As it has been since the beginning, the journey begins in the Spring.
The days are getting longer, the celandines are appearing, the daffodils and primroses raise their bright flowers to the growing strength of the sun.
It is Future Machine’s sixth official year, taking a journey to the future, across England to where we are, where we are coming from and where we are going to. This year I am thinking very much about conviviality, how the rituals in each place are evolving and the ethos of the project – to respond to whatever emerges in each place.
Throughout the last six years of this journey I have been constantly reminded that the ethos of Future Machine’s journey is to respond to other non-human beings, our bodies and whatever happens. The project was not designed to be confined by human culture. A 30 year project a 30 year ritual, by necessity, can only survive through reciprocity, responding to the people, ecology, weather, climate, place and of course funding. The reality of this is much harder than expected, our ideas for how things should be, our dreams and plans, success, how to promote and evolve – the push to always grow – is so ingrained. It is hard to let go of the ways we have been taught to make and present art, be communities, collaborations and part of ecologies.
Future Machine & When The Future Comes is a 30 year experiment in how we can let our bodies, climates and the blossoming of the trees show us what needs to happen. This year Future Machine is unable to appear in Oxfordshire, which brings sadness and disappointment for all kinds of reasons, but the wonderful thing about a 30 year project is there is always the possibility to return – over the next 24 years – and so the cycle continues.
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So this year the journey begins in Nottingham, we hope to meet as ever under the cherry blossom trees in Christ Church Gardens. This year we are celebrating the six new blossom trees planted by the council in the gardens, recreating the original figure of 8 blossom trees that grew in the churchyard when there was a church there, where Ronald Street Playground stands now. We will also remember the blossom tree that was recently felled as it had got too old and rotten, the same tree that held the light-up birds made by Mellers Primary in 2022. The stump remains. We hope to meet around a large table under the trees, to picnic, celebrate and commemorate with a Radford loaf and blossom cake made by the Small Food Bakery (based at Primary across the road). People will be able to meet Future Machine and speak to the future, listen to the past and hear the music of the weather.
In Nottingham we will also be visiting Year 3 at Mellers Primary School (for the sixth year), they will be making banners celebrating spring and their wishes and dreams for the future, composing messages, meeting Future Machine in the playground, to speak to the future.
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Next we hope to return to Cannington Primary in Somerset to revisit the 200 trees we planted last year and see how they survived the drought of last summer and the deluge of rain this year so far. For the children at the school to speak to the future once again and think about warnings and resilience.
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In Cumbria, at the autumn equinox, we hope to sit by the Windermere-Levens waters together, picnic together and watch the sun set, as summer ends. We will test the waters, acting as witnessess in response to the ongoing sewage scandal that is poisoning this iconic and important watershed.
We also plan to return to The Lakes School to think about and witness the changes to the weather, climate, lake and valley, for a new cohort of students to speak to the future. There are plans afoot for a new research project with the University of Derby building on last year’s focus on schools, exploring how artists can provide imaginative and embodied learning experiences, such as Future Machine and Caroline’s Significant Trees project, build deeper understandings of climate change, sustainability and connecting to nature. Studying how longitudinal artist-led projects can help children maintain embodied and imaginative connections to nature from early childhood into young adulthood and beyond.
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In London we hope to return to Finsbury Park. After last year’s wonderful coming together (against the odds) to celebrate the autumn leaves, we will be considering how Future Machine & When The Future Comes can continue in the park, despite the increasing issues in our little area of the park, that is making it harder to invite people to gather together and witness the autumn, play music of the weather and speak to the future. I will write more about this as the year unfolds.
This is where we are, where we are coming from and we will find out as this year unfolds where we are going to.
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What is the journey to the future?
Each year Future Machine travels the country, if and however it can, to the five familiar places – Peppard Village in Oxfordshire, Christ Church Gardens in Nottingham, Cannington Primary in Somerset, the Windermere-Leven waters in Cumbria and Finsbury Park in London. Future Machine is a part of, witness to and initiator of the rituals that are emerging in each place, each evolving and interweaving as the people, ecologies, weather and places come together each year, become kin with each other in some small way and create new ways to celebrate together.
Future Machine’s journey continues to be an act of commitment, resilience and resistance. A witness to change, uncertainty, conviviality and celebration.