From mainstream cinema and the likes of Blade Runner 2049, to start-up arts/activists collectives, commentators and artists are looking to cast the lessons of the past into the unknown future and alternately visualizing utopia and dystopia along the way. So from the future of femininity to the future of urban landscapes, check out some Instagram accounts to follow below.

For the future of the youth movement:

PUBLIC OUTCRY

Mega-media, the rise of the alt-right, public protest, racial divide, political divide, class divide – the geopolitical landscape is is disarray. Fortunately, a new energised generation of social media savvy activists sharing messages of inclusion and progression. Many of them are finding a platform at Public Outcry, described by founder Ollie Olanipekun as “an open-source public platform to shine a light on issues, where people can use their creative voices for the greater good”. We’re here for it.

For the future of femininity: Lusha Alic

The future is female. And its nuanced, neon, and pretty wild according to photographer Lusha Alic. Working to shine a light on the beauty of ‘otherness’, her photography darkly examines the alternate side of fashion and portraiture, appreciating what it means to be an outsider, especially when it comes to interpretations of the female body.

For the future of urban landscapes: Elsa Bleda

Blade Runner 2049  meets Twin Peaks in the artwork of Elsa Bleda, whose neon cityscapes describe banal urban scenery through a futuristic lens. If there’s an aesthetic for the future, it’s 100% neon.

For sound advice: EVE DE HAAN

Artist Eve de Haan has been sharing life advice in the form of neon signs for some time. Pairing her slogans with defunct technologies (think VHS players, 14-inch TVs and cassette tapes), her words act as warnings or abstract philosophies in a world where technology is increasingly taking hold.

For the future of Art: Juno Calypso

Juno Calypso’s eerie perspective on the future is a world of alter-egos, AI and blurred boundaries when it comes to human identity. Her recent collaboration with the future-fixated film director @GerikoFilm shows a beautiful but seriously suss world populated by cyborgs.