Where does a story begin? Is it at a person’s birth, or did it already start before? Where does the future begin? It has already begun.
Welcome to The New Canterbury Tales, and welcome to 2070. This project started in fact years ago in my mind and slowly became more urgent. It originates from the feeling that being a designer and teaching design students we have to take responsibility for what we bring into this world. So we are obliged to look at the future. And although most humans have a natural tendency to look mostly at short-term profit and their own circle of beloveds, that attitude is not sustainable, as we all know deep in our hearts.
We started with a teaching course about making games taking place in 2050 cities and through that work, I became part of the Avans research group Built Environment, at that time with Perica Savanovic as a lector. I asked him if I could start interviewing other lectors about their field of expertise, looking forward to 2070, and translating these interviews into short stories. That was one of the first steps. Another one was my collaboration with Tina Burton from Cambridge School of Art. We did a project about spatial storytelling experiencing the consequences of unaware choices, resulting in a show in the Ruskin Gallery. Combining those two was the start of the new Canterbury Tales project, funded by Click-NL.
The tales tell about a city in the northern region of Scotland around the year 2070, you can read the stories, the timeline of this city and a questionnaire about this city on this website. But of course, the project is more than just about the actual city of New Canterbury. It is about the challenges we face in the future. And it is about the power of imagination. It is about not thinking in the line of problem-solving because that often results in solving one problem and creating another.
It is my strong belief that working on a better future, for all living beings and the planet, is based on tapping into the images that are hidden in our subconscious. Those are the things we do sense in a way but find hard to put into words. The futures that are already there, to be told, to be experienced, to be reflected on. The New Canterbury Tales aims to use immersive storytelling to live those futures to a certain extent, to test them. To invite a larger public to these imaginations and help us form them. In that way, The New Canterbury aims to give perspectives on possible futures in a certain timeframe, around 2070, just as the original Canterbury Tales did for the 14th century. If we can imagine those futures, we might be able to travel back from there to now and imagine which seeds we can plant in the present day. Planting seeds for a hopeful and more sustainable future, focusing on living with nature, compassionate for all.
Comments are closed