This work depicts democracy in three modes, at leisure, meal time, and war. After its creation in 1985 "Democracy At Work" was curated by Red Burns, the then Chair of the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, for the 1986 Venice Biennale. The piece includes themes commonly explored in Shea’s work including democratic politics, organized religion, and art itself and how these elements create tensions between individual isolation and community responsibility.

“Democracy At Work” was originally featured at an event that took place from October 31 to November 12, 1985 at Lee’s Palace, a music and performance venue that continues to operate today on Toronto’s Bloor Street West.

The event was called VOX POP CABARET and was organized by the Toronto-based performance duo the Hummer Sisters and their project VideoCabaret during a municipal election in the city. For the event, 12 members of Toronto Community-Videotex (InterAccess) were asked by Bill Perry to create a Telidon artwork inspired by the theme of democracy, with just one week’s notice. What resulted was a collection of 12 artworks presented together with the title “Pictures of Democracy”.  The artists' work was paid for by local sponsors including, A Space Gallery, SWIFTCURRENT (the world's first national electronic literary magazine), Trinity Square Video, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries, and Toronto Community-Videotex. Only 5 Telidon artworks have been recovered from the event and 2 of them are included in this digital exhibition.