UNKNOWN TOMORROWS
Since the dawn of civilization, we’ve been fascinated by what lies ahead, our imaginations forever obsessing over the endless possibilities of the future. For some, the future looks peaceful: cities with renewable energy, technological innovation, living in balance with the environment, and where poverty and illness are not a problem any more thanks to technology. For others, it’s not as bright with rising economic inequality, unlivable cities, non-affordable necessities such as food and housing, diseases, oppressive governments, wars, and environmental disasters.
Future – the big question mark, the unknown. It is scary, terrifying even. As humans, we always want to prepare as much as we can for what’s to come. That’s why we create. How many dystopian or utopian societies in films, TV series, books, comics, video games, advertisements, and artworks have you seen? It’s getting difficult to count nowadays, right? It is so deeply rooted in us – fantasizing helps us come to terms with everything that surrounds us.
However, we are all individuals. We went to different schools, have different friends, practice different religions, and come from diverse families and cultures. Our views are shaped by our unique experiences, which might make something that is great for one person awful for another. I’d love the future to look like an “Animal Crossing” game. Living on an island with cutesy animals, forming community, fishing, catching bugs/shells and decorating my home for days. Sounds like a utopia to me! Still, you might think that it all sounds very boring, simplistic, and simply not for you. That’s what I want you to reflect on in my “Unknown Tomorrows” gallery. The pieces of media you are about to see all come from artists who experience the idea of the future individually, in its own unique way.
Our future is something we can only speculate about. No matter how many books we write, movies we direct, paintings we paint or games we create there will never be a clear answer. Even though the future depends on what we do in the present we can never be sure how it all turns out. There’s fear in not knowing. There’s also beauty in it – so much art has been created because of it. Everything about the future is simply our imagination. It is also unavoidable; time moves fast and so do we. The only thing we know is that nothing ever stays the same.