ART 2030 and Kunsthal Charlottenborg Announces Public Art Exhibition Across New York in Response to United Nations ‘Summit of the Future’

Co-Curated by Patricia Domínguez, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Jeppe Ugelvig FUTURE OURS is a large-scale public art project showcasing leading contemporary artists’ visions of a sustainable future.

Launching during what is widely regarded as the most crucial United Nations General Assembly in generations, ART 2030 and Kunsthal Charlottenborg´s large-scale public art project FUTURE OURS will be presented inside the United Nations Headquarters in New York City from September 13-29 and on hundreds of JCDecaux bus shelters throughout the five boroughs of New York from September 16-29, 2024.

Guest curators Patricia Domínguez, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Jeppe Ugelvig have invited twentyone artists and collectives from around the world to respond to the United Nations Summit of the Future’s call to address current and future global challenges and explore how art, in proposing new social, political, and economic functions for itself, can serve as a unique method of critical world-building, reweaving a dialogue between social, economic, and ecological equity for the planetary community at large.

While on view inside the United Nations Headquarters, among policymakers forging a new
international consensus on a sustainable course ahead, FUTURE OURS also extends to New
York City’s most public and omnipresent visual economy – billboard advertising – to disseminate concrete visions for the collective public, including responses to current planetary challenges such as climate disaster, resource conflict, war, economic inequity, and the erosion of human rights.

“While our future is marked by pressing environmental and societal emergencies, we stand at
an opportune moment for transformative change,” said Luise Faurschou, founder and CEO of
ART 2030. “ART 2030 is honored to present FUTURE OURS, featuring contributions from
artists and art collectives worldwide responding to the United Nation’s pivotal Summit of the
Future. From the UN Headquarters to public spaces, these artworks offer a diversity of
moments for reflection and inspiration, to foster dialogue and action in a moment when it is
needed most.”

Bypassing traditional modes of art-making and distribution, the participating artists work through grass-roots initiatives, social equity collectives, semi-fictitious public campaigns, as well as activist and entrepreneurial projects.

“FUTURE OURS seeks out visions for our planet’s future by leveraging the medium of the billboard. In response to current social crises and ecological disasters,” said cocurators Patricia Domínguez, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Jeppe Ugelvig. “FUTURE OURS disperses artistic enterprise into unexpected spaces to generate new encounters in the vast public realm of the commercial. The project is an invitation to rethink how art can help discussions about how it can aid us in rethinking what is or what could be “ours,” in futures worth fighting for.”

Artist Maya Lin says, “I am honored to be a part of FUTURE OURS. Through my nonprofit foundation ‘What is Missing?’ we utilize art to show how we can both save species and reduce climate emissions by changing our working relationship with natural systems – ranching, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and habitat restoration and conservation. Our message is one of hope for people and the planet – Nature can save us, if we protect and restore Nature.”

FUTURE OURS is initiated by ART 2030 and Kunsthal Charlottenborg in partnership with JCDecaux, and co-curated by Patricia Domínguez, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Jeppe Ugelvig. After launching in the United Nations Headquarters and across the streets of New York City, FUTURE OURS will travel to Denmark in 2025 to be exhibited in the Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale in Copenhagen, as well as in streets, train stations, and bus stops on AFA Decaux street furniture throughout the country.

“JCDecaux is excited to bring this important exhibition to the streetscape of New York during the UN’s Summit of the Future and thereafter for the Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale in Copenhagen and throughout Denmark,” said Alan Sullivan, Co-CEO of JCDecaux North America. “We are committed to being a global framework for artists responding to our shared experiences, and beyond the captivating images featured in FUTURE OURS, the artworks provide a variety of visions for positive change in our world, encouraging dialogue and engagement.”

Participating Artists and Collectives

Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture (Thailand)
Canal Street Research Association (USA)
Congolese Plantation Workers Art League (CATPC) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Eduardo Navarro (Uruguay)
Futurefarmers (USA)
Newton and Helen Harrison/Center for the Study of the Force Majeure (USA)
The Institute of Queer Ecology (USA)
MAHKU – (Huni Kuin Artists Movement) (Brazil)
Maya Bird-Murphy & Mobile Makers (USA)
Maya Lin & What is Missing? Foundation (USA)
Mercvria (Chile)
New Red Order (USA)
NOMASMETAFORAS & Consejo de Mayores UAIIN-CRIC (Colombia / France)
Olafur Eliasson (Denmark / Iceland)
Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria / Belgium)
Raqs Media Collective (India)
Robert Zhao Renhui & The Institute of Critical Zoologists (Singapore)
Simone Fattal (Syria / Lebanon)
Suzanne Treister (UK)
Yinka Shonibare CBE (UK / Nigeria)
Yugoexport (Serbia)

Image: Olafur Eliasson, You are solar powered (2024), part of Future Ours, New York City, 2024. Courtesy of ART 2030 and JCDecaux.