The Factory of the Future (We know not what we may be)

David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, The Barbican, London and Oslo, Norway 2018 & 2019

As part of a residency at the David Attenborough Building, Zoë Svendsen, Dramaturg and Artistic Director of METIS, transformed CCI’s Artist’s Studio into THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE (WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE MAY BE) – an installation for storytelling, interaction and experimentation that explores challenges surrounding a transformative future.

THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE is an ongoing collaborative and immersive experiment for the invention of the future – which puts people at the heart of the decision-making process. Everyone in the CCI community, and beyond, were invited to interact with the installation and to explore what an alternative future might be, a future which creates a more just society, and aims to assist with averting runaway climate change.

A series of workshops and conversations took place over several months where Zoe invited participants to contribute their ideas and expertise around big issues like rewilding, migration, universal basic income, carbon tax and intellectual property – all in the context of climate change. Provocations included questions like:

What’s the best alternative economic structure to combat climate change?

What can we do?

Are you a consumer or citizen?

Epic or Tragic?

Ideas and conversations from the CCI Community were fed into the future development of THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE and Zoë’s next commission – an interactive trail at the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019. This artwork explores and responds to alternative economic models through architecture and design.

Originally commissioned by ArtsAdmin for their Green Commission, 2018 WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE MAY BE was presented by the Barbican as part of its 2018 season, The Art of Change which explored how artists respond to, reflect and can potentially effect change in the social and political landscape.

https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/projects/we-know-not-what-we-may-be https://www.barbican.org.uk/theartofchange