CSZHU Illustration

I was commissioned by Futurium Berlin for the exhibition „Zukünfte der Demokratie“: In this new exhibiton area, democracy is analysed through different angles and media.

I had the wonderful opportunity to create four short comics and murals: They present three different democracies and one autocracy of the future. Which (dis-)advantages does each one bring in order to fulfill political goals? How do social justice and climate justice play together? How do we want to live together?

The worlds are

• Westzentrien: A political system based on Western democracies, where marginalised groups of society feel out of touch with the politicians who represent them.
• All-Inea: A political system based on everybody’s participation, in which a local community votes on solutions on how to handle threats to food security.
• Planetaria: A decentralised, post-national world without borders, in which a natural disaster is maneuvered with the help of AI and experts around the globe.
• Dictopia: An autocratic system, in which everything depends on the arbitrariness of an autocrat and in which critical voices and freedom of the press are eliminated.

Each comic has its own style, according to the characteristics of the particular society: this can be seen in the color palette, the typography, the stylization of the characters, storylines, and environmental backgrounds. For example, I chose a very loose panel arrangement, images blending into each other, natural color tones for Planetaria, whereas the Dictopia comic is completely black and white, with a very rigid panel grid and sharp edges.

Many thanks to  R. Babourkova, J. Minges, G. Zipf, C. Wong, S. Jackson, E. Schwis!
Photo credit: David von Becker, Susanne Jackson, Christina S. Zhu