For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy

On the heels of a global recession and the ever increasing concerns over climate change, population and energy, ACA is inviting artists to take a role in visioning the future.

Introduction:

The remote microcosm of Allenheads, in the High Forest Area of the west Allen Valley with a population of around 200 might seem a curious place to be considering the subject of ‘The Future’. Until the mid-90’s there was little or no television reception in the village, no broadband or mobile phone reception, all of which heightened a feeling of isolation, a sense of being caught in a time capsule.

The local community has grown over the past two decades, as people from urban areas have moved into the region restoring the old and some derelict buildings to create their personal, romantic, rural idyll and improve their quality of life. They also introduced more diverse expectations of the countryside transforming the rural lifestyle.

This period coincided with technological advances becoming more mainstream and attainable to remote rural communities; broadband, mobile phone reception and crucial for comfort and economy at home, renewable energy; budgeted for at early stages of planning a rebuild and illustrating a more prosperous economy.

Unlike the heritage industry which selectively looks back at narrow periods of time, with the likes of Beamish Museum describing itself as ‘a superb living, working experience of life in the Great North,’ Allenheads and the surrounding High Forest area with its naturally evolving community, provide a truly ‘living’ thought-provoking insight into the past and present while offering a rich platform for the conception of imaginative, predictive visualisations of what might be.