Deem Journal

Deem Journal Deem is a biannual print journal and online platform focused on design as social practice.

What does it look like to design a world where everyone belongs?The lineup is here!Designing for Dignity 04: A Convening...
09/08/2026

What does it look like to design a world where everyone belongs?

The lineup is here!
Designing for Dignity 04: A Convening of Possibilities
October 24, 2026 · MCA Chicago + streaming online

Our fourth annual symposium returns, and this year’s voices are brilliant.

Brendan Fernandes (𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙁𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙨) opens the day with a keynote on dignity as embodied practice: how bodies claim space, hold solidarity, and rehearse freedom.

In Dialogue 01, Curry J. Hackett (Curry J. Hackett), Kameelah Janan Rasheed (Kameelah Janan Rasheed - KJR STUDIOS 🕳️), and Patricia Nguyen (Patricia Nguyen, PhD) conjure desired futures, moderated by Ari Melenciano (Ari).

The Black School (The Black School) leads our Practice Activation.

In Dialogue 02, Debra Yepa-Pappan (Debra Yepa-Pappan), Carrie Sandahl (Carrie Sandahl), and Scott Vincent Campbell (Scott Vincent Campbell) take on the future of institutions, moderated by Elijah McKinnon (Elijah McKinnon).

And Torkwase Dyson (TD) closes us out with an End Note on space, ecology, and liberation.

Join us in person or online from anywhere. See you this October!

With gratitude to MCA Chicago (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), and to the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation (Driehaus Museum), Graham Foundation (Graham Foundation), and Eames Institute (Eames Institute) for their support.

We’re returning to Chicago.Designing for Dignity 04: A Convening of Possibilities takes place October 23–24, 2026, bring...
09/03/2026

We’re returning to Chicago.

Designing for Dignity 04: A Convening of Possibilities takes place October 23–24, 2026, bringing together artists, designers, educators, and cultural workers for two days of conversation, performance, activation, and collective imagining.

For the fourth year, we’re honored to gather with our community at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and across the city, to ask what it means to build, remember, and imagine making other worlds. 

We hope you’ll join us for another year of collective dreaming.

Link in bio for details and full lineup.  

Tickets available soon.

07/20/2026

Save The Date!
This October 23 & 24, 2026
Designing for Dignity 04: A Convening of Possibilities 

Deem’s Designing for Dignity symposium returns to Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago for its fourth iteration — a hybrid, in-person/online gathering rooted in one shared belief: the innate value and deservingness of all human beings. 

As dignity is increasingly transgressed by those in positions of power, it is all the more imperative that we recommit to our most essential values, and to each other.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be announcing the brilliant speakers, artists, and practitioners joining us to lead this year’s programming, activations, and conversations. See you this October! 

We’re grateful to MCA Chicago for hosting us and for their continued partnership in bringing this convening into fruition.

On Episode 01 of SXXTXCH LIVE, experimental artist and technologist Ani Liu (.liu.studio) and host discuss the attribut...
05/19/2026

On Episode 01 of SXXTXCH LIVE, experimental artist and technologist Ani Liu (.liu.studio) and host discuss the attributes of a technology and what it means to consider the body as one. The conversation breaks down reproduction as a s*xual technology, the concept of wetware as a conceptual and computational system, and how technologies can embody a political agenda.

SXXTXCH LIVE—a podcast collaboration between Deem Journal and artist and technologist Mindy Seu—was recorded live at .space.new.york in October 2025. In six episodes, SXXTXCH LIVE brings together artists, scholars, s*x workers, historians, and journalists to consider the impact of s*xuality on technology, from innovating online to queering biotech, transforming markets to s*x ed, and beyond.

Stay tuned for the complete season—we’ll be dropping a new episode every two weeks!

What is SXXTXCH? Welcome to Episode 00, our series introduction with host Mindy Seu and executive editor Isabel Flower, ...
05/05/2026

What is SXXTXCH? Welcome to Episode 00, our series introduction with host Mindy Seu and executive editor Isabel Flower, who will share how SXXTXCH came to life as a weekend of live conversations and performances at .space.new york last fall. 

This preface to the forthcoming six part series will also expand on what we mean by “s*xual technology,” how many of the technologies we now take for granted emerged from s*x work, why all technology is embodied, and the drastic implications of legislation on life online. 

Stay tuned for the complete season—we’ll be dropping a new episode every two weeks through the middle of July! Stream it at the link in our bio.

04/28/2026

Technology is embodied. Since the advent of our digital tools, s*xuality continues to shape how the internet is designed, experienced, and surveilled.

In collaboration with Deem, artist and technologist presents SXXTXCH LIVE—a podcast series recorded live .space.new.york in October 2025.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing six episodes that bring together artists, scholars, s*x workers, historians, and journalists to consider the impact of s*xuality on technology, from innovating online to queering biotech, transforming markets to s*x ed, and beyond.

Immense thanks to our host, Performance Space New York, and to everyone who enabled this experience to come to life and to be documented in this series.

Our team:
Executive Editor, Isabel Flower
Co-founder / Creative Director, Nu Goteh
Executive Producer, Amy Mae Garrett
Art Director, Jun Lin
Executive Assistant, Jorgie Ingram
Videographer, Rafhael Dungca
Photographer, Chaz Deausen

Performance Space New York:
Artistic Director, Taja Cheek
Keith Haring Curatorial Fellow, Janggo Mahmud
Communications and Marketing Manager, Christofer Medina
Communications Associate, Zora Jade Khiry
Head Producer, Sarah McCaffery
Associate Producer, Ashley Pierre-Louis
Associate Director, Ana Sepulveda
Production Manager, Sarai Frazier .arai__
Audience Services Manager, Kimiko Tanabe
Director of Production & Technical Operations, Andy Sowers
Derek Lloyd Production Apprentice, Cheyanne Williams
Stage Manager, Ashton Goren .goren
Video Technician, Matt Deinhart
Audio Engineer, Isaac Silber
Lighting Designer, Robin Ediger-Seto
House Manager, Nasani Danvers
Patricia Chevez
Yvonne Chow yvonnehchow
Kira Zhan pissmodern

Please join us for “The Library is Open” lunchtime series on Friday February 13, featuring recently published works and...
02/12/2026

Please join us for “The Library is Open” lunchtime series on Friday February 13, featuring recently published works and their authors. We will share our approach to publishing and design, followed by a conversation with past featured voices and GSAPP faculty Mabel Wilson () and Emanuel Admassu ().

Please join us for “The Library is Open” lunchtime series, featuring recently published works and their authors. We wil...
02/12/2026

Please join us for “The Library is Open” lunchtime series, featuring recently published works and their authors. We will share our approach to publishing and design, followed by a conversation with past featured voices and GSAPP faculty Mabel Wilson () and Emanuel Admassu ().

01/23/2026

Designing for Dignity 03: A Convening of Possibilities was shaped by our community — your presence, participation, and generosity of spirit. The energy, the conversations, and the love in that room are what keep us pushing forward, dreaming bigger, and seeking new avenues of expression.
To be in that space together cannot be taken lightly. We are deeply grateful to every person who continues to show up, grow with us, and build this alongside us.
Footage from the convening was filmed and edited by Brian Crawford ().
Full programming from 10/25/25 is now streaming on YouTube.

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