Visions of the Future
A Collection of Channels is a series highlighting channels we’re paying attention to on Are.na.
Channels dedicated to the bleeding edge of the here and now are inescapable on Are.na, where everything from cyberpunk and systems interfaces to prosthetics technology and world’s end apocalyptica are explored. In their aggregate, these channels help express the cultural outlook of the current moment—an outlook otherwise difficult to pin down, document, and archive.
Andrew van Hyfte's ”Frontier of Human Connection” gathers material that depicts the emerging patterns of social interaction, with images ranging from Afrofuturist evocations and bright, primary colors to smog-filled skies and monolithic digital interfaces.
Future Interface
In “Future Interface,” Gemma Copeland documents the ways that film directors, set designers, game makers, and photographers have imagined the interface of tomorrow—Minority Report's gloved screen manipulations; the hibernation beds of Prometheus—pairing them alongside real concept videos from the present day.
Manual for a Possible Future
Gage Wente's "Manual for a Possible Future" speculates on the needs of the future, and the blind spots latent in our pursuit of progress.
Speculating Future
In “Speculating Future” Francis Tseng aggregates think pieces on the downsides—ecological, social, and psychological—of emerging technologies.
Retro Futurism
Lydia White's “Retro Futurism” invokes a past in which technology still held its utopian possibility in the public eye, an era when dramatic predictions about infrastructure, architecture, and travel seemed eminent instead of merely hyperbolic. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, "autonomous communities, collective modes of living, space exploration, and emerging new media were open frontiers for optimistic exploration," White writes.
After Earth
In ”After Earth,” Édouard U. explores the utopian aspirations of today: efforts at deep space exploration, extraplanetary colonization, and moon mining among them.
What’s Out There?
The beautiful colors and topographies of Augusto Cascales's "What's Out There?" evoke the strange beauty of outer space, along with a quiet awe at the possibility of the unexplored.
Have suggestions? Connect your own channels to the Visions of the Future megachannel.