How can we create the future together?
Combining latest academic research with incredible objects, the exhibition looked at heritage as the building blocks of the future, through four themes:
Profusion explored what we should pass on to future generations in an age of mass production and consumption.
Diversity reflected on how diversity in nature and in cultural traditions can help people and nature cope with future uncertainty.
Transformation lookded at heritage as something that is not fixed, but that changes over time.
Uncertainty considered what should we pass on to future generations, when we can’t be sure what they will want or need.
We can’t be certain what the future will be like, but through Heritage Futures, we can at least try to ensure that the decisions we make today help provide people with the things they might need and want in the future.
In our Heritage Futures Studio we asked people to help us imagine, design and begin to create the future together.
Alongside the exhibition, artist Shelley Castle from Encounter Arts created an installation; the Human Bower, she took inspiration from the extraordinary craftwork of the Bowerbird. These amazing birds gather, display, and exhibit the things they appear to hold of high value outside their twig constructions.
The work encouraged conversations around what we hope the future would look like, what we could hold onto to make that happen, and what we need to let go of.
The exhibition was inspired by work being undertaken by the “Heritage Futures” research programme, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Professor Rodney Harrison (UCL) acted as principal academic consultant on the exhibition, drawing on contributions from its team of academic researchers. For further information see www.heritage-futures.org