Foreword

What means Progress nowadays? Who defines it? What is our verdict on past and present visions of the future? After having believed in so many utopias, and having been so close to so many dystopias, do we still want to imagine an ideal future? Can we? The Dreams of Progress exhibition intends to introduce the visitor to these questions by screening eleven videos from corporations and artists.

The first set of videos explore some of the utopias envisioned by corporations from the 40s until now. They offer an insight into the social values of their time: efficiency, order, technology, consumerism, knowledge, sustainability and globalisation to list only few of them. In their form, the videos are the natural descendants of utopian visions from authors such as  Thomas More and Aldous Huxley. However, they each offer a unique solution for the future, radically new or in continuity of past ideals.

The second set of videos are by emerging video artists from around the world. Some of artists describe their own vision of the future, others express their perspective on the ambivalent notion of Progress. Rather than reaching a consensus, their videos put forward a wide range of perspectives, from nostalgia to optimism, cynicism to embracement. The videos give a glimpse at how the current Western generation put in perspective ‘Progress’ since their childhood, and how they live it today.

Both sets are distributed on five screens with the intention of exploring the dialogue between the videos. The visitor is asked to make his own judgement on whether what he sees is propaganda lead by self interest, or a genuine proposition for a better future; if the videos advocate ‘Progress’ or instead distance themselves from such beliefs.

The exhibition does not provide any concrete answers, but instead intends to place the ideas of Utopia and Progress at the centre stage of the social debate. The world needs more than ever to meditate on its course, in what some describe as a profound global crisis, economical, environmental and ideological. Utopias and visionaries tend paradoxically to emerge in the least favourable circumstances. For some, they testify on the capacity that has humanity to  choose itself until its most unlikely destiny. For others, they are a chronicle disease.

• Videos part 1: Visions for the future
• Videos part 2: Microsoft productivity vision for 2019
• Videos part 3: Artistic views at the past
• Videos part 4: Discovery of Magnetic North
• Videos part 5: Artistic reactions to Progress

To New Horizons, Handy (Jam) Organization, USA, 1940 – 23 min.

“Definitive document of pre-World War II futuristic utopian thinking, as envisioned by General Motors. Documents the ‘Futurama’ exhibit in GM’s ‘Highways and Horizons’ pavilion at the World’s Fair, which looks ahead to the ‘wonder world of 1960.’”

Century 21 Calling, Fairbanks (Jerry) Productions, 1964 – 14 min.

“Romp through the futuristic landscape of the Seattle World’s Fair, centred in the Bell System pavilion.”

Future of Cities, Squint/opera, UK, 2007 – 4 min.

“The film was commissioned by The Danish Royal Academy of Architecture and is part of a publication outlining the outcome of the International Federation for Housing and Planning Congress that took place in Copenhagen in 2007. ‘Futures of Cities’ is a selection of contributions presented during the congress. These contributions consist of work from miscellaneous architectural practitioners, ten principles developed by ‘Monday Morning’ and competition entries from the student competition that took place as part of the event.”

• Comments on these visions for the future
• Videos part 2: Microsoft productivity vision for 2019

Productivity Future Vision 2019, Microsoft Office Labs, USA, 2009 – 6 min.

“While the future is impossible to predict, we are constantly looking forward, analyzing trends, and gathering insights to gain a deeper understanding of how investments in computer technology can help us live more productive, fulfilling, and sustainable lives. We welcome you to join us in this journey.”

-  -  -  -

• Comments on the 2019 productivity vision from Microsoft
• Videos part 3: Artistic views at the past

Discovery of Magnetic North, Richard Jerousek and Brian Phillips, USA, 2007 – 20 min.

“This video is meant to accompany the live performances of our music project, Discovery of Magnetic North. Much of the music is influenced by the mysterious and bittersweet feelings connected to our earliest memories, most of which have strong ties to the video media that has engulfed us since birth.”

(sadly, the original video is not available anymore on the Internet but here is a taste)

Soundtrack by Discovery of Magnetic North (copyright 2007).
Video material from various Television series, Movies, and Educational Films of the 60s-80s.

Artists: http://www.myspace.com/discoveryofmagneticnorth

-  -  -  -

• Comments on the Discovery of Magnetic North video
• Videos part 5: Artistic reactions to Progress

Mardi Gras, Keith Loutit, Australia, 2009 – 3min.

“Mardi Gras is the 7th short film in the 12 month documentary project ‘Little Sydney’.

The idea behind ‘Little Sydney’ is to shrink mankind down to a scale that is more representative of our actual position in the world. By transforming well known locations and daily life, I challenge people to take a second look at places familiar to them and not to take their surroundings for granted.”

McCOOL!!!, Julian Roberts and Namalee Bolle, UK, 2007 – 2 min.

“No.4 in the Relentless Optimism Series entitled McCOOL!!!. Here Namalee Bolle consumes a Super Big Mac. There’s no real script for the Relentless Optimism Series of videos, other than we both wanted to shoot a series of optimistic videos that were  unrehearsed, recorded, edited & released in a single day.”

Tokyo.Future, Ian Lynam, Japan, 2007 – 1 min.

“The video is about a modular, utopian Tokyo of the future. The constant rebuilding and perpetual evolution of the city is displayed, as is a galactic voyage taken by the entire megalopolis. Tokyoites are great travellers (especially in groups), so I imagined that the future denizens of Tokyo would pack up and go sightseeing around the universe together, much like the Tokyoites of the Edo period.”

• Comments on these artistic reactions to Progress
• Back to the Dreams of Progress homepage

This paper documents the curation of the Dreams of Progress exhibition that was held at the Westminster Reference Library in July 2009. The theme of the video art exhibition was Utopia and Progress. It included a philosophical debate and a children’s workshop. It is now available online on the Curated Matter website. The exhibition in its physical form remained confidential but was very well received by its visitors and generated exciting new thoughts on Utopia and Progress. The philosophical debate attracted around 50 people from various backgrounds including professors, philosophical students, art curators and engineers. The children’s workshop introduced the theme of progress to around twenty children. The exhibition and its satellite activities were the results of six months of research and preparation, which is detailed below.

1. Choice of the theme and selection of the videos
2. Relation to the Westminster Reference Library
3. The exhibition space
4. Legends and introduction to the exhibition
5. Philosophical debate
6. Children’s Art Day
7. Online exhibition
8. Federate around the project

Introduction to the exhibition

The theme of Dreams of Progress did not come at once. Initially, I wanted to curate video projects related to optimism. Looking at the videos on the Internet, I felt there was an optimistic movement originating from young American artists. Many of their videos depict a positive and colourful world, made of human contacts and everyday pleasures. It may  be seen as a return to simple things after the an orgy of technology and “Bling-bling”. The movement seemed related to what I imagine being the flower power years. I was interested to understand if this optimism had anything new and unique or if it was just a constant noise that can be witnessed at any time. But I struggled to nail down videos explicitly about optimism. Search terms like ‘optimism’ and ‘happiness’ were not popular on video websites. I still believe the movement exists but it isn’t defined by the artists (at least not yet?). Is it appropriate for a curator to build an exhibition on a theme that none of the artists explicitly address?  Perhaps it is, but I wasn’t willing to go down this road for the exhibition.

When I could find videos explicitly about optimism, I began to wonder, is optimism still relevant nowadays? Are we optimistic today?  What is there to be optimistic about? I considered studying our ideas about dreams for the future, immediate or distant. I found by looking at search keywords like ‘future’ and ‘dream’ that many people are thinking positively about the future,  these people are classified as utopians. The notions remains that no positive future is really possible and positive people are considered unrealistic. I also noticed that many recent videos prefer to look at past visions of the future instead of the ones of today. Some videos question the dreams from previous generations, others are cynical or complacent.

After having navigated through many videos, I defined the final theme of the exhibition (this can be found on the press release). I was ready to curate the videos and began to research within literature. I did not plan to call for submissions as I felt this would impose my own views too heavily on potential artists. As explained in details in the mission statement of the Curated Matter venture, I also wanted to curate videos without knowing who made them in order to not be biased. As a result,  I didn’t know any of the artists before contacting them. They come from many backgrounds and are from around the world.

It became obvious to me very rapidly that I could not curate this exhibition without presenting also videos from corporations. They played a central role in past decades by articulating in images the utopias of their times. Some of the corporate videos have an artistic aspect and it seemed it artificial to reject them because they have been privately founded.

Next: Relation to the Westminster Reference Library

The theme of the Dreams of Progress exhibition and most of its videos have been set before I found the hosting venue. I still wanted to arrange the exhibition so that it links to its physical context, or at least doesn’t deny it. I first looked at the history of the Westminster Reference Library, which is well known for being built on the former house of Isaac Newton, Lord Macaulay famously stating saying that the home of Sir Isaac Newton would be “well known as long as our island retains any trace of civilisation”. I was tempted first to incorporate this reference to the description of the exhibition because it fits nicely with the theme of progress. Later, I found it diminishing. I felt that it was denying the current function of the building. I was then inclined to instrument the fact that the space is a library, its mission of education for all is a dream of progress by itself.  I decided after all to not introduce any connections with the library in the theme of the exhibition. What was much more tangible was the help from the staff of the library, which was felt by every visitor.  The Dreams of Progress exhibition was in this space because of the help of its staff and their utopian vision of what a library should be; it came from their own initiative, not a mission statement.

During the exhibition, the staff of the library displayed books related to the theme of Utopia and Progress, which I found marvellous.

Next: The exhibition space

The exhibition space

Setting an exhibition space within the reading room of the Westminster Art Reference Library is a very exciting opportunity but also a big challenge. It must not disturb the daily activities of the library but still make enough of an impact and it should provide excellent conditions for the viewing of the videos. The tactic I opted for is to encourage a one-to-one experience between the viewers and videos by providing an intimate space where visitors can sit down and relax while looking at the videos. However, one of my responsibilities as a curator is to promote the art works exhibited in the space. I believe it is necessary to display physical signs of the importance that one attributes to a piece of art, in order that it is noticed and can be evaluated appropriately. The legends offered the perfect support to mark this statement. I hung them on the walls as if they were works of art themselves, they stood behind the television screens though so that were not the primary focal point. Instead, they signal, without imposing, to visitors that the videos are not randomly selected but artefacts worth careful attention.

The second decision I had to make was how to group the videos. The space and my budget did not allow one screen per work. It may not be suitable, as it would mean someone would have to change seats for each video, some of them last only a few minutes. So, how to group them? The case of the Microsoft video was simple, I got a separate dvd from Microsoft and so it had to be on a separate screen. The “Discovery of Magnetic North” video being the longer and most immersive one, I decided to play it alone on the only projector. I separated the rest of the videos in 3 groups:

• 3 utopians visions by corporations
• 2 artistic reactions to today’s ongoing progress along with a an original vision of the future. The 2 artistic reactions and the futuristic video are all colourful and entertaining.
• 3 artistic views at the past

Associating the videos this way creates a dialogue between the videos sequenced on each monitor but also between videos played at the same time on different screens, not far from each other. This dialogue purposively generates tensions and similarities.  Though the corporation videos are grouped on one side of the room, they were not isolated but well linked with other videos:  ‘Some things won’t change’ and  images of ‘Discovery of Magnetic North”  for example.

Interaction with visitors remain basic. They could add their email address to the guest book and take a program and flyer with them. I felt this was appropriate for an exhibition of this size. The philosophical debate and children’s workshop provided large enough spaces for dialogue.

Next: Legends and introduction to the exhibition

Corporate visions of the future

What to tell the visitor? Should I present him or her with my analysis of the videos or with descriptions from the artists? How much should I justify the curation of the exhibition? How much should he be free to discover his own interpretation of the videos and how much guidance does he need?

I decided for this exhibition to only display a short introduction to the theme of the exhibition and to let the artists introduce themselves their videos on short legends. The full description of the exhibition and its theme is on the internet for the visitors who want to know more.

The fact that the exhibition is advertised under the title ‘Dreams of Progress’ already modifies the perception that the visitors will have on the art works. Some of the artists didn’t even have this theme in mind when they made their video.  So, I wanted to equilibrate the exhibition by showing legends from artists themselves, so that visitors can understand the approach of the artist and have their own judgment on the connections between the videos and the theme of Progress.

I also reduced the introduction of the exhibition to an open, relatively short text in order to provide enough freedom for the public to make their own conclusions.  This came at a cost, some visitors did not recognise the connections that I thought were important between the videos. Although my studies on Utopia and Progress are implicitly used in the selection of the videos and the way I introduce the theme, it did not necessary challenge everyone’s perception on the subject. It is after all an elitist approach, giving the visitors a full description of all I intended to say would have been in a sense, more egalitarian, as everyone willing to spend time reading would have learned something. Relying on the capacity of the visitors to make their own analysis increases actually the gap between those having already ideas on the subject and those who don’t. That being said, you don’t need to know anything about Utopia and Progress to feel something looking at the videos. And again, my analysis is on the web, so anyone interested to learn more may do so.

One interesting question that emerged when writing the introduction of the exhibition was how to position the videos compared to literary masterpieces like Utopia by Thomas More or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I could have connected the videos to previous work and inscribed them in a history of thoughts on Utopia. But I was determined to put the videos at the centre of the stage, rather than any reference. Some  of the video artists have probably not read or seen the previous works on Utopia, but this doesn’t mean they haven’t been influenced indirectly by the impact that the original utopian authors had on culture. I decided thus to add some references in the introduction to acknowledge past works on Utopia but to not draw any causal connection between them and the videos displayed at the exhibition.

Next: Philosophical debate