Zukunft bist du

A 3D printer that can ‘restore’ deceased people; a chip in the brain that translates all the languages of the world; or aliens trying to integrate peacefully on Earth – two classes from the Berufsschule Handel @ Administration vocational school developed 19 science fiction stories as part of the Kunsthalle Wien project Zukunft bist Du (You Are the Future). Based on the exhibition Ydessa Hendeles. Death to Pigs, they spent several days in a workshop exploring forms of memory, the emergence of community, and how we are shaped by history and stories. The thematic focus ‘Young people question 100 years of the Republic of Austria’ was deliberately expanded to include a look at Austria's future in a hundred years.

The students look into a time that we can only imagine, but which is precisely why it is shaped by their respective views of the present and its problems and opportunities. Science fiction says more about the time in which it was written and the history that shapes the present than about the future it speaks of. At the same time, the pupils were able to turn their ideas into stories and find their narrative voice.

Zukunft bist Du (You Are the Future) took place as part of the programme Geschichte gemeinsam verhandeln (Negotiating History Together) as a contribution to the 2018 Year of Remembrance and Commemoration. The results of this participatory work process were on display from 12.12. to 14.12.2018 in the education room at the House of Austrian History.

The project was funded by the Federal Chancellery. Programme coordination: KulturKontakt Austria (with funding from the BMBWF).

Editors: Wolfgang Brunner, Daniela Fasching, Vanessa Joan Müller, Michael Simku, Martin Walkner
Art Director: Boy Verrecken
Design: Antoine Begon

2018, published by Kunsthalle Wien
German
ISBN: 978-1-36-402122-1