Future Island is an island of stones, a pioneer landscape in evolution over the next 100 years. It is a micro-ecosystem, a biotope of plants and animals that constantly adapts to the slowly changing conditions. The island is divided along the latitude of 59°21’20.32”N into two zones: a cold zone in the north, a warm zone in the south. The landscape in the warm zone is up to 5°C warmer than the surrounding area, thus creating a perpetual environment that corresponds to current predictions about global warming. The warm zone is heated by solar panels mounted on surrounding pavilions and screens.
The changes in the warm and cold zones, as well as on the frontier between them, where we anticipate the most changes in the site’s biodiversity, are tracked by a monitoring team. Very little maintenance is required, as human interference in this evolving ecosystem should be kept to a minimum. An important part of the project is its educational impact. Learning from Future Island also means understanding how the campus affects its immediate environment in terms of energy, such as by transferring energy created by the campus sewage system to the area known as Future Island. Students and the general public can have temporary access to the site by arrangement with the maintenance team. Reports about the conditions on Future Island, similar to the kind of weather reports we all check regularly, are issued by the monitoring team, which is composed of experts and advisers on the island’s flora and the fauna. They help set up and later oversee a monitoring process that maintains close observation of the evolution of the island. They serve as an important link by reporting on what is happening on the island in a way that makes the processes visible and understandable to the public.
Future Island is a public art project developed by Ooze (Eva Pfannes & Sylvain Hartenberg) and Marjetica Potrč, commissioned by the
Public Art Agency Sweden for
Akademiska Hus and
Svenksa Bostäder, in consultation with Nivå Landscape Architecture and a team of experts and advisers for the flora and the fauna of the island.
Future Island - Public Art Agency
Future Island
