Now and When

Overview

The closer we get towards “the future”, the more jaded about it we seem to become. For decades after Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the lack of flying cars was the primary complaint circulating in geek circles, but since the advent of colour television private air vehicles have been synonymous with post-apocalyptic dystopias. Back to the Future II raised hopes for hoverboard transportation by the year 2015 but, while the film’s prediction of a Florida Marlins victory in ’97 proved to be correct, it looks like the availability of hoverboards is about as likely as the release of Jaws 19.

Now we’re faced with this whole thing about global warming and the end of the world. This is what seems to take priority in Now and When, two films and an immersive soundscape resulting from a competition inviting architects to create a vision of Australia 40 years from now. 'Now' captures aerial images of Australia’s urban and non-urban regions as they are now. 'When' is a sequence of 17 futuristic environments imagining what these will look like when we reach 2050 and beyond.

Though global warming and the lack of actual land is a prime concern, it here leads not to massive dehumanisation and a lack of food sources but to a bunch of Aussies all swimming around happily in the ocean. These water worlds are certainly the most interesting — particularly the submerged city 'Syph', which features separate pods that work together to provide a comfortable underwater life. And for those disenchanted by the idea of living under the sea, some of the proposed cities do take place on more conventional building sites.