Imaging the Future
It’s the year 2029. Rather than getting a white-walled studio space, the Congress of Solidarity Art Economists asks you to select the kind of space that supports your practice. What space will you choose?
A healing center: a space to attend to our bodies, our well-being, our embodied trauma, our breathing, our muscles, our diets, our digestion, and natural remedies. You will be mentored by representatives of a Support Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as healers, therapists, physicians, nutritionists, and doulas. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the ways that you support yourself in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Support: the ways your needs are met in order to rest, dream, and work on any project.
A materials lab: space and equipment to regenerate, extract, process, and refine materials in this lab. You will be mentored by representatives of a Source Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as material scientists, integrated designers, philosophers, and anthropologists. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the process of sourcing materials in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Source: where you obtain materials for a project.
A bank: equipment and materials to produce local/community currencies and barter contracts. You will be mentored by representatives of a Transfer Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as economists, mathematicians, accountants, and urban planners. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the exchange of resources in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Transfer: the exchange of resources for goods or labor in your project.
A meeting room: space to practice methods of conversation, communication, and group work. You will be mentored by representatives of a Labor Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as collectives, psychologists, urban planners, facilitators, attention specialists, somatic healers, sociologists, and elders. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the labor process in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Labor: the roles you and other people take on in order to create a project.
A tool shop: a shop to develop equipment that can be distributed and modified. You will be mentored by representatives of a Tools Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as engineers, physicists, architects, and craftspeople. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the process of using tools materials in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Tools: the devices or implements you use in your project.
A law office / strategy room: space to work on public policy and intellectual/physical property. An anonymous space where you will be protected from surveillance. You will be mentored by representatives of a Creative Commons Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as computer scientists, industrial designers, lawyers, and public policy professionals. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the process of making your work available for adaptation or repurposing in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Copyright: the ways that your project is and is not available for reuse or adaptation.
A media lab: a space for documenting and sharing projects. You will be mentored by representatives of a Narrate Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as journalists, storytellers, somatic healers, historians, producers, geographers, computer scientists, and elders. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the process of representing your project in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Narrate: the representation of your project.
A studio/home: a space where objects can be displayed. You will be mentored by representatives of an Encounter Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as an attention specialist, a somatic healer, integrated art historians, art critics, family members, and elders. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the process of encountering your project in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Encounter: the context where your finished project is presented.
A storage facility: a space where objects are able to rest and are repaired. You will be mentored by representatives of an Acquire Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as art historians, chemists, architects, and elders. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the process of acquiring your project in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Acquire: the storage, maintenance, and stewardship of your project.
An “end of life” facility / morgue: a space to sit with the end of projects’ lives. You will be mentored by representatives of a Depart Working Group from the Congress of Solidarity Artists, as well as religious leaders, healers, therapists, morticians, botanists, environmental scientists, theologists, elders, and death doulas. When you request feedback, your mentors will focus on the departure of your project in relationship to the entire life of your project.
Download the full chapter: Imaging the Future as a PDF
Depart: when your project is abandoned, destroyed, or repurposed.