In both public discourse and academia, democracy is generally understood as a form of government, consisting of institutions and processes through which political interests are formed, expressed, and represented. In contrast, the Research Training Group (RTG) “Aesthetics of Democracy” examines democracy as both an institutional framework and a comprehensive context of collective life. According to this definition, democracy encompasses diverse forms of communalization (“Vergemeinschaftung”) that extend beyond the state level. These forms include those that are formally constituted and established, such as clubs, associations, and unions; those that structure private life, such as families; and those that exist in brief connections, such as encounters in public spaces. Understood as a form of coexistence, reflections on community in the media and the arts, as well as newly created forms of social life, are fundamental elements of democracy. However, it is incorrect to assume that these various forms of contact are harmonious associations. Rather, they are marked by conflict, disagreement, and an irreconcilable diversity of perspectives. We assume that democracy, as a form of government, is based on conditions established at the various levels of social coexistence. Everyday practices and experiences of coexistence—both harmonious and conflict-ridden—are the foundation for the stability, revitalization, and dynamic development of democracies. Therefore, questions concerning the future viability and resilience of democracy must be informed by a more thorough understanding of the forms of democratic coexistence, even beyond its present (and by no means homogeneous) structures.

The RTG’s unique focus on the sensorial dimension of democratic coexistence, or the aesthetics of democracy, sets it apart from major strands of democracy research. Previous research on democratic coexistence centered on the practices, rituals, and norms of lived democracy. Researchers working in this vein have developed different conceptual approaches that are potentially compatible with the RTG. These approaches include “way of life,” “form of life” or “life form,” “political form of society,” and “social democracy.” However, questions concerning sensorial experience and the experiential dimension of democracy have largely been neglected. The RTG’s approach understands democracy as a form of coexistence, and it asks how this initially vague concept of democratic form may be concretized. Herein lies its innovative contribution to the research field. Researching the form of democratic coexistence requires analyzing the perceptible forms of social life, which the RTG takes as its starting point. To examine the interplay of forms of government and forms of coexistence, the RTG draws on methods from the humanities. The interdisciplinary collaboration between literature, art, film and media studies, history, and philosophy enables the RTG to investigate the orders, practices, things (objects), and experiences that shape democratic coexistence.

According to our working hypothesis, democracy is an open and reflexive form of coexistence, characterized by debates about how it should be shaped. The negotiation of its form is the form itself. In aesthetic terms, democracy can be experienced sensorially while simultaneously being shaped by debates about how the sensorial is formed. This hypothesis is based on the observation of an internal tension between institution and instituting—between the stabilizing, binding, and orienting effects of solidified form and the dynamic, transformational potential of continuously negotiating form. This observation leads to the overarching question posed by the RTG: How can the tension between form and transformation be more precisely defined in relation to the aesthetics of democracy, exemplified by individual objects of research? In which sensorial forms does this tension become manifest?

The RTG addresses this question using a heuristic that distinguishes four dimensions of the aesthetics of democracy: (a) aesthetic orders, (b) aesthetic action, (c) aesthetic objects, and (d) aesthetic experience. These four dimensions cannot be viewed in isolation. Rather, the RTG assumes they interact with one another. Doctoral projects from various humanities disciplines are intended to illuminate whether and how the tension between form and transformation can be most clearly described and systematized by focusing on aesthetic orders, aesthetic action, aesthetic objects, or the aesthetic (sensorial) experience of democracy.

The RTG’s four research areas are derived from these four distinct heuristic dimensions. Depending on the research topic and methodology, each dissertation project is assigned to one research area. The decisive factor in allocation is how closely the research project aligns with one of the four dimensions. Nevertheless, each project examines the interplay between these dimensions. We believe this is the only way to gain insight into the tension between form and transformation.

The group of Principal Investigators is determined by the disciplinary diversity necessary for researching the aesthetics of democracy. Vinzenz Hediger, Antje Krause-Wahl, and Laliv Melamed contribute expertise in visual culture and media to the RTG. Frederike Felcht, Achim Geisenhanslüke, and Heike Schäfer contribute literary aesthetic perspectives that intersect with democracy thematically, formally, and historically. Literary scholars Heinz Drügh, Johannes Völz, and Zhiyi Yang and historian Andreas Fahrmeir address the political aesthetics of democracy from historical and contemporary perspectives. Sophie Loidolt and Martin Saar link reflections on democracy to political theory and social philosophy.

The RTG aims to train excellent early-career researchers and make an innovative contribution to interdisciplinary democracy research. This research makes full use of and expands the epistemic potential of the humanities.

Goethe University Frankfurt and the Technical University of Darmstadt—the latter of which is represented by the RTG’s deputy spokesperson—are collaborating with the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main and the Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule, regional partners with expertise in aesthetics and society. Eighteen international partner institutions from five continents—Africa, South America, North America, East Asia, and Europe—further expand on-site expertise and strengthen perspectives that recontextualize, question, or complement established Euro-Atlantic approaches to democracy. The RTG’s approach is programmatically committed to the guiding principle of Public Humanities. The RTG has established thirteen non-university partnerships with civil society organizations and public institutions at the municipal and federal levels. With these partners, the doctoral researchers will develop transfer projects that allow them to reflect on preliminary research results in collaboration with social actors. The insights and experiences gained through these projects will inform their own research. So, the PhD candidates contribute to intensifying the exchange between the humanities and society and provide new impulses for innovatively advancing interdisciplinary research on democracy.