On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Ars Electronica Futurelab in 2021, Memo Futurum invited everyone to take a closer look at our personal and collective visions of the future. How do we see ourselves and our lives in 25 years? How do we talk about our future, how do we feel about it, what is our attitude towards it? The public could participate via website to contribute a voice memo until the end of 2021. The submissions were then transferred to vinyl records to only be opened again in 25 years when the cycle starts anew.
photo: Birgit Cakir
photo: Susanne Kiesenhofer
photo: Birgit Cakir
Image: Susanne Kiesenhofer
Similar to remembering, imagining the future is not about facts or accuracy, but about how we interpret the world around us. Both mental activities influence our behavior, our perceptions, and our values, and they are part of our identity. Therefore, if we are able to access the future visions that we have today, we can get a better understanding of us as a society. Memo Futurum aimed to capture personal future visions in order to focus on them and discuss them.
Everyone was invited to access the Memo Futurum website and contribute a “memo” – a short voice memo. Users were guided to envision their personal future in 25 years in one of five aspects of their life: housing, work, leisure, relationships or values. After the guided “mind travel”, users were asked to answer 3 quick questions and could then share their thoughts in form of a voice memo. Memo Futurum was active until the end of 2021. Until then, everyone could participate by submitting their own memo or listen to other people’s voice memos. The answers from the questions allowed to get an overview and a common ground of our collective visions. At the end of 2021, the voices became silent. They were transferred to vinyl records, and all digital copies were erased. Then the inactive phase of the project began: The vinyl records, along with important information about the project, are now stored in a glass case for 25 years.
Every 25 years, the cycle begins anew. In 2046, the case will be opened and the project can be repeated on the basis of the information it contains. People are again asked how they see themselves in 25 years. Also, the memos from 2021 can be retrieved and replayed. Exploring past and present visions of the future allows for comparison: How did people talk about their future visions 25 years ago? How open were they compared to the voice memos 25 years later – how personal, how optimistic, how curious? How has the way we talk and think about the future changed in 25 years?
The new memos from 2046 are then also transferred to vinyl records and stored along with the vinyl records from 2021. Again, the voices fall silent for another 25 years, before a new cycle begins in 2071. Memo Futurum is meant to become a ritual of questioning our visions and engaging with how we think and talk about the future. It is a call to examine our own visions of the future and to engage with the visions of others.
Read more about Memo Futurum and The Ars Electronica Futurelab Ideas Expedition on the Ars Electronica Blog:
Credits
Memo Futurum is a winner project of the 2021 Ars Electronica Futurelab Ideas Expedition