We have been sold the idea that the apocalypse is something that will happen to us in an instant, like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, we are convinced that we too will go in a wave of heat or by the swell of an overflowing ocean. This is a mythical, biblical, idealised image of the apocalypse that conveniently does not resemble the current condition that takes the form of 70 million displaced people, increasing rates of extinction and decreasing surface areas of arctic ice and native forest. These changes signify a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, which is defined by human activities significant impact on the earth’s ecosystems. This new epoch may have begun as recently as the widespread use of plastic, or as long ago as the dawn of the agricultural revolution, either way, the accelerating trends of this era suggest a previously unimagined apocalypse.

The workshop FATAL FUTURES envisioned a future moulded by the enduring impact of human activity, long after this activity has ceased. Using storytelling, found imagery, writing, drawing and performance participants were asked to imagine the present from the future and then the future from the present.