The Cultures of Anticipated Futures

The book  features contributions from remarkable and internationally acclaimed authors, such as Niklas Luhmann, which should attract readers in and of itself. The reader who picks the book up, perhaps due to these renowned names, or perhaps intrigued by the title, certainly will not be disappointed when exploring other chapters. It is a compelling read which invites you to join the authors in thinking, reflecting and engaging both intellect and imagination. It encourages the effort to rise above what is superficially accepted, above common simplifications, be they full of shocking pessimism, or suspiciously exuding slight optimism. It does not promise solutions, but it makes the reader feel invited to a dialogue concerning alternatives, to a search for less obvious ways leading towards promising futures, or the possibilities to avoid undesirable, or even disastrous futures.

from the review by Prof. dr. hab. Monika Kostera

(The book available in Polish)

One of the dominant features of the current public discourse and theory is the loss of utopia, and fading visions of futures other than apocalyptic ones. The future, we are tempted to say, has no future today. The very act of considering the future is paralysing, offering the illusion of immediate salvation thanks to technological novelties, planetary consumption, or reactualization of the myths of the past – both catastrophic and eschatological. Meanwhile, understanding how the future, in its reality, works at present (identifying the moment of conjunction) is a step towards breaking an impasse and reclaiming the potential of the future as a difference, and not a repetition. Who looks into the future with judicious eyes will be looked upon the future judiciously as well. Are we really to blame for our “immaurity” in the face of the future, which could be recognised by some contemporary Immanuel Kant? Is there anything we can do about it? And if so, then what?

The book Kultury antycypowanych przyszłości (available only in Polish) constitutes a continuation of the studies on the future conducted by Biennale Warszawa and the Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw. The publication puts emphasis on the exploration of practices and discourses referring to the future in various ways: affirmative, anxious, postulating, critical, and even based on conspiracy theories. The stake in these considerations is recovering the future as the central category of critically-oriented humanities and social sciences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by:

Contributing authors:
Niklas Luhmann, Andrzej W. Nowak, Tomasz Kozak, Anna Nacher, Paweł Mościcki, Joanna Bednarek, Natalia Sielewicz, Rafał Kosewski, Carl Boggs, Agnieszka Mróz, Agata Skórzyńska, Marta Zimniak-Hałajko