The Far Future
The 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT Museum in Tokyo, Japan, organized the "2121 Futures In-Sight" exhibition. The concept of the exhibition was to encourage and explore thinking about the world 100 years from now.
From ancient times, people have tried to predict the future, from tomorrow's weather to the economy. In recent years, with the remarkable advances in information analysis and measurement technologies, it may seem that more precise predictions are possible. The global pandemic has made us realize how unknown the "future" is. The "future" does not exist, only as an extension of the past. The past is looked back on from the future and constantly rewrites the present. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "the future influences the present, just as much as the past”, meaning the present is influenced by the way in which we envisage what lies ahead.
The best way is to prepare for the future is to create multiple prototype futures from as many sources as possible. Thinking about "the future" interrogates the very act that makes us human.
Why-Futures-Start?
Using a tool called "Future Compass", fifty designers, artists, and thinkers tried to envision the far future 100 years from now. The Future Compass generates questions about the future, in three words, that are the starting point for their explorations and viewpoints.
OvN made a selection of 15 projects that explored the year 2121 in different ways.
William Gibson/Sci-Fi Novelist
Why can’t we, as humanity, imagine the 22nd century?
The cyberpunk science fiction writer William Gibson once stated, "The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed." In the 20th century, the 21st century was constantly presented as a period of technological marvels. Now that we are in the 21st century, he cannot imagine the 22nd century. He thinks this is because we have no concept idea of the future as we did in the 20th century, maybe things are changing so fast.
Masatoshi Funabashi/Meta-Metabolism Declaration
What are the common bases for imagining a life cohabited with all living things 100 years in the future?
Under the global pressures of climate change, resource depletion, and decreasing biodiversity, can we imagine a world where we give more consideration to others, expand our common ground, and thus avoid collision between our various imagined futures?
To find a balance between man-made objects and nature, and create a new form of synergy between both. Masatoshi Funabashi proposed a new landscape at the exhibition. A landscape cohabited with all living things: the augmentation of ecosystems through essential human activities.
Tamae Hirokawa/Designer
How do we create the future?
We always envisage the future as something nostalgic. The "Present" is built on the foundation laid by our ancestors, and the "Future" is uncertain and unknown. Tamae Hirokawa updated the historical kimono so that it could deliver memories of the past in tomorrow’s world, and be worn far into the future. By combining the traditional kimono with elements of Western clothing she created kimono’s for the future.
Taku Satoh/ Graphic Designer
Will ideas of waste change?
Humanity's mission is to create circularity of our limited resources, keeping them in the loop for as long as possible. Products will be made to be remade. Our perception of waste will change. Waste can be a resource, a starting point, that can serve a new purpose.
WE+/ Contemporary Design Studio
How do we imagine the future?
Human activity has exerted a geological-level influence on the earth. We have entered an era called the Anthropocene. Mining is undertaken without regard to any natural cycle while manufacturing processes have become ever more complex.
We have yet to discover a way to escape our throw-away system. Our present relationship with products and materials has become disjointed. The vase at the exhibition is made from electrical copper wire, reused from waste. By re-using waste materials in simple ways, can we create a healthy relationship with matter and objects?
Naoto Fukasawa/ Product Designer
How do we imagine the future?
Will anyone know the archetype shape of food, 100 years from now? In the future, the food will be completely processed and will no longer retain its original shape. Naoto Fukasawa believes it is necessary to show the original image of the food through the packaging of the processed food. Food is something you taste not only in your mouth but also by looking, smelling, and touching with your hands.
Anyu Ishiyama/ Social activist
How will we “feel” in the future?
By the year 2121, all things worldwide may be interconnected. It may be a time where phenomena, objects, nature and all beings have merged. Feelings of belonging can arise without any conscious effort.
It is as if the boundaries between the self and the consciousness of the other dissolve. The sense of ego or 'I' becomes thinner and we can even feel emotions like love or pain in the other.
If we pay attention to connectivity, individuals, groups or nations will shake off their history of selfishness and end the primacy of the idea "as long as I'm fine..." This will create a symbiotic society based on technology and the transformation of human consciousness.Momona Otsuka/ Chief Environmental Officer, BIG EYE COMPANY Co., Ltd.
Why do we create ?
Why would we create new things when we have so many items already? The products and items that surround us are weird, wonderful, functional and made to last. Why create something new? Let’s stop creating waste, let’s stop creating new things.
Nadya Kirillova/ Creative Director, Children's Book Author
How to interact with the unknown?
One day. A letter arrived at Nadya's house from a museum called 2121. When he opened it, it said: "Where Future Starts?" Nadya thought. "I don't know." He was a little embarrassed and decided to reply. "I don't know the answer to that question, but since I grew up in six countries, I have experience with the unknown."
5 Tips for dealing with the unknown:
1. Don't prepare
2. Observe silently
3. Listen to your heart
4. Imagine without knowing
5. Wait for the unknown to disappear
Nexstar CEO, Junior at Keio University SFC
How would society change if the “heart” becomes visible?
The e-lamp is an earring-shaped device that glows at the same beat as our heartbeat. The lamp visualises the heart pulsations as a light. What if we could have a free heart and we could visually express our feelings of what we like and what fascinates us? A new communication experience for the emotions that are hard to express and share.
Synflux/ Speculative Fashion Laboratory
How will the post-human, living in pluriversal realities, desire future fashion?
Tettaisen (Withdrawal Line) is a design fiction by Synflux and Itsuki Tsukui. It proposes a new image of people living in developed countries in the aftermath of population contraction and rural decline. People have left urban areas, which no longer support creativity, and headed for remoter regions.
Genetic engineering has turned people into post-homo sapiens, what they called kemono (beasts). In the exhibition, they showed clothes for plural realities, real and virtual. Kemono skins can be obtained as an NFT, and worn in the metaverse.
Emi lwado, Sputnikol Lab/ Tokyo University of the Arts
What kind of futures do we want to allow ourselves to create?
Serotonin is often called the happy hormone because it brings about mental stability and a sense of well-being. The University of Tokyo's Ozawa Lab proposed a "Happy Virus" one that infects human neurons and expresses serotonin receptors. The new virus could make the world a happier place. With the recent development of biotechnology, designing such a new virus in the lab has become more accessible. However, making the technology more accessible could also open up possibilities of misuse, such as someone intentionally designing a virus to create a deadly pandemic like COVID-19.
Naoko Okawachi/ Cultural Anthropologist
Is the "human" 100 years from now a cyborg or a resident of a virtual world?
Technological advances have made our lives much more convenient, but on the other hand, it seems that we have lost our humanity. Living, relationships, and identities are modularized and multi-layered. Have we lost the true you and the true me?
What if we become cyborgs and live in a virtual world free from troublesome physical bodies. How would we design a balance or mix of humanity and functionality?
How will the value and meaning of the time it takes to produce objects by hand evolve over the next 100 years?
Technology and tools evolve, while intelligence and thinking complement and replace each other. The desire for new ways of doing things is unstoppable, as is our desire to accelerate manufacturing. Yet progress in hand-made objects, that is, made through actions directly using our bodies, may come slowly. The video exhibit shows a one-minute hourglass captured in a stop-motion technique. The animation shows the real-time process of hand-producing an item.
Evala/ Composer, Sound Artist
Can you feel it?
Composer and sound artist Evala filled the space at the end of the exhibition with blue light and sounds. She used sounds that have been collected all over the world. Standing in the blue light, listening to the sounds of life running at high density, just feeling and experiencing, each viewer will be able to imagine the question of what may be possible futures.
For more information www.2121futuresinsight.jp
This article is written in collaboration with Yoshida Shigeru