Billowing bales of brilliant color are suspended in time and space as colorful vertices of string and science coalesce in Remembering The Future – a new textile-based installation at MIT Museum, which catalogues comprehensive climate change data going back to the last ice age. As we careen toward multiple eventualities for life here on earth, 2022-2024 MIT Distinguished Visiting Artist Janet Echelman worked with Caitlin Mueller, an architect, engineer, and MIT Associate Professor, to delineate possible eventualities through color and texture – a startling projection of what might be next.
Echelman’s climate research for this project was initially guided by Professor Raffaele Ferrari and the MIT Lorenz Center – creators of the En-ROADS simulator, which uses current climate data and modeling to visualize the impact of environmental policies and actions on energy systems – and developed during her residency at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). Echelman continues to leverage the power of fiber arts to create connections between thread and minds, reminding us that our future survival is inextricably intertwined.
“The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have.” This quote, attributed to Søren Kierkegaard, encapsulates the title’s inspiration and installation’s ethos, speaking to the titanic loss that comes from environmental degradation due to climate change. As art evokes emotion, it helps us humans visualize or appreciate the world from which we came, and indeed, where we might be headed. Intentionally open-ended, the installation is surprisingly optimistic: nothing is inevitable, and we have the power to make changes in our own ways, every day, to work toward a better future.
Fibers are woven, braided, and knitted together, creating transparent forms, cloaked in the hues of what has come before. The lilting structure starts off blue, demarcating our last ice age, a period where the earth follows natural cycles of heating and cooling. However, as the installation continues, licks of neon yellow and red start to emerge, signaling a more alarming future.
The work is transparent in nature, yet opaquely communicates an inescapable point: we all have a certain duty to live our lives in harmony with the earth. As many modern folks are so deeply disconnected with the rhythms of our precious blue planet, Remembering The Future puts this dance into perspective. There are multiple paths laid out on the table, and each one maps a different outcome for the rest of humanity.
Janet Echelman and Caitlin Mueller
To learn more about Remembering The Future by Janet Echelman and Caitlyn Mueller at MIT Museum, visit mitmuseum.mit.edu.
Photography by Anna Olivella, courtesy of MIT Museum.
