We’re looking forward to seeing you this week at #DXC23!

We’re just days away from the fourth annual DemocracyXChange Summit and we’re excited to welcome award-wining artist and sculptor Rajni Perera as our morning keynote speaker on Saturday, March 25 at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University.  About Rajni Perera Rajni Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. She explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, immigration identity/cultures, monsters and dream worlds. All of these themes marry in a newly objectified realm of mythical symbioses. In her work she seeks to open and reveal the dynamism of the icons and objects she creates, both scripturally existent, self-invented and externally defined. She creates a subversive aesthetic that counteracts antiquated, oppressive discourse, and acts as a restorative force through which people can move outdated, repressive modes of being towards reclaiming their power.  Recent exhibitions include TRAVELLER (2022) at Eastside Projects in Birmingham, Colomboscope (2022) Sri Lanka, Holding A Line in Your Hand (2021) Kamloops Art Gallery B.C., the Gwangju Biennale (2021) in South Korea, as well as RELATIONS: Diaspora and Painting (2020) at the Foundation PHI in Montreal. Rajni’s work is in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sobey Foundation, and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.  Rajni’s address, The Role of the Artist in Upholding Democracy, takes place from 9 to 10:10 a.m. Our line-up of keynote speakers includes:

• March 23: Award-winning author Anand Giridharadas, whose recent book is The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy (2022);

• March 24, evening: Distinguished political theorist Nadia Urbinati who will analyze the rise of the far right in Italy;

• March 25, afternoon: Political strategist Maurice Mitchell who will address how to build more resilient movements; and

• March 25, evening: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa and author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for our Future (2023).