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.”
Some Things Won’t Change, Adam Pelling Deeves, UK, 2009 – 3 min.
“Some Things Won’t Change is a remix of Design For Dreaming, set at the 1956 General Motors Motorama. Downloaded from the Internet Archive, it was made in response to Remyyy’s Same Video (http://vimeo.com/remyyy), Different Use game on Vimeo in which a chosen video is reworked by participants. A cutup technique was used in which samples of the original soundtrack were looped along with the accompanying video.”
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.”
“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.”
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.
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.
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?
Usually, philosophical debates are organised around a specific question and maybe some philosophical texts. In this case, I wanted to organise a philosophical debate around some of the videos of the exhibition. I knew that the theme of Utopia and Progress was too vast to be completely discussed, so I considered the debate to be an introduction to the subject. The purpose of the debate was to introduce the main aspects around Utopia and Progress, show some great videos related to the theme, to inspire the audience and to get them thinking more about the subject.
