Future Machine is a mysterious artwork that appears in five places across England, at the same time every year as the seasons change – in an urban park in London, a public garden in inner city Nottingham, the watersheds of Cumbria, a woodland and common in rural Oxfordshire, and in a village and on a cliff overlooking a nuclear power station in Somerset. Newly formed rituals or special occasions are emerging as the Future Machine appears over time in each place.
Future Machine’s journey to each place is due to continue, if and however possible until 2050. Each of the gatherings in each place attempt different ways we can mark, interpret and respond to environmental change as the future comes. The artists involved are asking questions about the importance of science, data, myth, art, community, ritual and public space to how we navigate the impact of environmental change in our everyday lives.
When the Future Comes is a collaboration between the lead artist Rachel Jacobs, and collaborating artists Frank Abbott, Juliet Robson, Wallace Heim, Caroline Locke, Esi Eshun, musicians Alexandre Yemaoua Dayo and David Kemp, creative programmer Robin Shackford, computer scientist Dominic Price and climate scientist Prof John King.
2019
Future Machine was designed and built with participants in public workshops, engineer Matt Little and carpenter Ian Jones, researchers from the Horizon Digital Economy and the Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham and Prof Esther Eidinow, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Bristol.
2021
The project was awarded National Lottery Project Funding from the Arts Council of England, match funded by Horizon Digital Economy, University of Nottingham (ESPRC/RCUK).
2023
The project was awarded another National Lottery Project Funding from the Arts Council of England to develop The Cabinet of Curious Places as a third element to the project, alongside Future Machine and the artist interventions in each place.
2024
When The Future Comes became a collective, hosted by the award winning artist collective Active Ingredient as a way to support the project to be sustainably maintained, evolve and emerge in response to whatever the future brings to the people, places and ecologies collaborating on the project, over the next 25 years. When The Future Comes has three physical bases – at Rachel’s studio at Primary in Nottingham, at the Commons/Jamboree Hut as part of the Commons Residency Project in Finsbury Park, and in Windermere, Cumbria.
2025-2026
We have expanded our work in and with schools, building new partnerships with Goodley Dale Primary School in Windermere and Djanogly Academy in Nottingham whilst building on our existing work with Mellers Primary in Nottingham and The Lakes School in Cumbria. Future Machine also appeared at Green Creates in Haringey, London, meeting pupils from schools and educational units across Haringey in summer 2025 and 2026. Future Machine is available to tour to other schools around the UK.
Latest Research
Rachel Jacobs and Caroline Locke are in the process of developing a new research proposal ‘Warnings and Resilience: an artist led schools project’ with the University of Derby. This will be an interdisciplinary research project investigating how embodied, artist-led methodologies can complement climate education by strengthening young people’s relationships with the natural world through sensory experience, creative participation and imaginative engagement. This will include taking Future Machine and Caroline’s Tree Charter Bell to the collaborating schools.
Partners in Nottingham
Mixed Reality Lab and Horizon Digital Economy Research, University of Nottingham – Prof Steve Benford, Dominic Price, Dr Jocelyn Spence, Dr Alan Chamberlain
Nottingham City Council
Primary Studios
Mellers Primary School
Partners in London
Furtherfield Gallery – Ruth Catlow & Marc Garrett
Haringey Council
The Drumming School, Finsbury Park
Zantagola Music Collective
Partners in Cumbria
The Lakes School
Goodley Dale School
Westmorland and Furness Libraries
Other Partners/advisors
Prof John King – British Antarctic Survey
Prof Esther Eidinow – University of Bristol
Giles Lane – Proboscis & Royal Society of Engineering
When The Future Comes follows on from Rachel Jacobs‘ and Active Ingredient‘s previous work including: Performing the Future which took place in 2017-18, The Prediction Machine which was built in 2015 and is continuing to tour nationally, Relate (Timestreams) and A Conversation Between Trees two international co-productions that took place across the UK and Brazil between 2011-2013.