The Futureisnown project explores the intersection of technology and art through critical design, expanding the functional possibilities of existing objects and imbuing them with new meaning. The goal is to create artifacts that blur the line between reality and fiction, reshaping our perception of the world around us. The artist’s method ranges from critical design to objects that embody the technical functionality of the future in the present.
In the post-technological era, the boundaries between physical and virtual, personal and collective are dissolving. The seams between work and leisure, public and private spaces unravel, creating a gray zone where our private conversations and recreational activities become part of an impersonal database. The omnipresence of technology puts fundamental categories of security and freedom at risk. Total automation acts as a numbing agent, rendering individuals incapable of critically engaging with technology. These questions demand answers, and one possible response is through an artistic gesture.
Today, we find ourselves immersed in invisible data flows—waves of information and electromagnetic signals constantly pass through our bodies, unnoticed by our senses and unprocessed by our consciousness. Technology rapidly becomes obsolete, only to be replaced by newer, more complex iterations. The interfaces of everyday devices appear intuitive, yet beneath every “swipe” and “icon” lies the true fabric of technology, hidden from the user. This process leads to the “proletarianization” of users, marking the dawn of a “new Middle Ages”—where interaction with technology resembles sorcery rather than knowledge.
In this context, Anton Bundenko’s speculative objects not only attempt to anticipate future challenges but also serve as speculative scenarios of what is to come.
Futureisnown Campus: A Traveling Laboratory
Futureisnown Campus is a nomadic laboratory, exploring the fields of the real and the virtual. Each iteration of the “campus” is dedicated to a specific theme, encouraging both the artist and the audience to investigate and create new critical objects. As humans become increasingly digital, machines become more human-like. Futureisnown Campus studies the space where these two worlds converge and asserts: the future is emotion.
Machine intelligence, surpassing human cognitive abilities, challenges the Enlightenment-era paradigm upon which our world is built. Intellectual capital is shifting toward computational systems, forcing humans to abandon their anthropocentric position and redefine their place in the world. Once marginalized in the workplace and public sphere, sensory experience is now emerging as a crucial survival resource for the human being of the future.
But what if machines develop empathy?
For the duration of the exhibition, the Masters school has been transformed into a critical laboratory, a library, and the headquarters of the project. Archives of “lost messages,” formulas for technological empathy, Electrosmog shirts, flags, and speculative texts overlap, forming a discursive space that fosters dialogue—not only between artist and viewer but also among the objects themselves, intuitively assembling into an invisible network of connections.
The objects on display inform visitors of ongoing transformations at the intersection of digital and physical reality—not to provide ready-made solutions, but to engage in the collective search for answers to imminent questions. Visitors are encouraged to participate in the project and construct their own speculative scenarios.
Attention: Before engaging with the speculative world of the laboratory, do not forget to wear your Electrosmog shirt and fasten your seatbelt for a transfer into the digital dimension.
