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Postcards from the Future - Birrarung 2070

Postcards from the Future is a provocation: live conversations sent back to us from the year 2070 where characters from a reframed Melbourne speak of the ever present, regenerated Birrarung on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woy Wurrung People. They explore an ecosystem of First Nations intelligence/decolonisation brought into focus through an AI lens: a future territory, where unreachable territories of regenerative potential collectively forge a pathway of repair.

The unsung hero of the postcards is the Birrabot, a future piece of tech kit that is both terrestrial and aquatic, monitoring and moderating those environments to maximise river health. The Birrabots act as agents, recognising and removing weed species, toxins and invaders, overcoming topographic challenges and the insurmountable cost of human resource. They work in a feedback loop with First Nations (Wurundjeri) knowledge and direction to aid in the regeneration and management of this vast and complex system. Birrabots are the eyes, ears and environmental agitators of the First Nations People.

This is a techno-biological, post-humanist, post-colonial moment facilitated by AI, reimagining a reoccupation/reduction of the urban footprint, a re-expansion of the Birrarung. We are engaging with AI to reframe and recast past and present histories into reimagined futures, antithetical to common contemporary urbanist dialogue.

These reflective conversations are about regenerative systems, expansionist in preference to ‘landscape’ that reads as a ‘design’. It is through the removal, rather than the addition of, that opens the opportunity for expansion of the river system, clawing back territories that are critical to Birrarung health.

Q: What would it take to have an apex creature living as part of our urban system? What adjustments (spatially, materially, culturally, spiritually) would need to be made for that level of non-human occupation? And what are the baby steps needed to move toward that place? If we were to propose that emus should once again be present in the Birrarung catchment, what would it take to get them there?

We don’t know how the future will read.

There are glitches in our transfers and translations.

Postcards from the Future was exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria as part of the Birrarung 2070 exhibit.

'Postcards from the Future' was an exhibit imagined by REALMstudios as part of the Birrarung 2070 commission (by invitation) at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition was an exploration of the future condition of the Birrarung (Yarra River) as imagined in the year 2070. The following links lead to the postcards, their messaging, their intent:

Postcards from the Future_Mapping_expansion,reduction,expansion.mp4

01_Conservation _With love from Mother River.mp4

02_Reproduction_With love from the Botonist.mp4

03_Recuperation_With love from the Captain.mp4

04_Reconnection_With love from the Engineer.mp4

05_Distribution_With love from the Elder.mp4

06_Decolonisation_With love from the Steward.mp4

07_Circulation_With love from the Student.mp4

08_Collectivisation_With love from the Flaneur boys.mp4

The above links lead to video content. If they are not accessible on this platform then please contact the author: REALMstudios.

-37.797544025323, 145.00195696511

Año de concepción del proyecto
2024
Año de finalización de la obra
2025
Coste (€/m²) ($/m²) (€/ha) ($/ha)
n/a
Categoria premio
Superficie
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Tipo de cliente
Administració pública
Nombre cliente
National Gallery of Victoria
U.M.
n/a
Empresa constructora
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Dirección de obras
n/a
Gestor de mantenimiento de la obra
n/a
Costes de mantenimento (€/m²)
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Dirección
Shop 1, 216 Albion St
Ciudad / Emplazamiento
Brunswick
Región
VIC
País
Australia