Devices of Democracy

During the Athenian democracy 2,500 years ago, the Kleroterion served as a sortition device to randomly select citizens for public offices and juries. In 2024, artist Taryn Simon reimagined this ancient tool as a modern sculpture to spark dialogue about contemporary democracy.

The Game of Democracy: Art, Engineering Chance, Choice, and Civic Life, a spring semester course that President Harriet Nembhard led with Michael G. and C. Jane Wilson Professor in Arts and the Humanities Ken Fandell, transformed that dialogue into an interdisciplinary learning opportunity. Together, they explored how aesthetics and structural function shape democratic life. Students in the course shared their work as part of an on-campus exhibition that included Simon’s Kleroterion, on loan from the Almine Rech Gallery in Paris.

Visit Game of Democracy to learn more.