the panelists looked at how Chicago’s institutions have been built through improvisation and mutual aid, and what those lessons offer for building with dignity and equity.

Video coming soon

● ENDNOTE

Torkwase Dyson
A talk on water infrastructure and the extractive industries that shape it, and on Black Compositional Thought, her framework for how paths and architectures take shape through Black life.

Video coming soon

Reference
Room

We once again presented the Reference Room, a two-day public gathering space located at the MCA, where anyone could encounter and spend time with the reading materials that have inspired our five print issues. Open October 23–24, the collection of books, articles, and essays reflected throughlines in our research, specific references from our pages, and recommendations from our contributors. It was our hope to offer context and access to the ideas that shape Deem’s processes and beliefs.

Stories
Shop
About
Symposium
Podcasts

hello@deemjournal.com Instagram Newsletter

Deem Journal is a partnership between Openbox and ROOM FOR MAGIC