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Designing for Dignity 03

On October 24 + 25, 2025, the MCA Chicago hosted Deem Journal’s third annual symposium. Designing for Dignity 03: A Convening of Possibilities carried forth the thematic discourse of the past two years’ gatherings with a day of hybrid in-person/online programming dedicated to expansive perspectives on liberatory design thinking..

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Participants
Theaster Gates +
Duane Powell +
Edra Soto +
Ghian Foreman +
Andres L. Hernandez +
Katherine Darnstadt +
Radha Mistry +
Nadia Elokdah +
Cate Fox +
Sruti Suryanarayanan +
Marz Lovejoy +
Mabel Wilson +
Nu Goteh +

Program
Saturday October 25, 2025

KEYNOTE

The Place of DwellingEdra Soto

The kindness and love for humanity that imbue the work of artist and educator Edra Soto have proven the transformative power of art to inspire positive change. Soto spoke on how she strives to empower unheard voices and celebrate fellow creatives in order to build spaces for reflection, convening, and collaboration.

DIALOGUE

On Our Terms: Imagination and Urban SpaceGhian Foreman, Andres L. Hernandez, and Katherine Darmstadt

This panel-style conversation, moderated by architect Katherine Darnstadt, considered possibilities for spatial futures in Chicago. The speakers, each of whom are deeply enmeshed in imaging placemaking in this city, spoke about designing equitable approaches to urban revitalization and regeneration that are, both conceptually and functionally, by and for the communities who hold this city dear.

PRACTICE ACTIVATION

Memories of Tomorrow: A Meditation on Futuring Practices & Possibilities
Radha Mistry

In a not so distant future, a not so simple reality persists: ten billion people are poised to want the same thing that we all do. More. Amongst a backdrop of increasing turbulence—think climate change, the encroachment of fascism, and the perpetual imminence of war—perhaps there is another way? But real things take time to grow. Architect turned speculative designer, educator, and storyteller Radha Mistry asked—what else might we imagine into being if we embrace a practice of slowness? A meditation on what could be.

DIALOGUE

Resourcing and Regeneration: Solidarity Economies for the NowNadia Elokdah, Cate Fox, Sruti Suryanarayanan, and Marz Lovejoy

This panel-style conversation, moderated by artist, community caretaker, and cultural strategist Marz Lovejoy, brought together practitioners who are intimately involved in the design and operation of solidarity economies for the present. With special consideration paid to the artists and culture workers who are most affected by our current administration's defunding actions, they considered what it takes to meaningfully sustain the work of artists over time.

ENDNOTE

Futures of MemoryMabel Wilson

Architect, designer, and scholar Mabel O. Wilson shared her explorations on the complexities of the architectures of commemoration. She reconsidered how marginalized histories challenge conventional uses of archives and the design of commemorative landscapes in ways that catalyze new modalities of remembering and imagining possible futures.

Designing for Dignity 3: A Convening of Possibilities is made possible with support from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Graham Foundation, and is presented as part of the sixth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

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