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I would, first of all, question the concept of "contemporary" art, characterized as a closed, self-referential system, in which gatekeepers such as curators, gallery owners, critics and their so-called "contemporary" artists, are always on the lookout for potential enemies, competitors and invaders of the field (in other words, funds). Future art, therefore, has to dismantle this system, with its discourses and power structures, or negate it all together, which is probably a better and more effective strategy. Future art will negate art. This idea is not new of course, but it is a necessary presumption nonetheless. Art now strives not to be recognized as art. Hiding in pop culture is no longer an option. It all comes down to where marginal spaces can be found in the future (a geographic and economic question, which is not easy to predict).
Future art is technological in nature. It has gone through all the processes of virtualisation. It is networked to its very roots. It is interactive, immersive and connected to artificial life forms, yet it does not reveal any of these technological characteristics at first glance. It can be compared to a car. We do not look at the motor and its electronics first; we praise the aerodynamic form and ist comfortable seats. With electronics reaching nearly invisible realms, we leave the post-industrial age of robotics (which had to instruct us about the 'mechanics' of new media) and enter the Smart Regime. In this ambient environment, moving digital images are truly decorative. Future art therefore has to question and avoid representation and withdraw into miniaturized (power) circuits. Art will create invisible social networks and thrive there, neglecting the newspeak of "visual culture" and digging deeper and deeper into the rich layers of old and new knowledge.
Future art will reclaim the future. It has found a way to negate the hegemony of New Economy business tribes who preach Darwinian globalism. Dotcom was their future. In the Nineties, the future was now. We are now faced with advanced forms of stagnation, or even recession, one micro crisis after the other. The future need not be associated with doom-laden scenarios of the politically correct environmentalists, even though the climate is indeed getting out of control. Future is not the opposite of No Future. Future art is not the opposite of contemporary art. Neither do we have to believe in complexity, chaos, rhizomatic structures and other academic discourse, which does not transcend mild forms of reformist differentiation. That's all dead rhetoric. The future is not a theory. At best, theory helps us to escape and survive any sort of future, including our own.
Future art is about the creation of scenarios. It is all about drawing and coding, stretching and scaling. It has understood the importance of concept design with its abstraction and beauty, yet it knows much more than previous generations about quick and easy ways to implement concepts into society. In order to get there, new media will have to be developed to turn the current overload of electronic communication into democratic decision making processes. New technological rituals of the everyday go beyond the primitive level of the mere exchange of information. Art here is the most advanced and innovative language of making scenarios, presuming that one wants to circumvent the current expression of hyper-individualism. Future art will go beyond the gestures of the avant-garde. It is all about becoming through building.
Geert Lovink
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