America of the future imagined in the 1910s - 1930s
Posts marked future
We were promised jetpacks seahorse riding. At least according to these illustrations of the 21st century done by artists at the turn of the 20th century.
About:
France in the Year 2000 (XXI century) – a series of futuristic pictures by Jean-Marc Côté and other artists issued in France in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910. Originally in the form of paper cards enclosed in cigarette/cigar boxes and, later, as postcards, the images depicted the world as it was imagined to be like in the year 2000. There are at least 87 cards known that were authored by various French artists, the first series being produced for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris.
You can see them all here.
Agriculture 2.0 is a design by Appareil for urban vertical farming. Although it’s based on ancient practices, it’s a concept for the future.
Dune by Studio Roosegaarde
About the project:
Dune is a public interactive landscape that interacts with human behavior. This hybrid of nature and technology is composed of large amounts of fibers that brighten according to the sounds and motion of passing visitors.
Our most recent version is filled with hundreds of interactive lights and sounds. Dune investigates nature in a futuristic relation with urban space by means of looking, walking and interacting.
American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse is a fascinating 2009 story by Wired about the creation of the mysterious Georgia Guidestones.
Here’s an excerpt:
Called the Georgia Guidestones, the monument is a mystery—nobody knows exactly who commissioned it or why. The only clues to its origin are on a nearby plaque on the ground—which gives the dimensions and explains a series of intricate notches and holes that correspond to the movements of the sun and stars—and the “guides” themselves, directives carved into the rocks. These instructions appear in eight languages ranging from English to Swahili and reflect a peculiar New Age ideology. Some are vaguely eugenic (GUIDE REPRODUCTION WISELY—IMPROVING FITNESS AND DIVERSITY); others prescribe standard-issue hippie mysticism (PRIZE TRUTH—BEAUTY—LOVE—SEEKING HARMONY WITH THE INFINITE).
What’s most widely agreed upon—based on the evidence available—is that the Guidestones are meant to instruct the dazed survivors of some impending apocalypse as they attempt to reconstitute civilization. Not everyone is comfortable with this notion. A few days before I visited, the stones had been splattered with polyurethane and spray-painted with graffiti, including slogans like “Death to the new world order.” This defacement was the first serious act of vandalism in the Guidestones’ history, but it was hardly the first objection to their existence. In fact, for more than three decades this uncanny structure in the heart of the Bible Belt has been generating responses that range from enchantment to horror. Supporters (notable among them Yoko Ono) have praised the messages as a stirring call to rational thinking, akin to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason. Opponents have attacked them as the Ten Commandments of the Antichrist.
Continue reading about the monument and the anonymous stranger that requested them here or check out a new interactive web series about it here.
Nature reclaims The City in these dioramas built and photographed by Lori Nix.
Nix on her project:
In my newest body of work The City I have imagined a city of our future, where something either natural or as the result of mankind, has emptied the city of it’s human inhabitants. Art museums, Broadway theaters, laundromats and bars no longer function. The walls are deteriorating, the ceilings are falling in, the structures barely stand, yet Mother Nature is slowly taking them over. These spaces are filled with flora, fauna and insects, reclaiming what was theirs before man’s encroachment. I am afraid of what the future holds if we do not change our ways regarding the climate, but at the same time I am fascinated by what a changing world can bring.
Selections from Traffic Jams/Future of Landscape Painting by Terry Berlier
About the project:
These aerial views of dystopias or never-ending traffic jams hint at the future of landscape painting.
Julian Pacaud creates illustrations that somehow manage to appear both retro and futuristic at the same time. This may be explained by his bio:
I’m a french illustrator, currently living in Le Mans, France. Before becoming an illustrator, I was, by turns : an astrophysician, an international snooker player, a hypnotist and an esperanto teacher. I hope I can someday have enough free time to devote myself to my real passion : time travel.
Architect Michael Jantzen is interested in much more than just form following function. He wants to “reinvent the built environment in order to extend the reach of consciousness.”
Pictured above is his Space Time Transformation Foot Bridge. About the project:
The interactive Space Time Transformation Footbridge is a conceptual design study for a new kind of pedestrian bridge that would be made of glass and steel. As people walk through the bridge, it senses their movements and responds by changing its shape from a pure cylinder to a multitude of varying shapes. As a result, the surrounding landscape is viewed by those crossing the bridge in an exciting fragmented way, which is based on the randomness of their movements. The glass, which covers the structure, is partially coated with a thin photovoltaic film that converts sun light into electricity. This electricity is stored and used to transform the shape of the structure, and to illuminate it at night.
Visit his site to see more work that merges art, architecture, technology, engineering, and sustainable design into one unique experience.
Nip in the bud by Robin Kosnas
Kosnas on her work:
The concept is around the ruthless nature of consumerism. The fetus in the womb is being consumed by us: the consumers of present day. Even if unintentionally, but we do destroy our future with the harum scarum behavior of our societies. The umbilical cord curled up on a fork may seem disturbing, but on occasions our way of life is shocking as well.
Design Drift’s Fragile Future uses real dandelions in these spectacular light fixtures to tell the story of the amalgamation of nature and technology that will happen in the future in a pact for both to survive.
Vincent Callebaut Architecte designs for the future, a future that requires sustainability to address the consequences of a changing climate. Their project Hydrogenase was created to meet the need for a sustainable transport system. To accomplish this they have designed airships powered by seaweed.
Vincent Callebaut Architecte describes their project:
HYDROGENASE, ALGAE FARM TO RECYCLE CO2 FOR BIO-HYDROGEN AIRSHIP
Between engineering and biology, Hydrogenase is one of the first projects of bio-mimicry which draws its inspiration from the beauty and the shapes of the nature, but also and especially from the qualities of its materials and its self-manufacturing processes. The new green revolution is really in progress and enables us to design the air mobility of the foil after shock, 100% self-sufficient in energy and zero carbon emission! This inhabitated vertical aircraft inaugures a clean and ethic mobility to meet the needs of the population en distress touched by the natural and sanitary catastrophes, and all that without any runway! Its architecture is subversive and fundamentally critic towards the ways of living of our contemporary society that we have to reinvent totally! Let’s take off thanks to biofuels and let’s propel to the eco-responsible transport of the future!
Read more…
Design Interactions Research asks the question:
What happens when you decouple design from the marketplace, when rather than making technology sexy, easy to use and more consumable, designers use the language of design to pose questions, inspire, and provoke — to transport our imaginations into parallel but possible worlds? Our research explores new ways design can make technology more meaningful and relevant to our lives, both now, and in the future, by thinking not only about new applications but implications as well.
One possible answer to this question they’ve explored is the 5th Dimensional Camera. What makes this camera different than any currently available cameras?
The 5th Dimensional Camera is a fictional device that captures glimpses of parallel universes suggested by quantum physics. How might we seek to interact with these other worlds? Would we become jealous of our parallel selves? What would happen to our sense of morality if we knew that we had committed inconceivable acts in another world?
Considering the progress being made in building quantum computers, the 5th Dimensional Camera might not remain purely fictional for much longer.
These strangely compelling/disturbing images are the creations of Lucy & Bart, a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess.
About their work:
An instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.
Surface Tension (by IrishTimes) is a new exhibit at Dublin’s Science Gallery that looks fascinating and fun - even for adults.
Visit the Thinx site