Future (Shock)

Not too long ago we were imagining a world with hoverboards, robot butlers, and flying cars. We were looking forward to the idea of having access to information at any given time. To 0s and 1s, to cyborg intergration, to 3D printing of human organs. Even globalization seemed to be a rather promising concept to a certain degree. So when did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? Our mistrust of the future is making it really hard to let go of the past, and it certainly messes with our perception of the present big time. FUTURE SHOCK is our amalgamation of different artistic explorations about what lies ahead - moving forward in time and space. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if the pages unveiled imply a rather dystopian look on the future or if it’s time to have some real beneficence towards what lies in front of us.

Having said that: we think it’s mandatory to make some (future) projections and blaze some alternative trails against a reactivated reactionary system that’s holding a grip on people who are anxious in times of change and constant new developments. The populist movement that’s happening internationally alters interhuman dialog into divisiveness and non-acceptance. It gives us the opposite of a positive future forecast - these waves of reactionary forces have swept over many times in the past. Some people just want to watch the world burn, bring chaos in order to delegate.

Time is a very misleading thing, and that’s exactly why we’re able to rewind the future and stop the past. The future is happening now, and it’s up to us to look at the possibilities to set our directions and mindsets for a better future. It is ultimately us who will decide where we’re headed. This issue wants to submit to a pro-humanistic dialog and positive outlook in terms of reflection, deflection, and oscillation.
Highlights of this issue include:

THE BOMB. games people play
There are about 15,000 nuclear weapons on this planet. More than 90 percent of these weapons are owned by the United States and Russia in similar parts, the others belong to France, China, England, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. These 15,000 weapons are able to destroy our whole civilization not just once, but several times. A nuclear war is a constant, dormant threat since the arms race between the USA and Russia during the Cold War. In terms of facing this threat though, where is the awareness, where is the discussion about it and where is the outrage and fear? Nearly every kind of examination seems to be buried with the bombs in their nuclear missile silos. Long absent, soon forgotten. Whereas terrorism or climate change are way too visible to be ignored, the buried nuclear weapons seem to be too ungraspable to keep in mind. It’s so 80s. This perception certainly will change thanks to “The Bomb“ - a multimedia installation designed and directed by directed by Eric Schlosser, Smriti Keshari and Kevin Ford, which plays with the fascination and the beauty of this most dangerous manmade weapon.

FUTURES PAST. designs of a future never realized
Cosmic designs by Syd Mead, illustrator of the future VS Carrozzeria Bertone, the legendary car design company - In 1954 Nuccio Bertone designed the Guiletta Sprint for Alfa Romeo, a car that was tremendously successful and a milestone for the significance of the Carrozzeria Bertone as design powerhouse.In 1959 Bertone hired Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was 21 at the time. and was replaced by Marcello Gandini in 1965. Nevertheless, Giugiaro became one the greatest industrial designers of the 20th century with a plethora of car designs, camera designs (e.g. Nikon F3) and the design for Ripley’s watch in Alien, to name a few under his belt. Gandini came up with the design of the Lamborghini Miura P400 and later the Alfa Romeo Carabo conceptcar.

CAVIAR AND ARMAGGEDON. luxury bunkers
What’s the most angst-ridden and worried species in the world? More scared than a timid fawn in a moshpit of rabid hyenas, more tremulous than a monkey dangling on a brittle branch above an alligator’s jaw: humans. And the worst: rich humans. The more you have, the more you can lose, the bigger the fear for the worst to come. Of course, the rich have a larger creative leeway for their lives, but security does not exist for them either, even though there’s all cases considered, the Ghiblis, Grifos, Monteverdis, the jewellery, the summer residences, infinity pools, yachts and chipping greens all secured and insured, but there’s more in the big painting of loss and that’s why most rich people feel insecure. Against this backdrop, very different problems arise for the wealthy, especially with values you can not buy - aside from losing power, control, money, influence - it’s most likely health, life, love, their children and what the future has in store for all of the above. The future, this massive and nebulous thing you can’t avoid, packed with unknowns and uncertainty. In an era of ever-growing conspiracy theories it’s becoming more and more a murky colouring book of bad predictions, a growing bouquet of anxieties. Regardless of religion, education, ideology and philosophy, no matter if you’re prone to fall into the fangs of charlatans and Mayan calendars, fake news and illusive ideas or if you deride the tin foil hatters, even with the most optimistic outlook, there’s still a plethora of bad things that will eventually happen. One day. Sooner or later.