DEEM SYMPOSIUM
Designing for Dignity 04:
A Convening of Possibilities
Explore the programming recaps
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Room Dossier
Thank you to everyone who joined us in person and online, and to our speakers, moderators, and collaborators. We are grateful to the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Graham Foundation, the Eames Institute, the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, ThirdSpace Action Lab, the Black Reconstruction Collective, and the Chicago Architectural Biennial for their support. We are also grateful to MCA Chicago for their continued collaboration and partnership.