Сitizens’ Assembly: A Way to Make Decisions or Collective Knowledge Production?
Сitizens’ Assembly: A Way to Make Decisions or Collective Knowledge Production?
10:00 – 13:00 (Norwegian time)
12:00 – 15:00 (Moscow time)
All around Europe, Citizens’ Assemblies gather randomly selected citizens to deliberate complex public issues. These groups are selected to reflect the diverse backgrounds and experiences found in the city, or broader population, while the deliberation process is tailored to make space for informed and nuanced decisions. Each Assembly has its unique conditions, structure and purpose, but their outcomes are rarely binding to any decision maker.
In November 2021 a group of activists, city planners, architects and moderators teamed up to create their own Assembly and test it in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This experimental Assembly gathered 21 citizens from a variety of backgrounds to formulate the grassroot agenda of the city – a list of topics that concerned all of the participants. This collective experience is turned into an exhibition that will be open throughout Barents Spektakel days in Saint Petersburg.
On February 23rd we invite you to join the discussion on the future of dialogue practices in Russia and together with the Assembly organizers, participants and experts envision where the Assembly can go from here.
10:00 – 11:40 – the panel discussion “Сitizens’ assembly: a way to make decisions or the collective knowledge production?” will present 10 perspectives on the development of dialogue formats for public, cultural and art practices. We will hear opinions from artists, politicians, moderators, and activists: Tea Andreoletti, Alexander Finiarel, Vitaly Bovar, Marcin Gervin, Alexander Zamyatin, Pavel Drozdov, Konstantin Mazein, Tamara Arbuzova, Stas Elnitsky, Pepijn Kennis.
12:30 – 13:30 – the open discussion “Where do we go from here?” invites all participants, online and offline, to share their opinions.
Moderator:
Marina Tsai, co-organiser of Citizen’s Assembly in Saint Petersburg, arts and crafts artist and urban environment designer, consultant for the development of urban environment and urban communities, event organiser from Saint Petersburg, Russia.