Every August since 1945, the European Forum Alpbach has been bringing together innovative minds from politics, business, civil society, culture, and science in the Tyrolean mountain village of Alpbach. For this year’s edition of the forum, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK was invited to organize an intervention in the art and culture program that addresses the democratic process and the role of design in this process against the background of the global super election year of 2024. However, in order to go further than mere roleplaying or satirizing existing party politics, the campaigns developed by multidisciplinary teams also address utopias of the distant future. The project, which was enacted as an interactive voting experience for the participants of the European Forum Alpbach, provides young creatives with speculative campaign experience, addresses the relationship between short- and long-term priorities, sheds light on the rituals and symbolism of democratic processes, and playfully reflects upon the inherent utopian potential of elections and democracy. The speculative election campaigns created at the European Forum Alpbach can now be seen at the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK.

Two campaign teams made up of Zeynep Aksöz Balzar, Tonica Hunter, Viktoria Kirner, Jakob Mayr, Aleksandar Todorović, Florian Puschmann, and Kilian Wittmann worked in Alpbach at the invitation of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. The campaign office and the ballot box in
a disused former supermarket in the center of Alpbach, whose design is the basis of the installation in the Festival Headquarters of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, were created by the architectural designers Kathrina Duller and Nikolaus Podlaha.

Viktoria Kirner, Florian Puschmann and Aleksandar Todorović present a techno-utopian election campaign set in a future where artificial intelligence promises unprecedented freedom and humans no longer have to work. The campaign asks voters to place their trust in machines entirely. Mankind and machines continue hand in hand – humans are offered unlimited leisure and wellness. 

Zeynep Aksöz Balzar, Tonica Hunter, Jakob Mayr, and Kilian Wittmann present a multi-species election campaign set in a future where humanity has overcome the illusion that it is the pinnacle of nature, and political structures are organized accordingly. Taking its inspiration from collective ways of being, the campaign focuses on species other than humans and asks: Who gets to vote in an election? And why?

Last chance to see "Inhabit the Future", a joint project by the European Forum Alpbach and the Vienna Design Week. As part of the EFA arts & culture programme, two multidisciplinary teams developed election campaigns set in utopian futures. The results, along with specially designed election headquarters, can be seen at the Vienna Design Week until Sunday. Join us for the Finissage on Sunday, 29 August, 17-20h at the FESTIVAL HEADQUARTERS 2024 (3., Landstraßer Gürtel 51).