Last week we invited two guests to our weekly readings colloquium: Lucy Parry and Hans Asenbaum, who presented us their new, not-yet-published papers Democracy in a Flux: A Systemic View on the Impact of COVID-19“ (co-author: Selen Ercan) und „(De)Futuring Democracy. Labs as Democratic Innovation Between Agency and Control“ (co-author: Frederic Hanusch). Together we discussed how democratic spheres and formats of participation have changed during the corona crisis, while at the same time technocratic approaches gained influence. Besides, we debated labs, approaches of classifying them amidst democratic innovations and collaborative governance, and their potential for more inclusive forms of participation in the future. Thank you Lucy and Hans for this insightful discussion!