The Practice of Democracy
Public speeches take place unexpectedly in various places where people meet. This time, though, the speeches are not delivered by politicians but by citizens. What can this mean for the practice of democracy and the way we live together?
Questions such as how do we decide, how do we organize ourselves, what do we want to decide in common etc., become the starting point for a sharing of stories related to the way we understand our social coexistence.
The Practice of Democracy is a research project that focuses on the practice of public speaking. In its frame, citizens of all ages, social and professional backgrounds, living in different European cities, are asked to create and perform in public space a speech on democracy following a performance score through which their share their own thoughts, questions and concerns.
The aim of the project is to reactivate a forgotten democratic practice -that of speaking publicly about issues related to our common life- via practicing what Castoriadis has called the main traits of public speech: shame, courage and responsibility. At the same time, viewing public space not as an abstract place but as dynamic space formed by the specific people who inhabit it, the research aims to observe and map the particularities of the diverse public spaces that emerge currently in Europe.