{"id":915,"date":"2016-07-10T18:42:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T01:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=915"},"modified":"2016-07-12T08:40:35","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T15:40:35","slug":"do-artists-have-a-vision-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/07\/do-artists-have-a-vision-for-the-future.html","title":{"rendered":"Do Artists Have A Vision For The Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around the beginning of the 20th Century, some French artists were asked to design a series of cards that would imagine what life would be like 100 years in the future in the year 2000. The first cards were created for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris and eventually there were at least 87 of them.<\/p>\n

This was the mechanical age, the dawn of automation. So it’s not surprising that the artists’ futurism imagines the newest, sexiest technologies of the day applied to solve everyday tasks.<\/p>\n

\"France_in_XXI_Century._Audio_journal\"<\/a>

The audio newspaper. A phonograph reads the evening newspaper.<\/p><\/div>\n

Then there were the discoveries of science projected to practical uses in the future (without the inherent dangers).<\/p>\n

\"France_in_XXI_Century._Chauffage_au_Radium\"<\/a>

The parlor of the 21st Century heated by radium.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of the ideas were prescient, if strictly analog in their execution.<\/p>\n

\"France_in_XXI_Century._Correspondance_cinema\"<\/a>

A two-way “video chat” as imagined in 1900.<\/p><\/div>\n

Though\u00a0not nearly so clumsy-looking as this early Roomba.<\/p>\n

\"France_in_XXI_Century._Electric_scrubbing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can see 57 of the cards here at Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s fascinating how much the artists’ imaginations are inspired by technologies of the day, but also how mundane are the tasks they suppose those technologies might solve. And yet, it’s also remarkable how many of the artists imagined technologies that have actually come to pass in some form.<\/p>\n

Their versions of the future were strongly rooted in their present, and for good reason. Imagine if one of them had seen ahead and figured out the digital revolution and drawn an actual Roomba. It wouldn’t have made any sense to anyone. It would have seemed like magic, like fantasy. It would have seemed impossible. Without anchoring their futurism in the familiar and nudging the viewer’s imagination forward with things they already knew, their version of the future wouldn’t have had credibility.<\/p>\n

The claim has long been made that artists drive innovation<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Grand projects like the Great Pyramids, the Hoover Dam, or a moon landing were preceded by stories. \u201cSomeone had to imagine them and create a narrative that brought that vision to life for others.\u201d Or as Neal Stephenson puts it, science fiction \u201csupplies a plausible, fully thought-out picture of an alternate reality in which some sort of compelling innovation has taken place,\u201d producing icons that serve as \u201chieroglyphs\u200a\u2014\u200asimple, recognizable symbols on which everyone agrees.\u201d Science fiction is a way to craft big, compelling visions that will get people working on building the future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The question is, in the age of accelerating technological innovation driven by the wizards of Silicon Valley, are artists still out front painting visions of the future? Ask someone where today’s great ideas are coming from, and few will point to art. Instead, they’re likely to mention neuroscience or tech or medicine. If once Beethoven and Michelangelo and Shakespeare gave insight to the human condition as imagined in their time, which artists are serving that role now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around the beginning of the 20th Century, some French artists were asked to design a series of cards that would imagine what life would be like 100 years in the future in the year 2000. The first cards were created for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris and eventually there were at least 87 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-tech","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nDo Artists Have A Vision For The Future? - diacritical<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/07\/do-artists-have-a-vision-for-the-future.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do Artists Have A Vision For The Future? - diacritical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Around the beginning of the 20th Century, some French artists were asked to design a series of cards that would imagine what life would be like 100 years in the future in the year 2000. 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Three More Big City Newspaper Arts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/artsjournalism.jpg?fit=800%2C359&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/artsjournalism.jpg?fit=800%2C359&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/artsjournalism.jpg?fit=800%2C359&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/artsjournalism.jpg?fit=800%2C359&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/for_every_door_that_closes.html","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":1},"title":"For every door that closes…","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"ArtsJournal has been a bit depressing lately. Day after day, there's news of cuts in public funding\u00a0 arts organizations cutting back, retrenching, or going out of business. Growing numbers of unemployed artists. These links from just the past week or so.And yet, I keep hearing other stories arts organizations holding\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2506,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2021\/10\/five-observations-on-the-arts-18-months-into-covid-finances.html","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":2},"title":"Observations on the Arts 18 Months into COVID: Finances","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"October 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many arts organizations are coming out of the COVID shutdown in better financial shape than they were going in.","rel":"","context":"In "arts and business"","block_context":{"text":"arts and business","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/church-g2c17e2802_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C561&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/church-g2c17e2802_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C561&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/church-g2c17e2802_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C561&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/church-g2c17e2802_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C561&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":548,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2014\/01\/live-versus-the-machine-lets-not-take-the-live-experience-for-granted.html","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":3},"title":"Live Versus The Machine (Let’s Not Take The Live Experience For Granted)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"January 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The promise of virtual reality has intrigued science fiction writers for years. But the technology for VR has been rather disappointing. Until now, writes Wired. A headset called the Oculus Rift has gamers excited. But also movie makers and artists interested in new forms of story-telling: What\u00a0is\u00a0known is that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "arts & tech"","block_context":{"text":"arts & tech","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Oculus.jpg?fit=660%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Oculus.jpg?fit=660%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Oculus.jpg?fit=660%2C431&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":569,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2015\/02\/too-many-artists-or-not-enough-value.html","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":4},"title":"Too Many Artists Or Not Enough Value?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Scott Timberg's book Culture Crash makes a case that the transformation of our culture right now is killing artists' ability to make a living making art. He cites a number of reasons, but in the end it boils down to the fact that with so much free culture\/art available, people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "changing culture"","block_context":{"text":"changing culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/changing-culture"},"img":{"alt_text":"Print","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/INLINE_the_new_republic-624x624-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":431,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2013\/08\/are-arts-leaders-cultural-leaders.html","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":5},"title":"Are Arts Leaders “Cultural” Leaders?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The two terms sometimes get mixed up. They're not interchangeable. For the most part, the big cultural debates of our time take place without participation of our artists and arts leaders. If artists aren't participating - let alone leading - it's difficult to make the case that they're cultural leaders.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cultural issues"","block_context":{"text":"cultural issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/cultural-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/800px-Lincoln_Center_Main.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/800px-Lincoln_Center_Main.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/800px-Lincoln_Center_Main.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/800px-Lincoln_Center_Main.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}