So I just came across this event poster on Mike McCarthy’s instagram. As soon as we have more info on it and the link, etc. we are gonna share it.
What I wanna talk about, is that this is one of the few times that I’ve seen any kind of aesthetic (event poster, book/magazine/article cover, etc.) in the context of DEP that made me go “oh, interesting”. I think here it’s the connection with Mandani (whatever you might think of him) and the imagery and associations around his campaign + the rephrasing from “democratic economic planning” to “democratic socialist planning”, connecting with the already familiar phrasing and identifications around that term + the overall aesthetic of the poster resembling the aesthetic style that we’ve seen coming from campaigns left on the US political spectrum. All of these immediately bring DEP closer to actual political movements, campaigns, stakes, and away from the academically confined spaces it too often finds itself in - at least in the perception of the event, thereby influencing who will attend, how the event will be perceived and ultimately what impact it will have. You might evaluate that or certain parts of this in a more negative or more positive way (e.g. the association with Mamdani as a political figure - dependencies this could create, etc.), but I think the power and influence of aesthetics in shaping the factors I just mentioned (perception, associations, headspace it primes people towards, who will attend, impact) should be plausible enough. This is why we need to take aesthetics seriously as a strategic matter (think about it a bit like advertising), even if you have no inherent interest in it whatsoever. And let’s be real, in academic circles interest in aesthetics is mostly looked down upon or regarded as secondary (even though academics are attached to academic aesthetics like glue).