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.