Subjective Future Scenarios: Youth, Public Space and Mindsets

The organisation of youth is a strategy for designing the desirable future. Though mediated by the political intention route of self-development, the new generations are meant to become a clay for sculpting societies that are better. What needs to be preserved and what needs to be improved alongside the future skills set is defined by the planners with already defined set of ideological positions. The notions of collaboration, unity and common vision of reality are in the basis of the mission ahistorically. 

However in post-Internet age the traditional forms of mediation, mastered by nation states in 20 century, is challenged by the vast ocean of scattered pastiches of references. Creating ‘public spaces’ in the time of radical privatisation of everything, individualisation of learning and growing illusion of possible absolute autonomy is a gregarious task. The Adornian totality of contemporary society dims the vision of possible futures, shuts out idea of a free time and makes way for the constantly looping march of ‘everlasting present’.

How can youth organisations, based on the traditional idea of physical public space, remain attractive in the hyper-individualised future of possible absolutization of subjective reality of a young beholder? What formats of future generations public spaces can be feasible: pokemon hunting fields? Second Life cities squares? 

Avenir Institute will present the concepts of ‘avenirology’ and ‘everlasting present’, that it has been working on since it’s initiation, as well as some of the projects it has been working on. The Institute Subjective Future Scenarios department’s methodology is the basis for developing the collaboration with one of the St Petersburg youth clubs as a part of the fourth season of The Critical Mass.

Avenir Institute is the extra-territorial think tank, devoted to transdisciplinary research of the potentiality in futures. The Institute was co-founded in 2014 by art & cultural critic, curator and politologist Denis Maksimov and consultant, designer and visual artist Timo Tuominen. They realise projects in the expanded field of intersections between philosophy, futurology, science, politics and post-conceptual art.

Denis Maksimov (Bryansk, Russia, 1987) is a theorist, critic, advisor and artist-curator. His primary subject of artistic inquiry is the complexity of relations between aesthetics and power. Denis' recent projects were presented in the de Brakke Grond Arts Centre in Amsterdam, Marres House for Contemporary Culture in Maastricht, in the context of the 56th Venice Biennale 'All the Worlds' Futures', Off Biennale Cairo 'Something Else', Brussels Poppositions Fair, etc. He has been working in political expertise since 2006 in Moscow and has continued practice in Brussels, Belgium, where he lives and works since 2009. 

Timo Tuominen (Ulvila, Finland, 1986) is a designer, consultant and visual artist. He has been working in Berlin and London on projects in the field of mobile applications and digital platforms development and medical research. He has been making photography and visual art, such as work on textile and ink drawing, since early childhood. He lives and works in London, the United Kingdom.