Travel from the world we live in today in the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts, to a future in this same place 100 years beyond the fall of capitalism. The River Valley Radical Futures exhibit shares the future visions co-created by members of at least 14 local groups who enact alternative ways of being in the Valley today.
Some groups are systems of collective care that organize shared food, clothing, healthcare, plant medicine, and other mutual aid. Some are worker cooperatives who own the means of production collectively. Some are community land trusts that manage and maintain land for community use instead of for-profit development. These groups work every day to create alternative economies by embodying them. They show how capitalism systematically creates inequity, injustice, disconnection, and promotes endless growth that ignores the natural limits of our planet.
We imagined beyond capitalism together by asking ourselves, “What kind of world are we trying to create through the work we do today?”
The visions created by members of these groups have been brought to life by seven local artists who created artifacts excavated from the future we imagined. You’ll find artifacts such as: body extensions and creature masks by Sunny Allis, cow brushes and bells made of local materials and drawing from local histories by Mary Katherine Cleary, a floating house design by David von Dufving, a tool sharing station with Korean homi by Bo Kim, a secret-baring mural by Sharon Leshner, a flood system made of local clay by Michael Medeiros, and an apothecary by Laura Torraco. You’ll also see a map of the Valley in this future beyond capitalism, illustrated by Alix Gerber and conceptualized through a series of workshops with around 80 people who are building alternative economies today.
It can be difficult to live the world we want into being. This exhibit is an invitation to contribute to a shared local folklore of the future we want to build together.
Opening Reception will be held at A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton, MA on May 9th.