In the run-up to the national elections, the Kunsthaus Graz is showing the thought-provoking multi-channel video installation "What is Democracy?" (2007-2009) by the Austrian media artist Oliver Ressler (born 1970, Knittelfeld, Austria), which impressed the audience at the last Documemta and will be shown at the Kunsthaus for the first time in Styria.

“What is democracy?” is not one question, but is actually two questions. On the one hand, the question relates to conditions of the current, parliamentary representative democracies that are scrutinized critically in this project. On the other hand, the question traces different approaches to what a more democratic system might look like and which organizational forms it could take.

The project asked “What is democracy?” to numerous activists and political analysts in several cities around the world, in Amsterdam, Berkeley, Berlin, Bern, Budapest, Copenhagen, Moscow, New York, Rostock, San Francisco, Sydney, Taipei, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki and Warsaw. The interviews have been recorded on video since January 2007. Even though all interviewees were asked the same question, the result was a multiplicity of different perspectives and viewpoints from people living in states that are usually labeled “democracies”.

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