As it has been since the beginning, the journey begins at the Spring Equinox.
The days are getting longer, the celandines are appearing on Wyfold Lane, 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 we are thinking very much about conviviality and how the rituals in each place are evolving.
In Oxfordshire, for the Spring Equinox, we are hoping the weather will allow us to meander around Peppard Village with Future Machine, the guardians and anyone else who wants to wayfare with us, meeting on Wyfold Lane. People will be able to meet Future Machine and speak to the future, listen to the sounds of Peppard and beyond.
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In Nottingham, we will 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 their own rubbings of the signs of spring, that they can find in their playground, and composing messages, for when they meet Future Machine and 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 will 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.
The environments in which the journey takes place, both physically, ecologically and cultural, continues to be hard. Arts funding and support for ways of being that are out of the ordinary, convivial and open – doesn’t conform to tick box processes, social media and AI’s ways and narrative forms – are becoming harder to sustain. Funding from the Arts Council is again on hold for a few months and the situation for many researchers and academic projects is dire. Across the country this winter has brought endless rain, flooding and storms.
But spring is coming, the air is full of hope and emerging life. 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 a 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.