Synonyms for Future

Sasha de Koninck

September 23 - December 16, 2022

The Electronic Gallery

Artist’s Talk: September 22, 2022 5:30pm in Conway 156

The Research Lab of Ambiguous Futurology is concerned with the future of fashion and its inevitable collision with technology. Its research is concerned about the technology we seem so eager to put onto our bodies, but know so little about. This immersive installation features “Future Heirlooms” that are designed with the uncertain future in mind.

At the Research Lab of Ambiguous Futurology, we want to change your relationship with fashion objects by rethinking our values around production, materials and care. We cannot control the future. We cannot predict the future. But it is always on our minds. We fantasize and daydream about it.

At the Research Lab of Ambiguous Futurology, we are interested in the preservation and exploration of traditional textile techniques, combined with unexpected, everyday materials. We work with second hand materials; everyday materials from the hardware store; materials we use in other ways in our everyday lives, that we might not have considered putting on the body before now. We work with what we have, and what is around us. The garments we produce at the lab are called ‘Future Heirlooms’.

Future Heirlooms ask us to rethink what heirlooms are. An heirloom does not have to be an item made with precious materials, it can be whatever is precious to us.