The future as a construct is not a tree with one branch.
I'd love to talk with you about ways to work with #art as a tool for building visionary futures. Here, I suggest reaching past dystopia and utopia towards somewhere we both wish for and understand with the #PossibilityTree thought experiment. Please reach out with your ideas for creative ways to work with #change and #transformation.
This article has also been published here.
Dystopian futures we do not wish for
I have previously gushed about my love of the movie Bladerunner from 1982 under the context of #ArtSharing hosted by The Idea Studio. Hunting for angry and rightfully scared sentient AI through the eternally rainy and smog filled neon-lit city may be visually exquisite, but not a fun way to spend your 40s. Working with art can allow us to sense what we do not wish for.
Utopian futures we cannot understand
Art can transmit a subconscious sense that there is something attractive here. Even when we cannot quite grasp what on earth (cosmic pun intended) is going on. The artist Hilma af Klint's Paintings for the Future are much loved examples. To me, these paintings are delicious value explorations playing with the future and meeting us as beacons of condensed feeling. Back around 1910, Hilma af Klint worked with symbols such as "spirals (evolution), U (the spiritual world), W (matter) and overlapping discs (unity)"* But have a look at her paintings again, and tell me how to get to the future they symbolize.
Social Innovation and The Possibility Tree
Somewhere betwixt and between dystopian warnings and hard-to-grasp-consciously utopian fine art, we can find the type of art that emerges from collaborations among people. I love to call that #socialinnovation or #socialart. People come together and creatively solve a problem for themselves, which usually inevitably solves problems for others. The past years through my art and innovation practice, we have been experimentally developing personally customized #coaching processes towards sustainable #stress reduction, sustainably improved #mentalhealth and #regenerative #CreativeLeadership. One of the most popular, meaningful tools that emerged is the #PossibilityTree. I'll posit that we could try using this for a thought experiment on broader futures thinking.
Futures we wish for
If we find space to let go of our compulsive need for control, and accept the deeply scary inevitable company of chaos, we can find space for the realization that we can imagine many good futures. The future as a construct is not a tree with one branch. It cannot be. There are more branches on the tree, we realize.
This is true for the individual, who was so sad for so long caught by the fear of not following the #LifeManuscript. In other words, losing the promised eternal happiness within the dream of #partnerhousebabydogmoney.
When we hug loneliness and meet solitude, there is space for letting go and widening our perspective away from what we thought was the worst thing in life. Toward something else.
This is also true for humanity. What would happen if we acknowledge that we do not know? We do not know how to get there. Whereever that is. We do not know where to go. We cannot claim to know what another person needs. What the world needs. We do, however, have a chance of realizing what we - ourselves - need.
What do you need today? Love. Sleep. Water. Community. Good food. Physical and mental safety. Nature. Time. Energy. Solitude?
Which of the branches lead you and us to those futures? How can you and we help those branches grow? Which branches do you and we need to cut off or let wither?
