What would the future look like with global warming running at 1.5 to 6 degrees centigrade? In their long-term multimedia project entitled Future Scenarios (launched in 2016) Lena Dobrowolska and Teo Ormond-Skeaping outline multiple scenarios open to interpretation on what the future might be like. Working closely with scientists, researchers and political decision-makers the Polish-British artist duo examines questions such as the responsibility for global warming and our vulnerability to it, our capacity for resistance and our adaptability as well as the role that discourse plays in shaping our future.

The exhibition Future Scenarios features a three-channel video installation as well as photographs and research material by Dobrowolska and Ormond- Skeaping. Portraits of people from Uganda, Laos, Nepal and Bangladesh – all countries which are deeply affected by climate change – are showcased alongside scenes of climate- related migration, adaptation strategies, food security, and how nature itself is changing. As if seen through three different lenses, the story told by the three videos running in parallel is not a linear one; rather, atmospherically dense shots are shown in different perspectives and correlated.The intensity of these visual and acoustic impressions and the spatial arrangement are such that the installation generates a maelstrom of imagined visions that ranges from apocalyptic doomsday scenarios to a solidarity-based redistribution of the remaining resources. With Future Scenarios Lena Dobrowolska and Teo Ormond-Skeaping identify climate change as a key cultural paradigm of our time that has a huge influence on how we imagine and shape our future.

Exhibition Website