Futur(e) Perfekt Concept
“Futur(e) Perfekt” is a curatorial-dramaturgical research project that examines the staging of speculative futures in the field of public art. We aim to collectively develop conceptual and artistic imaginaries of the world after the climate catastrophe has unfolded or been mitigated. Specifically, we are interested in the use of technological and artistic strategies for augmenting reality as a method to make the future experienceable.
The looming environmental collapse has not caused the western world to panic in the same way that the corona crisis has, although the climate crisis is projected to have and has had much deadlier consequences. Perhaps the reluctance to shut down airports and cut down consumption as a preemptive action to the environmental catastrophe is the symptom of a psychological dissociation between knowledge of the severity of climate change on the one hand, and emotions, beliefs and (perceived) desires on the other. To acknowledge the extent of destruction that humans have already created and will continue creating (resulting in mass migration, extreme weather conditions, political polarisation etc.) leads to feelings of powerlessness, fear and despair. The consequences of integrating this reality in one’s psyche are overwhelming. We become paralised.
With “Futur(e) Perfekt” we aim to overcome the paralysis through the very act of imagining potential futures and giving them a color, a shape or a sound. We draw on the grammatical tense of the future perfect as a point of departure for a thought experiment about speculative visions. In recent years, dystopian narratives have dominated popular thought about the future and proliferated. We feel an urgency to counter this narrow spectrum with the production of visions that oscillate between material realism and radical optimism - visions that incite stubborn hope, anger and passion. We feel a necessity to puncture the hyperobject that is climate change, and ground it into the here and now.
This research project reflects on the conceptual notion of augmenting reality as an artistic approach. In many of the artistic practices that we have been working with up until now, such as binaural audio walks, storytelling in artistic guided tours or performative practices in public art, we recognize a common strategy not unsimilar to the principle of new XR (Cross Reality) technologies such as AR and MR. Augmented and Mixed Reality overlay the real-world environment with (digital) components that blend into the audience’s experience of their surroundings in an immersive and interactive fashion. In this project, we aim to expand the notion of Augmented/-ing Reality beyond its technological characteristics, and critically engage ourselves with its scenic and performative opportunities. What interests us is the manner in which these artistic strategies bring the everyday and future imaginaries closer together.
“Futur(e) Perfekt” runs until the end of November 2020. The project was initiated by Yael Sherill and Lianne Mol in cooperation with Julia Kawka, as part of B_Tour, a nomadic curatorial platform for artistic guided tours and urban interventions. “Futur(e) Perfekt” is supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
The looming environmental collapse has not caused the western world to panic in the same way that the corona crisis has, although the climate crisis is projected to have and has had much deadlier consequences. Perhaps the reluctance to shut down airports and cut down consumption as a preemptive action to the environmental catastrophe is the symptom of a psychological dissociation between knowledge of the severity of climate change on the one hand, and emotions, beliefs and (perceived) desires on the other. To acknowledge the extent of destruction that humans have already created and will continue creating (resulting in mass migration, extreme weather conditions, political polarisation etc.) leads to feelings of powerlessness, fear and despair. The consequences of integrating this reality in one’s psyche are overwhelming. We become paralised.
With “Futur(e) Perfekt” we aim to overcome the paralysis through the very act of imagining potential futures and giving them a color, a shape or a sound. We draw on the grammatical tense of the future perfect as a point of departure for a thought experiment about speculative visions. In recent years, dystopian narratives have dominated popular thought about the future and proliferated. We feel an urgency to counter this narrow spectrum with the production of visions that oscillate between material realism and radical optimism - visions that incite stubborn hope, anger and passion. We feel a necessity to puncture the hyperobject that is climate change, and ground it into the here and now.
This research project reflects on the conceptual notion of augmenting reality as an artistic approach. In many of the artistic practices that we have been working with up until now, such as binaural audio walks, storytelling in artistic guided tours or performative practices in public art, we recognize a common strategy not unsimilar to the principle of new XR (Cross Reality) technologies such as AR and MR. Augmented and Mixed Reality overlay the real-world environment with (digital) components that blend into the audience’s experience of their surroundings in an immersive and interactive fashion. In this project, we aim to expand the notion of Augmented/-ing Reality beyond its technological characteristics, and critically engage ourselves with its scenic and performative opportunities. What interests us is the manner in which these artistic strategies bring the everyday and future imaginaries closer together.
“Futur(e) Perfekt” runs until the end of November 2020. The project was initiated by Yael Sherill and Lianne Mol in cooperation with Julia Kawka, as part of B_Tour, a nomadic curatorial platform for artistic guided tours and urban interventions. “Futur(e) Perfekt” is supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.