Our message.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is already here. Technologies formerly found only in the realm of science fiction are now creeping into our daily lives or wait just over the horizon of the very near future. Each of these new technologies has the potential for great good or unintended negative consequences.

We are asking designers and the public how they will help shape change, where their fears and hopes lie, and what our place in this new world will be.

Simply put, we are asking: How bright is our future?

Our installation.

IDS visitors will enter a dark enclosure to encounter a forest of tree-like fixtures. Each of these “trees” offers the viewer a tactile surface printed on the skin of the tree that responds to the viewers touch. They will be asked to react to the most promising and terrifying changes that will inform our future, and record how they view that topic: either as one of hope or one of fear.

Data gathered from all the inputs contributes to an illuminated meter that displays where each individual, as well as the collective result, puts us on that spectrum of fear and hope. The results will also be projected onto a screen where each participant sees how they influence the future – but they must confront the reality that we will all create this future together.

This immersive installation aims to start a dialogue about recognizing change, and get people thinking about what’s next in the future of design.