V&A The Future Starts Here

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

This exhibition displays emerging technologies, the ways in which they will affect our lives in the near future, and what choices we have, as citizens, to influence their development.

The world of tomorrow is shaped by the designs and technologies emerging today. From smart appliances to satellites, this exhibition brings together more than 100 objects either newly released or in development that point towards where society might be headed. Although some may seem straight out of science fiction, they are all real, produced by research labs, universities, designers’ studios, governments and corporations.

Guided by ethical and speculative questions, we invite you to step into four scenarios – self, public, planet and afterlife – each evoking increasing scales of technological impact. How might these objects affect the way you live, learn and even love?

The undeniable physical reality of these objects may give the impression that the future is already fixed. But new things contain unpredictable potentials and possibilities, often unanticipated even by their creators. It is up to us – as individuals, as citizens and even as a species – to determine what happens next. While the objects here suggest a certain future, it is not yet determined. The future we get is up to us. The future starts here.

Are cities still for everyone? This section explores the public realms of cities, politics and networks, the places where we come together to collectively make decisions. 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?

Exhibition includes my Estonian E-Residency ID card.

More https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/the-future-starts-here

12 May – 4 November 2018

Press about the exhibition:
https://www.dezeen.com/2018/05/11/vas-the-future-starts-here-exhibition-explores-dark-and-bright-sides-of-tomorrow/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/may/09/solar-powered-shirts-drunken-droids-smarthome-future-starts-here
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/may/12/the-future-starts-here-victoria-and-albert-london-review
https://www.ft.com/content/3c22979e-52d4-11e8-b24e-cad6aa67e23e