INDEP online Talk with Eric Meier – The Political Aesthetics of Democratic Economic Planning

This online event will take place in English.

To participate, please register here.

Does democratic economic planning have its own political aesthetics? This talk explores that question and argues that, at present, it does not—and that this absence poses a problem, even for those with little interest in art or aesthetics. By examining how political projects rely on images, symbols, and forms of representation, the talk highlights why aesthetics matter for making democratic economic planning imaginable, communicable, and compelling.

Building on his 2023 exhibition “Art, Design, Aesthetics of Democratic Economic Planning,” Meier will engage broader questions of (utopian) political aesthetics and their strategic significance. It takes stock of existing aesthetic experiments related to democratic economic planning, raises methodological questions about how such aesthetics might be approached, and aims to provoke further experimentation rather than prescribe a unified visual or cultural language.

Eric Meier is an organizer, artist and curator working on democratic economic planning, critical theory, and digital culture. He co-founded INDEP, where he works as a strategic network facilitator. As an artist, his practice explores the topics of contemporary internet culture, (distorted) desire, and utopian imagination through digital image and video collage. His artistic practice has been presented in the 2023 exhibition “Art, Design, Aesthetics of Democratic Economic Planning” in Bonn—a show he conceptualized, curated and organized- the Science-Fiction Film Festival 2024 in Berlin and the 2025 exhibition “Das Private ist Politisch” in Bonn. His work has also appeared in publications by Rizomatica, Reincantamento, Conjure Utopia, the Institute of Network Cultures and Rabble Review.