Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PREDEF (PREFIGURING DEMOCRATIC FUTURES. CULTURAL AND THEORETICAL RESPONSES TO THE CRISIS OF POLITICAL IMAGINATION)
Período documentado: 2022-10-01 hasta 2025-03-31
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/)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)!
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/)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)!
SP I: After the first year, the application of the method of ‘organic theory’ was reflected in form of a workshop, and further refined regarding the category of the expert, the situatedness of researchers, and the ethical responsibility toward research collaborators. Bringing experts from anthropology and cultural theory into our conversation allowed us to draw out the interdisciplinary impact of the project’s methodological approach as well as to explore possibilities of further dissemination.
SP II: The concept of “creative anachronism” was developed, which aims to elaborate on the intimate connection between historical and theoretical research as opposed to seeing these endeavours as largely autonomous. Instead, creative anachronism is a method that considers idea-historical research as constitutive for theoretical arguments. Its value lies precisely in the friction between past and present, letting the latter appear as only one possible configuration and thereby expanding the horizon of what seems imaginable.
SP III: (1) An interdisciplinary collaboration was set up with ethicists on ethical and political issues regarding the concept of Imagination. Two interdisciplinary workshops were held, leading to knowledge transfer between the theoretical parts of our project to the field of ethics as well as to incorporating ethical issues of imagination in the theory-formation conducted in SP III. (2) The subproject engaged in intense interdisciplinary collaboration with epistemologists and philosophers of language to fathom the relation between imagination and truth in its political dimensions.
SP II: The concept of “creative anachronism” was developed, which aims to elaborate on the intimate connection between historical and theoretical research as opposed to seeing these endeavours as largely autonomous. Instead, creative anachronism is a method that considers idea-historical research as constitutive for theoretical arguments. Its value lies precisely in the friction between past and present, letting the latter appear as only one possible configuration and thereby expanding the horizon of what seems imaginable.
SP III: (1) An interdisciplinary collaboration was set up with ethicists on ethical and political issues regarding the concept of Imagination. Two interdisciplinary workshops were held, leading to knowledge transfer between the theoretical parts of our project to the field of ethics as well as to incorporating ethical issues of imagination in the theory-formation conducted in SP III. (2) The subproject engaged in intense interdisciplinary collaboration with epistemologists and philosophers of language to fathom the relation between imagination and truth in its political dimensions.
In the book “Postfundamentalismus” SP II and III propose a novel way of thinking postfoundational theories and the project of founding and institutionalizing together. This argument advances the debate on the relation between radical democratic theory and political institutions.
The conceptual groundwork on political and democratic imagination took some major steps forward to reframe the concept of imagination in radical democratic terms. Research has shown that from a political and democratic perspective, imagination cannot be conceived as an individual mental faculty. Rather, political imagination involves material dispositives, collective forms of relationality, and bodily practices. This reconceptualization goes well beyond the state of the art in imagination theory and will be further substantiated in the monograph on democratic imagination and a monograph on the aesthetics of radical transformation.
The conceptual groundwork on political and democratic imagination took some major steps forward to reframe the concept of imagination in radical democratic terms. Research has shown that from a political and democratic perspective, imagination cannot be conceived as an individual mental faculty. Rather, political imagination involves material dispositives, collective forms of relationality, and bodily practices. This reconceptualization goes well beyond the state of the art in imagination theory and will be further substantiated in the monograph on democratic imagination and a monograph on the aesthetics of radical transformation.