view counter

The Future Starts Here at the V&A

At a glance
Add to calendar
Time 11:00
Date 12/05/18
Price £15
  • Produced by V&A
  • Price £15
  • Get ready for the future.
  • Bring along your idea of tomorrow.
  • Surf to book online.
  • See you at V&A

The Future Starts Here explores the power of design and the ways in which they will affect our lives in shaping the world of tomorrow.

Running from: Sat 12 May - Sun 04 Nov.

From smart appliances to satellites, artificial intelligence to internet culture, this exhibition will bring together more than 100 objects as a landscape of possibilities for the near future.

From smart appliances to satellites, artificial intelligence to internet culture, this exhibition will bring together more than 100 objects as a landscape of possibilities for the near future.

Come and explore the future, using evidence from the present, by showing real objects that are currently in development, being worked on by scientists and designers in studios and laboratories around the world. Guided by a series of questions, the visitor is encouraged to imagine the implications of these technologies and devices a number of years from now. The exhibition is arranged in four acts:
Act 1: Domestic

Are we still human? We can now design life itself. Our bodies, and even our internal biological systems, are becoming sites of design. Wearable technologies and personal trackers have become standard objects of our everyday. We measure our heart rate when we go jogging, and navigate cities with the help of GPS. As we extend our cognitive and biological capacities through machines – distinctions between what is human and what is technological blur. Once synonymous with privacy and reclusion, the home is now a broadcasting station from which we share our lives through social media. We're all connected but are we still lonely? As we reach a perfect sync between ourselves and the things we own, in the extreme connectivity that links us with everyone else online, are we becoming lonely?

Act 2: Public

Are cities still for everyone? Smart cities pop up in the middle of the desert, trade zones draw closed perimeters of land, and new kinds of infrastructure, such as data centres, are increasingly controlled by private companies. People get together to crowdfund everything from bicycles to bridges, or to leak governmental secrets and generate new currencies. In face of this, Does democracy still work? The future of public and civic spaces lies between two competing forces: the top-down strategies of an increasingly small number of companies and governments, and the bottom-up tactics of an increasingly large number of people. Which will thrive?

Act 3: Planetary

Can design stop climate change? Technological progress has exhausted the earth's geological resources. Emerging scanning and photographing technologies allow us to read the irreversible effects of climate change. From this knowing position, some designers are working on possible solutions to design the planet through geoengineering, others on small interventions that contribute consciously to clean or give back to the planet. If Mars is the answer, what is the question? There are also those who believe that we should move on – designing satellites that scope asteroids for mining new geological resources, and solutions for inhabiting Mars. Can we still save our planet or shall we leave?

Act 4: Cosmic

Who wants to live forever? The safe haven of nature no longer exists, and in this new paradigm we begin questioning the survival of our own species. Extending one's life has emerged as a trend. Futurologists sign up for cryonics in the hope of reawakening in the future, take pills to extend their lives, and make apps to ensure their digital afterlife. Against these self-focused, individual time capsules, institutions such as the Long Now Foundation or the Svalbard Global Seed Vault are working on preserving humanity through books, seeds and material culture. What do we want to preserve for the future – the individual or the collective?

For Exhibition highlights, head to the V&A website.

view counter