Prefiguring Democratic Futures (PREDEF) proceeds from the assumption that the much-discussed crisis of democracy is not simply a crisis of the political system. Rather, it has become difficult to even imagine democratic alternatives as well as possibilities to expand and radicalize democracy in the future. Democratic imagination is rejected under the neoliberal hegemony of the ‘TINA-principle’ and the rise of neo-authoritarianism. The demise of democratic imagination is accompanied by a loss of belief in a more open, equal, and democratic future.
It does not suffice to defend existing democratic achievements. Addressing the crisis of democracy requires broadening the horizon of democratic possibilities by exploring potentials for deepening and pluralizing democracy. PREDEF goes beyond the sphere of politics narrowly defined as the body of existing political institutions (i.e. the minimal institutional framework of Western liberal democracy). The project turns to the fields of culture, art, and the history of ideas, as these fields hold hitherto untapped potentials for expanding our democratic imagination.
The main objectives of the research project are:
i) contributing to regaining a ‘sense of possibility’ in a time of vanishing democratic alternatives;
ii) exploring the democratizing potential of cultural and artistic practices and institutions;
iii) learning from neglected configurations of the past specifically regarding institutional designs;
iv) connecting theoretical and empirical research with the aim of genuine cross-fertilization.
PREDEF meets this challenge empirically and theoretically: empirically, artistic and cultural counter-practices are investigated that challenge democratic deficits and champion democratization in the spheres of time-based arts, law, and international relations. Theoretically, the project contributes to a widening of the democratic imaginary by building an archive of past and forgotten institutions as well as by elaborating a democratic theory of imagination.
PREDEF encompasses three subprojects in the fields of cultural research, the history of ideas, and democratic theory:
I Culture – Pre-enacting Democratic Spaces:
SP I explores the democratizing potentials of performative practices by which artists/activists seize and appropriate existing institutions. The goal is to investigate how these practices expand the democratic imaginary by:
i) experimenting with more democratic and egalitarian ways of ‘inhabiting’ existing institutions,
ii) using these institutions to generate public awareness of pressing issues,
iii) producing non-academic, activist forms of democratic theory and
iv) inventing visions of alternative democratic futures that are explicit and implicit in these practices.
The Subproject concentrates on three institutional formats:
i) Theatrical Occupations
ii) Counter-Summits
iii) Civil Society Tribunals
II Archive – Refiguring Forgotten Institutions:
SP II responds to the crisis of democratic imagination by turning to ‘forgotten institutions’. The goal is to investigate institutions that challenge taken-for-granted beliefs about what democracy might look like. To envision alternative futures we need to explore alternative sources:
i) alternative places by turning to global political thought beyond the confines of the Western canon;
ii) alternative times by diversifying the traditional focus on ancient and modern proposals;
iii) alternative voices and forms of expression by acknowledging the production of political theory outside the genre of ‘big books’, including manifestos, speeches, declarations and storytelling.
Two Research Avenues of Subproject II Archive:
i) Establish an Archive of Forgotten Institutions: The SP aims to create a living archive of institutions that can reinvigorate and shape the debate on the crisis of democracy.
ii) Explore the Uses of the History of Ideas for Democratic Theory: The subproject uses the history of ideas to trigger an estrangement effect with the present.
III Theory – Conceptualizing Democratic Imagination:
SP III constructs the project’s conceptual basis and theoretical framework by elaborating a democratic theory of imagination.
Two Focal Points of Theory Formation in Subproject III:
i) Democratic Imagination and Democratic Imaginaries: Theory clarifies PREDEF's basic conceptual tools, including 'prefiguration', 'disclosure', and 'pre-enactment'. This conceptual groundwork feeds into a democratic theory of imagination.
ii) Counter-Institutions as Spaces of Democratic Imagination: What does it mean to prefigure democratic futures by engaging in counter-institutional environments and practices? For the democratic theory of imagination, counter-institutions serve as paradigm cases of embodied and realized democratic (counter-)imaginaries.
For more information visit PREDEF's website (
https://predef.univie.ac.at/)(opens in new window)!
