The Cabinet (of Justice)
A voting system where lived experience carries more weight than an equal vote.
The Cabinet is a ritual that sheds light on the spectrum of experiences, vulnerabilities, and perspectives that exist behind every vote.
Rather than producing a simple binary outcome, the project challenges the assumption that every vote carries the same weight in people’s lives and invites participants to reflect on the unequal impact that decisions can have on different members of a community.
YEAR
2026
TEAM
Abby Lerner Sojung Im Svend Lauge Steen Schrøder
CLIENT
Drakonheart
CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND
The project was designed for Drakonheart, a pedagogical experimentarium that breaks away from traditional ideas about how children learn best. Housed in the Sostrup Castle in Norddjurs, they welcome neurodivergent children and young people who often find themselves outside the traditional school system, creating an alternative learning community shaped around exploration, sensory experience and play.
THE RITUAL
What might society look like if we deliberately chose to include rather than exclude those who are often marginalised? We wanted to speculate on what justice and equality might look like in a world where neurodivergent perspectives were at the forefront of shaping society. When an issue is raised to the community, The Cabinet is opened. Next, everyone is randomly given an object.
THE NEGOTIATION
Then, with a partner, you weigh your objects on the lesser scales. You discuss your thoughts on the issue, hear the other’s opinion, and together you decide if you should switch. You decide if the weight of your object aligns with the weight of your stake in the matter.
THE VERDICT
Finally, once the community has finished with it’s discourse, all objects are weighed on the Great Scale. The outcome determines how the collective decision is made, while enabling the minority to carry greater influence when an issue matters significantly more to them. The scale functions as a visible indicator that makes these differences visible.
THE WEIGHT OF THE MATTER
The voting objects are unfamiliar and ambiguous, inviting one's personal interpretation. The weight of the objects also function as an open-ended symbolic medium. For one person, weight may represent impact. For another, emotion, conviction, care, or responsibility. Rather than standardising these meanings, The Cabinet makes their coexistence visible.
THE FACILITATOR
The ritual is overall facilitated by an facilitator donning a headdress representing a balanced spectrum of opinions. Two sides, but a variety of stakes.