Democracy is a beloved concept across the globe and in the United States, it is sacred. So much so that it generally goes unexamined as a practice. It is a fundamentally exclusive process and therefore easily corruptible. How can artists political leaders, community activists and citizens respond with more inclusive models for decision making? This workshop will present various examples of collective decision-making strategies, that participants will engage with, hands-on.

Carmen Montoya believes that art can be a potent crucible for social change. Thus, her work is often about resistance, inverting power hierarchies and breaking rules, but she also traffics in beauty, memory, humor and other radical forces for activating communities. She is Assistant Professor of Sculpture and Spatial Practices at George Washington University.

Maria del Carmen Montoya

Artist; Core Member of Ghana ThinkTank

Washington DC, USA