Visions of the Future
Join us at SCI-Arc for ‘Visions of the Future’.
What does ‘the future’ look like? You could be forgiven for thinking of a neon-lit dense cityscape somewhere in Japan or Hong Kong, during a perpetual rainy night. But why do we have these associations? This vision of ‘the future’ has remained largely unchanged since the 1980s – once again confirmed in recent sci-fi blockbusters. However, visions of the future have nothing to do with the future at all. The opposite: they are mirrors of society at the time in which they are written. They are an exaggerated zeitgeist, rather than a forecast. This vision of a neon-lit Japanese future appeared in the 1980s because that was the rise of Japan as a superpower, during the personal electronics boom, when we walked around with Sony Walkmans and neon signs were the hottest trend. Now, of course, we find ourselves in a different society, with different hopes and fears. Japan as a rising superpower has given way to China or India, and even the neon lights of Hong Kong have been mostly replaced with LED ones. Yet we still haven’t really found a new look for ‘the future’.
This is an interactive exhibition of new ideas for visions of the future. Open from today (August 14th).
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Students: Muotaz Abbas, Jenan Al-Sabbagh, Peggy Chiu, Viviane Komati, Michel Erler, Yara Feghali, Kate Ham, Claire He, Rohini Jadhav, Jinsoo Kim, Minah Kim, Erica Li, Jinqiu Liu, Te Hsing Lu, Jackson Lukas, Fiona Ng, Ivan Orquera, Noel Ortega, Junxi Peng, Caroline Post, Paul Pu, Reza Salehi, Fariba Shafiee, Mohammad Soleimanifeijani, Ryan Wang, Adriane Yi, Nico Yoon, Allen Zhang
Exhibition photos by Kordae Henry
Taught by Alexey Marfin
What does ‘the future’ look like? You could be forgiven for thinking of a neon-lit dense cityscape somewhere in Japan or Hong Kong, during a perpetual rainy night. But why do we have these associations? This vision of ‘the future’ has remained largely unchanged since the 1980s – once again confirmed in recent sci-fi blockbusters. However, visions of the future have nothing to do with the future at all. The opposite: they are mirrors of society at the time in which they are written. They are an exaggerated zeitgeist, rather than a forecast. This vision of a neon-lit Japanese future appeared in the 1980s because that was the rise of Japan as a superpower, during the personal electronics boom, when we walked around with Sony Walkmans and neon signs were the hottest trend. Now, of course, we find ourselves in a different society, with different hopes and fears. Japan as a rising superpower has given way to China or India, and even the neon lights of Hong Kong have been mostly replaced with LED ones. Yet we still haven’t really found a new look for ‘the future’.
This is an interactive exhibition of new ideas for visions of the future. Open from today (August 14th).
–
Students: Muotaz Abbas, Jenan Al-Sabbagh, Peggy Chiu, Viviane Komati, Michel Erler, Yara Feghali, Kate Ham, Claire He, Rohini Jadhav, Jinsoo Kim, Minah Kim, Erica Li, Jinqiu Liu, Te Hsing Lu, Jackson Lukas, Fiona Ng, Ivan Orquera, Noel Ortega, Junxi Peng, Caroline Post, Paul Pu, Reza Salehi, Fariba Shafiee, Mohammad Soleimanifeijani, Ryan Wang, Adriane Yi, Nico Yoon, Allen Zhang
Exhibition photos by Kordae Henry
Taught by Alexey Marfin