On Change, Control, and digital Realities
Date: 14.01.2026
This exhibition grew out of the summer school Data, Democracy and the New Social Fabric and explores how digital technologies are reshaping public discourse, power, and our shared sense of reality. Developed with students from FH Joanneum Graz and the esc medien kunst labor, it invites visitors to reflect on democracy, social media, and their role in digital societies.
ENTANGLED IN DEMOCRACY grew out of the summer school “Data, Democracy and the New Social Fabric,” which I organized, together with Mathias Angermaier and Tim Booker, to create space for critical discussion around data, social media, and democratic change. The exhibition explores how digital technologies are reshaping public discourse, power relations, and our shared understanding of reality.
The internet has radically changed how people connect and organize; from global fan communities to political mobilization and large-scale social movements such as the Arab Spring, climate strikes, Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo. At the same time, social media platforms have gained immense influence over visibility, data, and public debate, often concentrating power in ways that remain largely invisible.
This raises fundamental questions about democracy. While digital social structures evolve rapidly, democratic institutions and political systems tend to change much more slowly. Through this exhibition, I want to ask whether existing democratic systems can adapt to these shifts, or whether it is time to rethink democracy, social media, or both.
The exhibition addresses challenges such as the loss of a shared sense of reality, growing power imbalances, and the erosion of democratic values. It was developed together with students from the Master’s program in Exhibition Design, in collaboration with the esc medien kunst labor and my research group Complex Social & Computational Systems at the IDea_Lab, University of Graz. My aim is to make complex research on data, platforms, and power accessible to a broader public and to invite visitors to reflect on their own role within digital societies and democratic change.
