We engage the public in playful experiences designed to explore alternative, possible, plausible and most importantly, preferable futures. Over the course of our previous visits to the Maltese Islands, we have had the pleasure of bringing internationally renowned futurists, local experts and everyday citizens together in communal workshops. During these creative meetings, participants have shared imaginative scenarios, dreams and concerns that explore diverse visions of local, regional and global futures.
The year 2018 sees people’s ideas come to life through the resulting site-specific exhibition, the Cabinet of Futures. As with the Cabinets of Wonders from the ages of European exploration, these installations collect artefacts from the explorations. Here we find imaginations of possible futures and their physical realisations, making these scenarios not only imagined but also experiencable. This immersive, walk-through exhibition creates a ‘proto-scientific’ real life laboratory atmosphere, inviting individuals and communities to visualise themselves in the scenario.
With constant creative exchange from all walks of life, the hypothetical futures presented become sites that are continuously evolving into richer and ever-more tangible worlds.