Futureways

by Rita McBride (Editor), Glen Rubsamen (Editor)

Futureways is a faux science fiction novel that dares to reinvent the future. The story of an art exhibition in the distant future, the book posits an otherworldly community of alien shape-shifters, robotic administrators and demon-conjuring Magi who inhabit spaceports, otherworldly archeological sites, gated utopias, courthouses and bars.

This beguiling “novel” features chapters written by different contributors—including artists, critics, curators, museum directors, journalists and writers—all of whom create fantastical landscapes that simultaneously work within and outside the convention of science fiction. At its heart, it depicts the “tangible marvels” of the imagination and the role of the artist as time-traveler, forward-thinking yet never forgetting the past.

Conceived by internationally acclaimed artist Rita McBride, Futureways is the second book in the Ways Books series (the first was Heartways), a unique collaboration between the Whitney Museum of American Art, Printed Matter, Inc. and Arsenal Pulp Press. Forthcoming titles include Crimeways and Myways. Books in the Ways Books series—which include more than 50 different contributions by artists, architects, writers, journalists, scientists, curators and critics—exploit and decipher genre writing with an entertaining and refreshing collective structure.

Contributors include Laura Cottingham, Nick Crowe, Aline Duriaud, Nalo Hopkinson, Nico Israel, Matthew Licht, Peter Maass, Rita McBride, Glen Rubsamen, David Schafer, Mark von Schlegell, Rutger Wolfson and Alexandre Melo, translated by Brad Cherry.

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Rita is an artist living and working in Cologne and New York. Her projects vary greatly from unorthodox books to very large sculptures. She is currently planning a sixty-meter tall carbon structure entitled Mae West to be erected in 2006 on the Effnerplatz in Munich.

Reviews

[EspeciallySarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at the Tate Modern and it rather snobbishly describes itself as "a faux science fiction novel". It isn't. It is a rather good set of science fiction short stories all centered on the idea of an art exhibition (or exhibitions) in the distant future. Some of the stories are by novelists and some by artists and curators but the book doesn't specify who wrote what. There were alien curators and robotic curators and a very Lovecraftian curator in The Daemon Curatorum. I definitely enjoyed it, I'm glad I didn't let the "faux" description put me off!

[Glen Rubsamen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Futureways is becoming a cult sci-fi masterpiece, an anthology of brilliant stories including early works of Nalo Hopkinson and Mark von Schlegell.

[eeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

<3

[sofi lira s · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aún siendo relatos cortos todos lograban expresar de forma verosímil este espacio futuro en el que se desarrollan. Los personajes, comentarios acerca de la tecnología, la historia... todo aportaba.
Eso si, como en toda antología hay puntos fuertes y puntos débiles. Admito que a momentos simplemente estaba leyendo para pasar al siguiente relato, esperando que fuese mejor que el anterior.

A mi juicio The future lasts a long time, The curator awakes, The St.Anthony organ, My story, Message in a bottle, son las mejores partes de esta colección, 5 de 14 historias, lo que no es un número muy bueno pero son 5 historias verdaderamente cautivantes.