What will life be like in 2050? While Andrew Francisco's art exhibit doesn't have the answers, it does have some predictions.
"26 Years" will open Saturday at the Prairie Ronde Artist Gallery in Vicksburg.
There, attendees can pick up a receiver on a vintage phone and listen to messages imagined to be from the middle of the century.
“Growing zones, those climate zones have shifted northward at a surprising rate," one messages says. "We're able to grow some of the crops that we may have normally been able to grow in brief periods, such as tomatoes and peppers."
Each voice holds a different prediction. Some talk about high rent, others about how climate change has affected agriculture.
“It’s been ten years since the deadline of the Michigan Clean Energy Future plan and the entire state runs on renewable energy. This has made it an even more attractive climate haven,” another message says.
Since we can’t actually call the future, the exhibit’s organizing artist Andrew Francisco had to get creative.
“I did, as part of an interview project, ask participants to describe what the world or what their communities might be like in the year 2050," Francisco said. "Those were edited for clarity and length, mostly, and then they were adapted using AI voiceover software."
He also used AI to generate parts of the art featured in the exhibit.
Another display uses separate images to create 3D pictures. They depict abstract landscapes of the future, using close-up photos of food and other items, and AI generated images.
The use of AI tools is a hot-button topic in the arts, but Francisco said he doesn’t see his use as problematic.
“I hope people may be open on using more of it in their art. It makes things easy. It makes them a lot quicker than they might be otherwise.”
Attendees may also write letters to the future, which Francisco plans to hold until 2050 and then mail.
Francisco said the project is an opportunity for people to start thinking about the future, and how we are shaping it.
“I hope that everyone who attends this exhibition comes away with an awareness," he said, "that ability to have a conversation about it or engage with these ideas isn't as difficult or potentially unpleasant as they may have thought.”
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
