This past May, Deem presented its second live symposium: Designing for Dignity 02: A Convening of Possibilities. In continuation with 2023’s inaugural gathering, this hybrid in-person/online event was co-hosted by the MCA Chicago among other collaborating venues across the city on May 17, 18, and 19, 2024.

We expanded on our guiding premise of dignity as the intrinsic lens for liberatory design practices with two days of presentations and conversations, as well as participatory workshops and on-site experiences that happened both at the museum and throughout Chicago. This year’s program brought together innovative and acclaimed artists, designers, scholars, and organizers to reflect on a range of design-related topics, disciplines, methodologies, and agendas.

We also organized a three-day Reference Room, located at the MCA and adjacent to the theater, that provided a public gathering space in which anyone could encounter and experience reading materials that have inspired our five print issues. Literature in the form of books, articles, and essays reflected thoughtlines in our research, specific mentions from our pages, and recommendations from our contributors. It was our intention to create context and access to educational tools around Deem’s processes and beliefs, as well as a haven for reflection and repose.

On the evening of Friday May 17, the weekend kicked off at Blanc Gallery on Chicago’s South Side. Our opening act welcomed magician Nicole Cardoza, who used stage magic to open our minds to the possibilities of imagination beyond literal perception. Artist and designer Norman Teague and International Interior Design Association Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst then exchanged ideas around ontologies of beauty within the design industry and how to nurture more joyful and liberated aesthetic languages. This conversation was moderated by Deem cofounder Marquise Stillwell.

Our program on Saturday May 18 was hosted at the Edlis Neeson Theater at the MCA Chicago. Tricia Hersey—the visionary founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that uplifts rest as a form of resistance—started the day with an immersive daydreaming activation while exploring the power of designing rest as a practice of love, liberation, and community care. 

A conversation between 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, spoke  on designing for and through healing, and the vital modalities of restoration and transformation.

Following last year’s precedent, the afternoon features two Expansive Practice Presentations. Creative technologist, artist, and educator Ami Mehta explored how game design, storytelling, and social impact can intersect to address issues across representation, climate change, cultural preservation, and community collaboration.

Independent curator, gallerist, and space-shifter Ciera Alyse McKissick shared 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 illustrated how her various projects have helped shape the ways that audiences interact with, view, and experience art in unconventional ways. 

A conversation between 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, examined the dynamic relationship between sound and spatial practices, with particular attention to Chicago’s music culture history.

The day came to a close with “Decolonizing Design: Designing for Liberatory Joy,” a talk by Dr. Dori Tunstall that addressed two aspects of decolonizing design: putting Indigenous first and dismantling the racist bias in the European modernist project in design.

This year’s workshops included: “UnBlocking Injustice—It’s NOT A Game®” hosted by Englewood Arts Collective at the MCA Chicago; “Envisioning Liberation in Changing Communities” hosted by Mobile Makers Chicago; “Opening the Gates: Restorative Design Justice In Practice” hosted by Territory NFP; and “Sunday Morning Reset: Meditation as a Creative Clearing Practice” hosted by Brandon Breaux at Just Don.

Thank you so much to all those who attended, both in person and online. This symposium was part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.