The Future: A Play in 5 Acts

4-channel video installation / 17 min loop / 2019

Two children create an object-based play about their perceptions of the future with the help of virtual home assistants.

I was initially surprised to learn that many children now talk to Alexa and Siri, who hold a strange status, simultaneously servant and omnipotent being. Children also develop theories about Alexa and Siri, who are poised to answer questions, and presented as truth tellers, boasting access to the world’s data. However, by date of invention, Alexa and Siri are only children, respectively 4 and 8 years old. Their parents, corporations Amazon, Apple, and Google, do not necessarily have the best intentions for the future of humanity. 

Instead of asking Alexa and Siri, I decided to ask children between the ages of 4 and 8 what they thought the future might be like. I developed a play from their answers, with interventions by radical thinkers N.K. Jemisin, Aimé Césaire, Davi Kopenawa, Walter Benjamin, and the Last Poets (all who I like to think future children will quote). Each act was filmed using symbolic props as divining tools. 

Voice and performance: Renée Rakowitz, Jude Rakowitz
Additional performance by: Elsa
Kid Experts: Miles Simpson, Stella Donner-Yang, Juneau Biss, Kick & Flynn Nolan
Concern Consultants: Mary Truong, Alexis Bullock, Valerie Gruest Slowing
Talent Wranglers: Serena Simpson, Andrew Yang, Eula Biss, Lauren Wy, Lori Waxman
Filmed on/with: Gaa-zhigaagwanzhikaag / Šikaakonki (Chicago)