Forms of participation are becoming increasingly important for museums that want to meet the challenge of being diverse, multi-perspective, self-critical and democratic cultural institutions. The tools required for this are increasingly being appropriated by digital technologies. The exhibition ‘Blockchain:Unchained. New Tools for Democracy’, from 20 November to 17 August 2025, transforms the MAK Gallery into an experimental practice space where new technologies can be tested interactively and playfully as tools for democratic participation. The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with the interdisciplinary design collective Gemeinde-Bau (Katja-Anna Krug, Max Kure, Leo Mühlfeld, Anton Posch). It aims to convey in an intuitive and exemplary way how blockchain technology and DAOs can be used to ‘realise shared visions of the future’ – be it in a residential community, when using the MAK garden or as an instrument for democratic discourse. 

To jointly develop ideas for digital democratic participation in the museum, digital skills will be taught to children and young people, and different visitor groups will be included in the museum’s programme. Information will be provided on design solutions for democracy and on the opportunities and risks of blockchain and DAO technology. From digital, self-dissolving contracts based on blockchain, to self-defined rules for the appropriation, use and production of space, to the possibility of voting for the event programme on the “artificial turf” of the MAK Garden, everything can be tried out. Alternatively, an analogue space recalls the quality of personal exchange. According to the announcement, the show is particularly suitable for school classes, for whom special educational formats on the topic of ‘Shaping Democracy’ will be offered. Adults can look forward to a broad programme of debates and workshops.