Participatory Democracy
Participatory Democracy: Step Right Up and Vote!, 2004, an art exhibition at Art Interactive
Participatory Democracy was a 2004 exhibition at Art Interactive in Cambridge, MA, a collaborative installation created by Ravi Jain, Natalie Loveless, Jeffu Warmouth, Andrew MK Warren, and Douglas Weathersby, and curated by George Fifield. My major contributions to the exhibition included Democra-Skee Vote Alley and Futuro-Vote.
The following Registration Video, hosted by conceptual artist Donald Burgy, introduced visitors to the exhibition.
Participatory Democracy Registration & Instruction, NTSC Video, 5 minutes
The Exhibition
The interactive exhibition investigated the democratic process, and consisted of the following components:
- Registration, in which participants watch a short video, register to vote, and research our fictional candidates: The Bearded Lady, Two-Headed Ed, The Contortionist, and the default candidate The Great Incumbo;
- Voting, in which viewers vote at our four different voting machines:
- Retro-Vote, an "olde-schoole" pencil-and-paper ballot;
- Futuro-Vote, a temperamental touch-screen voting booth;
- Vote Toss, a chad-less dartboard ballot; and
- Democra-skee Vote Alley, an arcade bowl-a-vote;
- Public Opinion, in which viewer opinion is mapped onto a wall;
- Exit Polling, in which viewers "represent" their candidate and respond to a video interviewer; and
- Campaigning, in which participants were encouraged to paint their own campaign signs to display in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition.
Read the essay Participatory Democracy: Step Right Up and Vote by George Fifield, Curatorial Committee Chair