I’m still thinking about the future – about empowering people to feel engaged with the future, and that they can play a role in shaping it, that the future is up for grabs, and could be wildly different—better—than the present.
In this vein I discovered some fascinating references.
All Tomorrows
I started with All Tomorrows, which, while I’m uncomfortable with the assumption that, after fucking up the climate of our own planet, we expand out into the galaxy, is incredibly creative in terms of thinking about the future of humanity.
He has a lovely bit where he writes: “The tale of Humanity was never its ultimate domination of a thousand galaxies, or its mysterious exit into the unknown. The essence of being human was none of that. Instead, it lay in the radio conversations of the still-human Machines, in the daily lives of the bizarrely twisted Bug Facers, in the endless love-songs of the carefree Hedonists, the rebellious demonstrations of the first true Martians, and in a way, the very life you lead at the moment.”
However, he continues: “it is sickeningly easy for beings to get lost in false grand narratives, living out completely driven lives in pursuit of non-existent codes, ideals, climaxes and golden ages. In blindly thinking that their stories serve absolute ends, such creatures almost always end up harming themselves, if not those around them”.
It has the effect of minimising current political and social struggles – yes, all this is meaningless in relation to the size and scale of the universe, but what’s up for grabs now is a huge amount of pain and suffering, and potentially the future of humanity.
In many ways I find the entire project, being situated entirely in space and in interactions with alien species, too distant and impossible. It’s nihilistic about humanity’s chances of averting catastrophe here on earth, and lives only in the impossible idealism of interplanetary travel. It justifies a dangerous line of thinking – that we don’t need to change anything about our lives, because we can/will eventually just leave earth behind, and evolution will continue despite climate collapse. Or it justifies the nihilism that even if we tried to change our ways it would be hopeless so why even bother. This is exactly the attitude I’m seeking to counter.
However, I was intrigued and entranced by the moments of social unity, wellbeing, and abundance: “What couldn’t be figured out in one world was helped out by another, and any new developments were quickly made known to all in a realm that spanned centuries of light. Not surprisingly, living standards rose to previously unimaginable levels. …Thanks to the richness of the heavens and the toil of machines, each person had access to material and cultural wealth greater than that of some nations today.” (11)
And later: “This coordinated effort lasted for almost eighty million years, during which its member species attained previously unimaginable levels of culture, welfare and technology. Each species colonized a few dozen worlds of their own; in which nations, cultures and individuals lived to the fullest potentials of their existence.”
Such extents of incredibly high prosperity and wellbeing are rarely dared to be imagined, and it is exciting to see it, though the purpose of this project is not to explore what that looks like.
(Re)claiming Archives: استعادة الأرشيف
(Re)claiming Archives argues that recognising yourself in the stories/histories/mythologies, enables you to see yourself in the future. It is a reminder to make sure I have a diverse mix of manifestos in the collection for my workshops.
It explores some of the many forms archives can take, and most excitingly for me, explores their relationship to the future. Some examples from Palestine show how archives can take a speculative/imagined role.
In the midst of the attacks on Palestinians in May 2021, a digital uprising started on Twitter. Posts were accompanied by the hashtag غرد_كأنها_حرة#, which roughly translates to #tweet_like_its_free.
GCD plays a role here in the creation and realisation of a future vision/manifestation of a liberated Palestine – all the paraphenalia must be created, and a vision of the systems they represent comes with them – new train lines, systems of nationality and borders, visits to family and friends, a life lived in the reality of liberation.
This reminds me once again of Lauren Williams’ Making Room – a manifestation of abolitionist imagination.
Countless Palestinian Futures
Next I came across Countless Palestinian Futures, a game which “introduces various ways to dream, imagine, and talk about what the future of Palestine could look like. Dreaming is a radical act, it defies all current realities to build a reality where we see ourselves existing and coming into being.”
As a workshop this is a fantastic concept: idealistic/visionary but practical. She invited Palestinian and Arab cultural producers, policy makers, activists, academics and organisers to trial the game for the first time.
Choose your own adventure
Much of Danah Abdullah’s work centres on the idea of the future. Choose your own adventure was an exhibition designed to free ideas about the future of Palestine from the prescriptions of the past or present: “The future is bleak. Everything revolves around the past. Fatalism…helplessness…or the opposite: utopian visions.” A series of posters presented realistic but positive visions of possible Palestinian futures.