2025/04/14: Design competition Redesign Democracy – Reimagine Voting

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Democracy thrives on participation – the moment when citizens cast their vote in an election is one of the most central expressions of democratic participation. But how does the act of voting affect us? And how appropriate is the current design of ballot boxes for this performative act that embodies our democracy?

Currently, there is often a gap between aspiration and reality: in some places, simple containers, sometimes converted garbage cans, serve as ballot boxes. It is high time to rethink the meaningful act of voting and its context – in terms of design, space, and performance.

The Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK) invites all designers, artists, students, researchers, and interested parties to take part in the competition Redesign Democracy – Reimagine Voting. The aim of the competition is to develop appropriate and visionary concepts that enhance the democratic act of voting.

What is it about?

Start with your own observations: Look at the election with heightened senses and record the experience. In Germany, federal elections will be held on February 23, 2025, but past elections or mail-in votes can also be insightful. Note: Photography during the election is not permitted at the polling station without the permission of the electoral board, more on this in the appendix.
Rethink the ballot box: Develop proposals for what a ballot box of the future could look like – as a physical object, as a digital interface, or in hybrid form.
Stage the election as a performative act: Consider how the process of voting can be shaped and developed as a symbolic act.
Create new spaces for democracy: Explore what new spaces – real or virtual – could provide a framework for the democratic act of voting.

From disruptive visions to tangible product ideas: The proposals can be abstract, conceptual, or practically oriented. The focus is on opening up new perspectives on such a crucial democratic process.

General conditions and prizes

A high-profile jury made up of representatives from politics, society, and design will select the best designs. A total of 3,000 euros in prize money is available, which will be distributed among the winning entries.

The best entries will also be presented at the 2026 World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain and honored at an award ceremony at the HFBK Hamburg in June 2025.

All entries will be evaluated as part of the Redesigning Democratic Representation (Re·De·Re) research project and will be incorporated into the further work of the project. In this collaboration between political and design science, an interdisciplinary team is investigating our current understanding of democratic representation in Germany and looking for new interpretations.

Competition details

Deadline for entries: April 14, 2025
Award ceremony: Beginning of June (date to be announced)

The following documents are required for entries:

Observations of the last election: Describe experiences and impressions during the last election (max. 2,000 characters).
Visual portrayals of the last election: Attach 1-2 images showing, for example, the ballot box or the polling station (photos, drawings, renderings, etc.; max. 5 MB).
The counter-design: Explain your design proposal for the future ballot box and/or the election process (max. 2,000 characters).
Strengthening the importance of democracy: Explain how the design emphasizes the symbolic and practical importance of voting and strengthens democracy (max. 1,500 characters).
Visualize the design: Present the design proposal using 3-5 images (sketches, renderings, models, etc.; max. 5 MB).

The information listed above (texts and images and, if applicable, the photo authorization of the election committee) must be submitted as a bundled document that describes the entire submission. Images must also be submitted as originals.

Jury

Prof. Dr. Emma Crewe (SOAS, London)
Prof. Daniela Hensel (Professor of Social & Public Design, HTW Berlin)
Benedikt Kuhn (State Secretary, Head of the Hesse State Chancellery)
Barbara Lersch (Head of Programme at World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026)
Peter Müller (former Federal Constitutional Court judge, former Minister President of the Saarland)
Dara Sepehri (board member of the German Design Club)
Hanna Steinmüller (Member of the Bundestags Bündnis 90/Grüne)
Armand Zorn (Member of the Bundestag SPD)

Who can participate?

The competition is open to everyone – designers, artists, architects, students, public administration professionals and anyone who wants to contribute to the future of our democracy. Individual works are permitted, but group works are also possible.

Why should I participate?

Your designs actively shape the future of democracy. They contribute to redefining the relevance and symbolism of voting. Be part of this forward-looking project and help to make the act of voting a visible expression of democracy!

For further questions: redesign-democracy@hfbk-hamburg.de

Park Ficiton, Palmen Feliz Nedra, 2003; photo: Margit Czenki/Park Fiction

Art in public space

What is public space? Where does it begin or end? What understanding of the public sphere is it based on? The current issue of Lerchenfeld magazine sheds light on these and other questions

Open Call: Redesign Democracy - Reimagine Voting; graphic: Konrad Renner

Redesign Democracy – competition for the ballot box of the democratic future

As part of the research project Redesigning Democratic Representation (Re·De·Re), the HFBK Hamburg is organizing a competition for the redesign of ballot boxes and the voting process on the occasion of the 2025 Bundestag elections. What could the ballot boxes of the future look like? All information on the competition and the project can be found here.

Blick in die von Nadine Droste kuratierte Ausstellung von Master-Studierenden im ICAT der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2024 (im Vordergrund die Arbeit von Paula Hoffmann und Laura Mahnke); photo: Lukes Engelhardt

How to apply: study at HFBK Hamburg

The application period for studying at the HFBK Hamburg runs from 4 February to 5 March 2025, 4 p.m. All important information can be found here.

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Work by Atu Gelovani at the opening of the Annual Exhibition 2025 at HFBK Hamburg; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2025 at the HFBK Hamburg

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Jahresausstellung 2019, Arbeit von Hanna Naske und Florence Schreiber (Klasse Prof Raimund Bauer); photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Grande Finale

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A sculpture of a small elephant that functions as a climbing frame in a park in Hamburg

Der Elefant im (öffentlichen) Raum Hamburg

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Exhibition view on the occasion of Hiscox Art Prize 2024; photo: Tim Albrecht

Hiscox Art Prize 2024

The HFBK Hamburg cordially invites to the award ceremony of the Hiscox Art Prize 2024 and to the opening of the exhibition with the nominated artists.

The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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"The New Woman - How Female Artists and Designers shaped the Image of Modernism", graphic by Liudmila Savelyeva, Karla Krey, Amira Mostafa (Klasse Digitale Grafik)

The New Woman

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Matthis Frickhœffer in his installation "Framing Electric Dreams" (with Sebastian Kommer) as part of the exhibition "Imaging Health I" 2022 at the ICAT of the HFBK Hamburg; photo: Tim Albrecht

Doing a PhD at the HFBK Hamburg

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Fade-in of the Hannah Arendt sequence from the conversation with Günter Gaus at the start of the conversation between Juliane Rebentisch and Natan Sznaider in the auditorium of the HFBK Hamburg on 7 June 2024; photo: Maximilian Glas

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Detail: Installation by Mark Morris; photo: Tim Albrecht

Graduate Show 2024 - Letting Go

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Julia Scher, Territorium, 2024, installationview at ICAT of HFBK Hamburg; photo: Tim Albrecht

Finkenwerder Art Prize 2024

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Sharon Poliakine, Untitled, 2023, oil on canvas, detail

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Visitors of the annual exhibition 2024; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2024 at the HFBK Hamburg

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photo: Tim Albrecht

(Ex)Changes of / in Art

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Extended Libraries

Knowledge is now accessible from anywhere, at any time. In such a scenario, what role(s) can libraries still play? How can they support not only as knowledge archives but also as facilitators of artistic knowledge production? As an example, we present library projects by students and alumni, as well as our new knowledge space: the Extended Library.

And Still I Rise

For over 20 years, US artist Rajkamal Kahlon has been interested in the connections between aesthetics and power, which are organized across historical and geographical boundaries, primarily through violence. With this solo exhibition, the HFBK Hamburg presents the versatile work of the professor of painting and drawing to the Hamburg art public for the first time.

photo: Lukes Engelhardt

No Tracking. No Paywall.

Just Premium Content! The (missing) summer offers the ideal opportunity to catch up on what has been missed. In our media library, faculty, students and alumni share knowledge and discussions with us - both emotional moments and controversial discourses. Through podcasts and videos, they contribute to current debates and address important topics that are currently in focus.

Let's talk about language

There are currently around 350 international students studying at the HFBK Hamburg, who speak 55 different languages - at least these are the official languages of their countries of origin. A quarter of the teaching staff have an international background. And the trend is rising. But how do we deal productively with the multilingualism of university members in everyday life? What ways of communication can be found? The current Lerchenfeld issue looks at creative solutions for dealing with multilingualism and lets numerous former international students have their say.

photo: Miriam Schmidt / HFBK

Graduate Show 2023: Unfinished Business

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A disguised man with sunglasses holds a star-shaped sign for the camera. It says "Suckle". The picture is taken in black and white.

photo: Honey-Suckle Company

Let`s work together

Collectives are booming in the art world. And they have been for several decades. For the start of the summer semester 2023, the new issue of the Lerchenfeld Magazine is dedicated to the topic of collective practice in art, presents selected collectives, and also explores the dangers and problems of collective working.

Jahresausstellung 2023, Arbeit von Toni Mosebach / Nora Strömer; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2023 at HFBK Hamburg

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Symposium: Controversy over documenta fifteen

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ASA Open Studios winter semester 2021/22; photo: Marie-Theres Böhmker

The best is saved until last

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Non-Knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image, Grafik: Leon Lothschütz

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Solo exhibition by Konstantin Grcic

From September 29 to October 23, 2022, Konstantin Grcic (Professor of Industrial Design) will be showing a room-sized installation at ICAT - Institute for Contemporary Art & Transfer at the HFBK Hamburg consisting of objects designed by him and existing, newly assembled objects. At the same time, the space he designed for workshops, seminars and office workstations in the AtelierHaus will be put into operation.

Amna Elhassan, Tea Lady, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

Art and war

"Every artist is a human being". This statement by Martin Kippenberger, which is as true as it is existentialist (in an ironic rephrasing of the well-known Beuys quote), gets to the heart of the matter in many ways. On the one hand, it reminds us not to look away, to be (artistically) active and to raise our voices. At the same time, it is an exhortation to help those who are in need. And that is a lot of people at the moment, among them many artists. That is why it is important for art institutions to discuss not only art, but also politics.

Merlin Reichert, Die Alltäglichkeit des Untergangs, Installation in der Galerie der HFBK; photo: Tim Albrecht

Graduate Show 2022: We’ve Only Just Begun

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Grafik: Nele Willert, Dennise Salinas

June is full of art and theory

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Renée Green. ED/HF, 2017. Film still. Courtesy of the artist, Free Agent Media, Bortolami Gallery, New York, and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin/Cologne/Munich.

Finkenwerder Art Prize 2022

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Amanda F. Koch-Nielsen, Motherslugger; photo: Lukas Engelhardt

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New studio in the row of houses at Lerchenfeld, in the background the building of Fritz Schumacher; photo: Tim Albrecht

Raum für die Kunst

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Martha Szymkowiak / Emilia Bongilaj, Installation “Mmh”; photo: Tim Albrecht

Annual Exhibition 2022 at the HFBK

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Annette Wehrmann, photography from the series Blumensprengungen, 1991-95; photo: Ort des Gegen e.V., VG-Bild Kunst Bonn

Conference: Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments.

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23 Fragen des Institutional Questionaire, grafisch umgesetzt von Ran Altamirano auf den Türgläsern der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2021; photo: Charlotte Spiegelfeld

Diversity

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photo: Klaus Frahm

Summer Break

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ASA Open Studio 2019, Karolinenstraße 2a, Haus 5; photo: Matthew Muir

Live und in Farbe: die ASA Open Studios im Juni 2021

Since 2010, the HFBK has organised the international exchange programme Art School Alliance. It enables HFBK students to spend a semester abroad at renowned partner universities and, vice versa, invites international art students to the HFBK. At the end of their stay in Hamburg, the students exhibit their work in the Open Studios in Karolinenstraße, which are now open again to the art-interested public.

Studiengruppe Prof. Dr. Anja Steidinger, Was animiert uns?, 2021, Mediathek der HFBK Hamburg, Filmstill

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Ausstellungsansicht "Schule der Folgenlosigkeit. Übungen für ein anderes Leben" im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; photo: Maximilian Schwarzmann

School of No Consequences

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Annual Exhibition 2021 at the HFBK

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Katja Pilipenko

Semestereröffnung und Hiscox-Preisverleihung 2020

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Exhibition Transparencies with works by Elena Crijnen, Annika Faescke, Svenja Frank, Francis Kussatz, Anne Meerpohl, Elisa Nessler, Julia Nordholz, Florentine Pahl, Cristina Rüesch, Janka Schubert, Wiebke Schwarzhans, Rosa Thiemer, Lea van Hall. Organized by Prof. Verena Issel and Fabian Hesse; photo: Screenshot

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Alltagsrealität oder Klischee?; photo: Tim Albrecht

HFBK Graduate Survey

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Ausstellung Social Design, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Teilansicht; photo: MKG Hamburg

How political is Social Design?

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