In the new exhibition at the reopening of the Smithsonian Art and Industry Building, technology and design for a better future are shown

Last modified on Monday, December 6, 2021 01.33 EST

If the United States insists on anything, it must be forward-looking optimism. In shining cities such as New York, Chicago, and Detroit, towering skyscrapers herald the future. But did the bubble burst in the 21st century?

Columnist Frank Bruni wrote in The New York Times last month: “We don’t think we are moving towards a better tomorrow.” The research he cited shows that 71% of Americans think this The country is on the wrong track. "We think we stand on tiptoe in the face of disaster. This was even before Covid. It was even before Trump."

This unease envelopes the future. This is a new exhibition that marks the reopening of the Smithsonian Art and Industry Building on the National Mall in Washington nearly two decades after its death.

Covering an area of ​​32,000 square feet, the show sends a sober reminder to the past that utopian future predictions are usually wrong. It warns of the danger of unintended consequences: today’s miraculous invention is tomorrow’s major polluter. Then it has a dilemma familiar to journalists covering the climate crisis: how to linger between vigilance and fatalism.

“This is a needle that we are trying to run through the entire exhibition,” said Rachel Goslins, director of the Arts and Industry Building. "How can we be hopeful without being naive, and how can we face challenges without creating more anxiety?

"Everyone wants to be a part of this exhibition, because artists, designers and scientists really aspire to be part of a narrative that allows people to imagine the future they want, not the future they fear. Participate in a hopeful future. The exhibition in this place is very attractive."

The demonstration included innovations in protein production, a “bioreactor” that uses algae to capture carbon from the air 400 times more efficiently than trees, and a coffin substitute in the form of biodegradable capsules that enables the decomposed body to nourish the tree and Coin-operated washing machines are connected to grow wetland plant gardens-"a rinsing cycle ecosystem".

Goslins continued: “Sustainability runs through the entire exhibition, partly in the way we build and the materials we use, but also in the solutions we explore. There are many very important ideas in this exhibition, if they scale up , May fundamentally change our relationship with the earth.

"None of these things is the answer, but what we want people to take away is that there are solutions there, and there are answers. We have to pick them, we have to invest in them."

But there are also lessons from the past, be cautious. The items on display include a cast iron "toaster" machine from 1909, which was used by chemist Leo Baekeland to make the world's first synthetic plastic or bakelite. At first, this seemed like a huge gain, which could be used in electronics, jewelry, toys, and many other fields; now it is considered a clear and real danger to the environment.

"In many ways, it opened up the world," Goslings reflected. "Because of plastic, we can implant artificial hearts in babies. Our cars run faster, lighter and use fewer resources. We can fly to the moon. But also because of plastic, our planet is suffocating. .

"So when we ask people to visit this exhibition and imagine the future and imagined possibilities they want, we also ask them to consider the consequences of these choices and how we can act to adapt to the best of some of these technologies and Think of the situation and avoid the worst."

The stars in the show include Bell Nexus, a self-driving hybrid electric air taxi with the grandeur of Star Wars, and Virgin’s Hyperloop vehicle, which travels at a speed of 600 miles per hour through a closed pipe with most of the air It is ruled out to eliminate aerodynamic drag. The latter is shown on a subway-style map. It is assumed that it takes 25 minutes to get from Boston to New York, 12 minutes from Philadelphia, 13 minutes from Baltimore, 6 minutes from Washington, and so on, all the way to Seattle.

"It's not just,'It's great to be able to reach Los Angeles in three hours without leaving the ground,' but it can change the way people live in cities. It may change the way we live on earth. The basic model of the climate change, we may need to make choices on the earth."

Other highlights include the costumes in the Marvel Studios film "The Eternal Family", part of an interactive exhibition showing how the film imagines the future, as well as the tortoise robot in 1950, artificial intelligence powered sculptures, and the experimental Alexander Graham Bell Telephone, the first full-scale Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome built in North America and "the first genderless voice."

At the height of the energy crisis in 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed a solar panel in the White House; they were subsequently dismissed by the Ronald Reagan administration.

The core of the exhibition is "I + You", which is a sculpture of artist Suchi Reddy, which incorporates artificial intelligence and is sponsored by Amazon Web Services. It monitors the word "My future is..." at several circular monitoring stations, and displays the speaker's emotions with colored lights and patterns. Its interpretation will evolve and become more subtle over time.

Standing next to "I + You" in the huge central rotunda, Goslings said: "I saw the renderings of it, and then I saw that it was semi-assembled, I saw it was fragments, and now I see To its true appearance. This is dreamlike.

"It is this gorgeous, inspiring, luminous structure that aims to capture the hopes and dreams of our visitors and reflect them to them. This is indeed the reason for the existence of this exhibition, so it is a wonderful metaphor and a Very interesting way of interaction."

British novelist LP Hartley commented: “The past was a foreign country; they did things differently there.” The future exhibition reminds people of past foolishness. It pointed out that the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis was supposed to mark the progress of the United States and showcased cars, outdoor electric lights, and X-rays.

A sign continued: “But it also has a'life exhibition' showing indigenous people, just like the animals in the zoo. The largest is the Philippine village, with more than 1,000 people in seven months. This disturbing exhibition It marked the recent colonization of the Philippines by the United States."

The Art and Industry Building itself has a long history and a variety of architectural styles. It is the first national museum in the United States and the first museum to be built on the National Mall. For 140 years, it has been a "miracle palace", including the original Spar-Spangled Banner, the St. Louis Spirit Aircraft, and the Apollo 11 command module when it first landed on the moon.

But these items were scattered to other museums in the Smithsonian Institution, which celebrated its 175th birthday this year. The Arts and Industry Building went out of power in 2004, partly due to the need for structural renovation. Now, it is re-awakened with Futures, planned to open until July 6, designed by the award-winning architectural firm Rockwell Group.

David Rockwell, the 65-year-old founder and president, said: "I think this building is such an incredible survivor, and has seen many versions of the future, has gone through so much history, so when When Rachel approached us, it felt that this was a very worthwhile project. I like the fact that I didn’t know the answer before we started. This is a sign of a good project."

Like Goslings, Rockwell hopes that visitors can leave with a sense of hopelessness and numbness about the possibilities of the future. "We live in a world where there seems to be endless disputes over everything, and we have experienced tremendous turmoil.

"Optimism is the only way out. This does not mean blind optimism, but optimism. You can be motivated by things you haven't thought of. What will happen to the future in 10, 20, 30, 50 years?"

Futures will be on display at the Smithsonian Art and Industry Building until July 6