We have lead ourselves to a time unlike no other, a time of crumbling governments, and the natural world. And in the middle of this we are still questioning our social norms of equality and our own self care. What is it that we are looking for that has brought us to a place of such ruin, or perhaps what have we lost is the better question.
Often I think it’s not that we have lost our way, but seeking ourselves, searching for what we have dug out: discarded and assumed lost. Like the minerals we’ve dug out since the Industrial Revolution, we have too, dug out the essence of who we are, our wonder and sense of place: who we are or think we are.
As a society, we have subjugated our emotions and brain capacity with technology, negating who we are for the sake of bravado of progress. We are at a place where so much is imploding from erosion of the self, so much so that the future seems ill fated, lacking the will that has moved us. Though soft in flesh it’s not weak in bone, as hope is born in the marrow. We know who we are, what we’ve done and can do. Its now perhaps a matter of reinterpretation, re-order and define.
“As humans we are not easily definable, but what we have in common, the love of beauty, the spine of will and the soul of hope, tethers our humanity.”
If we are to accomplish what we have set out, we need to define a better picture of who we are, and follow our vision through will and through hope. Though difficult, as constraining water, a necessary process if we are to build the future we wish to see. As humans we are not easily definable, but what we have in common, the love of beauty, the spine of will and the soul of hope, tethers our humanity.
Through the innate and creative self, the future possible is attainable. To see beauty, know will and to have hope, defines the path forward. And to know who we can be, defines the future.
Architecture, society and the future. Extinction Rebellion, Waugh Thistleton Architects, Maria Smith, Adrian Lahoud and more delivered presentations on climate change at the Barbican Centre.