Future Library: Hopepunk Heroism

Authors

Joanna Pascoe, Auckland University of TechnologyFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Future Library (Paterson, 2014-2114) is viewed through the lens of the heroic imagination and heroism in community. The heroic vision includes an artist, writers, a forest, public architecture, and the city of Oslo. As the project grows, so does its community, across the world, encouraging transformative thinking for all. Future Library is an art installation created by Katie Paterson, described thus: “A forest in Norway is growing. In 100 years it will become an anthology of books. Every year a writer is contributing a text that will be held in trust, unpublished, until the year 2114. The texts will be printed on paper made from the trees, only to be read a century from now (2014-2114).” A silent room in Oslo’s Deichman Library holds the texts as they wait for 2114, for saplings to become trees to publish the anthologised stories. Future Library (Paterson, 2014–2114) is hope in practice, a patient transformation, hopepunk heroism for the planet. The readers of these stories, future learners, are not yet born. Such interconnections between art, nature, humans, stories, and buildings exemplify a line of flight where despite the uncertainty of today we can join a social horizon of hope towards our future.

DOI

10.26736/hs.2024.01.03

Recommended Citation

Pascoe, Joanna (2024) "Future Library: Hopepunk Heroism," Heroism Science: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 2.
DOI: 10.26736/hs.2024.01.03
Available at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/heroism-science/vol9/iss1/2