FOREST OF THE FUTURE?

“Following in the footsteps of William Morris’ seminal utopian science fiction novel ‘News From Nowhere’ (1890), we [Liv Bargman, SRG Bennett, Cat Drew and Phoebe Ridgway] created speculations and writings about the future of Waltham Forest. The artworks were exhibited in ‘Forest of the Future?’ at the Pictorem Gallery in Walthamstow in May 2019 to coincide with Waltham Forest’s reign as London Borough of Culture 2019.

“As a cross-disciplinary collective, we applied the emerging discipline of speculative design to the local context of Waltham Forest. Speculative design is the practice of creating visions of a future world: some positive, some less so. The aim is to use these speculations to help decision-makers – politicians, citizens, consumers, voters, businesses – think about what a better future can look like, and how to achieve it.

“The resulting works are based on local history, trend analysis and technology forecasts. They are fantastical imaginations of what the streets of Waltham Forest could look like. They are sometimes utopian, sometimes dystopian – often oscillating between the two – and always provocative, reflecting this amazing but fraught time for many communities. Growth, regeneration, opportunity, knife crime, gentrification, technology, immigration, populism, stress, dreams and hope – there is so much change, so much up for grabs. Yet the chance of being isolated and disempowered remains stark.

“One of the motivations behind speculative design is that it is better to talk about the future than not: by speculating more and exploring alternative scenarios, reality becomes something we are more empowered to change.” - Op ed, Radical Visions of Future Government (2019) Nesta (pp 114-125)