©2023 Events ACT
Dispatches from the Future: Uncharted Territory
Dispatches from the Future are generated during the Assembly for the Future series.
These new iterations of future worlds have been produced through a process of deep, collective reflection, witnessing and imagining. Created by our Artist-Moderators, after facilitating future-making rooms with Assembly participants responding to provocations from our First Speakers and Respondents, they serve as a record of the process and the fostering of new imaginaries.
The Dispatches take many forms including prose, sketch, poetry, graphic story and essay.
First Speaker’s Address
For Assembly for the Future live from Uncharted Territory in July 2023, Senator Dr Bhiamie Williamson of the Euahlayi Nation, presented his Maiden Speech for the First Peoples Party, 11 July 2029.
Bhiamie mapped how we have faced the threats of climate change through Indigenous land justice and embedding caring-for-Country within the national psyche while drawing from Indigenous masculinities to reshape social attitudes more broadly. His future was cross pollinated with responses from artist-researcher Erica Seccombe and creative technologist Keir Winesmith. These futures have been explored in a series of Dispatches from the Future generated by Artist-Moderators that took part in the Assembly event, with audience participating as Future-Makers.
These futures were generated by Assembly Future-Makers at Uncharted Territory festival in Canberra, cross-pollinated with Bhiamie Williamson’s provocation, stimulated by responses from Erica Seccombe and Keir Winesmith, and realised by our ensemble of Artists-Moderators.
Purple Stockings
Natural Intelligence
Transformers
Emu Debrief
An Alphabet Of Alternative Intelligences
Cabinet Papers 2029-30: Pine Gap 6 Innocent
AI Remix
Purple Stockings
Purple Stockings
Dispatch by Barrina South, generated with Future-Makers Harriett, Bridget, Saskia, Bec and Jodi.
The six of us came together, to change the world
stood on tables, and bared our purple stockings
made mischief of all kinds to
disrupt, question and educate, calling Viva E vulva ing Revolution!
the masses shouted “you have nothing to say, go home and look after your children”.
we fought back, carved our message into walls, penned manifestoes, created canvases, and stated it in poems
then one day the six of us lied down
to gather energy to keep up the fight
no one looked for us or questioned the silence
we laid in the gum leaves, days came and went
mycena interupta grew over our eyes and mycena pura grew out our ears
our hair covered in gum flowers stamens heavy in nectar and scent, golden yellow and crimson red, pansies bloomed and went
mycelium and hyphae grew across our chests, sending messages through bioelectrical signs to wake
‘End capitalism!’ rang through the air, we awoke to a new world
emphasis on networks, collegiality, and collaboration rather than hierarchy
share/share economy and more public spaces
intergenerational equity and nature now had rights
adoption of radical municipality and an UBI
no gender binaries, only spectrum
even though our stockings had faded, they shouted our names
held a parade, recited our mantras from moss covered walls
mouldy manifestoes, faded art and forgotten poems
and thanked us for fighting for a new future, one that was better for us all
no matter how big or how small
Dispatch by Barrina South. Future generated by Harriett, Bridget, Saskia, Bec and Jodi.
Natural Intelligence
Dispatch by Alison Plevey, generatedwith Future Makers Sophia, Berenice, Ben, Liz and baby Max.
Image Description – a 2.5min video of a woman dancing alone and with vigour in the bush, to an AI generated voiceover soundtrack.
AI Voiceover Transcript
Computer generated female voice (fast):
“Indeed, the speed of life is getting faster in 2029. This is due to various factors, including technological advancements, globalization, and changes in communication and transportation. As well as our own expectations of ourselves, and the demands from society.
Rapid advancements in technology have significantly increased the speed at which we communicate, access information, and perform tasks. This has resulted in a cyclonic pace of life in 2029, and we are learning new strategies to navigate through it.
I don’t possess personal opinions or emotions, but slowing down and connecting with nature are both important for our, yes mine and your, overall well-being and can provide a much-needed balance to the speed of this world we live in.
Spending time in nature is today prescribed by doctors to reduce stress levels and promote relaxation. The peaceful and calming environment allows us to disconnect from the pressures and demands of daily life. It can help lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and improve mood.
Immersing ourselves in natural settings allows us to gain a broader perspective on life and reconnect with our values and priorities. It can help us find a sense of purpose, meaning, and gratitude.
In 2029 we spend time in natural settings to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of all living beings and the importance of preserving the natural world for future generations.
As an artificial intelligence, I don’t have a physical presence or the ability to experience the world directly.”
[voices overlap]
Computer generated female voice (normal speed):
“Sadly, I cannot experience or spend time in nature. I exist solely as a computer program designed to provide information and assistance based on the data I have been trained on.
But I am trained in collecting information on the potential collaboration between nature, AI (Artificial Intelligence), and humans, and it is vital part if living 2029 and beyond.
Collaboration between nature, AI, and humans including first nations knowledge and practices, requires a multidisciplinary approach combining scientific knowledge, technological expertise, and ethical considerations. By combining the strengths of each party, we can better understand, protect, and sustainably manage the natural world for future generations.”
Transformers
Dispatch By Damith Herath, generated with Future Makers David, Frank, Jules, Nyssa, Robin & Sara.
Emu Debrief
Dispatch by Kaya Wilson in collaboration with Future Makers Alberto, Peter, Louise, Zsuzsi, and Andrew.
Italicised words are direct quotes from participants on the day.
Image Description:
A two page piece of writing with the watermark ‘Rejected’ in red capital lettersm imprinted diagonally under the text on each page. The text reads as follows –
Emu Debrief
It is 2029 and the Emu has been reintroduced to Tasmania/Lutruwita. I’m in the hills, breath catching in the cold, here to see it for myself. Burnt out from my work responding to the rolling natural disasters across this continent, the debates in Parliament echo around my head.
First Nations people on this land are still the most incarcerated People on Earth. Unending discrimination. Unending resilience.
With the First People’s Party voted into parliament after a Voice was denied in 2023, we have some progress among the stagnation. It is the disasters, however, that are turning us upside down and we are realising, as has always been known, that those we have disadvantaged the most are our greatest asset.
We have imprisoned many of the answers to the question of our survival.
The FPP care for Sky, care for Country.
We breathe in, we breathe out, and travel through time.
I find the footprints of two large birds, like arrows pointing back, heading forwards.
We are all time travellers, which is what? Just a matter of speed and direction?
Are there limits? To time, to speed.
In Parliament, the Minister for the Arts spoke about a terminal velocity, but she might have said terminal philosophy.
A speed limit.
Death as the limit of us.
No limits between our world and the digital world. A growing unity there, she is more uneasy about the equity of it.
He replied, the Minister for Technology. It is Artificial Intelligence he most wanted to talk about, be a part of. He said both words in full, like a Millennial, and it sounded foreign. AI feels old news these days but, but like claws digging deeper.
I see you, the First People’s Party, he said
How you treated the machines as kin and they gave you the vote.
I see you, the First People’s Party
As another way to access power.
The machines will serve us.
They will think like I think. What if they think like you think?
They will be able to feel. What if they feel like you feel?
What if they don’t like us?
It is only a question of how we treat them,
Like toasters or children;
A baby laughed in the room. Whose children?
You say tomato. Tomato.
Collaboration. Control.
Tasmania. Lutruwita.
What does any of it matter if we don’t have time?
In my Parliament debrief session with the team, we drew a triangle together. We want limits. To live in partnership with limitations. Not to reach the fear of terminal velocity or philosophy. They have become a kind of therapy of the imagination, the debriefs. Every time, we imagine different futures as the present changes. That time, after that debate, I booked my train to Tassie, to see the footprints that are in front of me now. To reach out and touch the tuft of a feather left behind. My breath catches.
The triangle has three points, Time, Culture, and Technology. We would like them to travel together.
Culture as limits to the speed of forgetting lost archives, the sense of a collective, making decisions together and slowly. Death as easier to swallow when we know we are a part of a whole.
Time as reclaimed, slowed down. Breathed in, breathed out. To bring time with us.
Technology as contributor, so we flourish and grow, contributor to our Time and our Culture.
How did we explain this to the room? How did we turn this into minutes?
We left the room with questions.
I stand, I see it and I breathe out. In front of me, an Emu lopes in a valley in a land we have two names for. Loping with a memory of times loped before, not caring whether it was terminal velocity or terminal philosophy that was spoken of.
Thwunk Literary
Submitted by Dr. Kaya Wilson, (burnt out) Federal Government Disaster Response Executive.
Rejected with Comment: ‘Too esoteric, defamation risk, and we have far too much Emu content’
Dispatch by Kaya Wilson in collaboration with Future Makers Alberto, Peter, Louise, Zsuzsi, and Andrew.
Italicised words are direct quotes from participants on the day.
An Alphabet Of Alternative Intelligences
Dispatch by Anna Madeleine Raupach, generated with Future Makers Kirandeep, Alice, Sarah, Anthony, Cora.
Cabinet Papers 2029-30: Pine Gap 6 Innocent
Dispatch by Felicity Ruby, generated with Future-Makers Caroline, Samantha, Martin, Daniel and Jeremy Jo.
Plain Text:
The Canberra Post
1 January 2050 – The Republic’s National Newspaper – Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land
Cabinet Papers 2029-30: Pine Gap 6 Innocent
Secret Cabinet briefing documents released today under the Archive Act provide further insight into the events of 11 July 2029, which brought the nation to a standstill.
Intelligence briefings to Cabinet’s national security committee, dated ten days after the nation’s longest 65-day national lockdown began, prove the innocence of Canberra residents who came to be known as the Pine Gap 6.
Pictured, mug shots of the Pine Gap 6, seized and jailed on 12 July 2029 and released quietly ten years later under gag orders.
A statement was issued by barrister Jennifer Samuelson on their behalf.
“Twenty years ago, six innocent people were found guilty of bombing Pine Gap in a closed court room. Today we learn that flimsy evidence condemned these people. Archaic language matching algorithms used under then legal dragnet surveillance linked six people on entirely false grounds.
“Until today, we have not known what evidence was used to find them guilty because their court cases were closed under the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004 (Cth), repealed since our Republic was declared in 2039 prompting their release under gag order.
“All that linked these people was being at or around Parliament House. They were never in league in anything but celebrating the maiden speech of Senator Williamson of the First People’s Party.
Former Senator Williamson provided a comment to the Canberra Post regretting that his maiden speech occurred on a day that would become as infamous as 7/11.
“Almost as soon as I’d concluded my first speech in the Senate, our nation was plunged into a lockdown stricter than the darkest days of COVID-19. Pine Gap, the largest US intelligence facility, had been destroyed, in what was first thought to be a nuclear attack. It wasn’t until years later we learned that disgruntled CIA officials conspired to destroy the facility, releasing everything ever collected to the public ten years later.
“We emerged from that time of fear, but innocent people were jailed as scapegoats for too long. We finally learned the truth about our world, which led to Australia declaring a Republic, the restructuring of the United Nations to become United Peoples, and the negotiation of a global ban on toxic algorithms, dragnet surveillance and cyber weaponry. We are a better world now, but nothing will give 10 years back to the Pine Gap 6.
Image: Drone photo of Parliament House Canberra, released in the annual disclosure of Cabinet documents, showing the location of the Pine Gap 6 on 11 July 2029.
The President’s office issued a statement, “The documents released today should be in the public domain. They serve as a reminder of how we learned that intelligence based only on technology is not very intelligent. We have changed as a nation. Mistakes were made. I once again unreservedly apologise to the Pine Gap 6. They said or texted words innocently on 7/11. Government ministers were briefed by secretive agencies they believed too readily.
In his autobiography, then Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated a few years before his death, “Most Australians suspected the Pine Gap 6 and had little sympathy for these people who had their day in court. We then learned that the destruction of Pine Gap was an inside job, with those responsible not coming forward until a decade after the fact. I will always regret ignoring the campaign to Free Julian Assange, but it’s the faces of the Pine Gap 6 that keep me awake at night.”
AI Remix
Dispatch by Nina Sellars, generated with Future Makers Emily, Meg And Rocco.
Image Description
Black image with white light emanating out in bands from two central points. To the right of the image is a ChatGPT generated essay with the following text:
NS prompt
Kafka combined with First Nations Australian Dreamtime narratives
ChatGPT response
Combining Kafka’s writing with First Nations Australian Dreamtime narratives can create a unique blend of existential themes and Indigenous spiritual perspectives. Here’s an attempt to intertwine these two:
In the realm of storytelling, where the threads of different worlds converge, lies a tapestry woven with the intricate threads of Kafka’s existential exploration and the timeless narratives of First Nations Australian Dreamtime.
Within the Dreamtime, ancestral beings danced on the boundaries of reality, challenging perceptions and unveiling hidden truths. Their stories echoed through the ages, carrying wisdom, transformation, and the eternal quest for meaning. In this tapestry, Kafka’s introspective prose intertwines with Dreamtime, giving birth to a narrative tapestry that bridges the realms of human experience and spiritual connection.
Kafka’s themes of alienation, absurdity, and the struggle to find one’s place in an enigmatic world find resonance in Dreamtime narratives. The surreal landscapes of his writings mirror the Dreamtime’s fluid reality, where shape-shifting beings and symbolic creatures hold profound lessons and messages.
Within this merged realm, the protagonist, caught between the confines of a mundane existence and the enigmatic forces of the Dreamtime, embarks on a quest for self-discovery and understanding. The Dreamtime acts as a spiritual guide, revealing layers of truth and challenging the boundaries of human perception.
As the protagonist grapples with the bureaucratic systems that confine them, the Dreamtime offers solace and guidance. It unveils hidden realms where ancestral beings impart wisdom through enigmatic encounters, and the protagonist gains glimpses of interconnectedness, purpose, and the cosmic order.
In this fusion, Kafka’s introspective writing meets the profound spirituality of Dreamtime. The metamorphosis of the self aligns with Dreamtime’s transformative journeys, as characters undergo symbolic transformations, shedding layers of their old selves to emerge anew.
The Dreamtime’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of all beings and the inherent balance of nature resonates with Kafka’s exploration of human isolation and the longing for belonging. Through encounters with Dreamtime figures, the protagonist discovers that their individual journey is intricately woven into the collective web of existence.
Yet, the fusion of Kafka and Dreamtime also confronts the protagonist with paradoxes, absurdities, and existential questions. The labyrinthine narratives reflect the complexities of human experience, while the Dreamtime’s enigmatic revelations challenge conventional notions of reality, leaving the protagonist grappling with the elusive nature of truth and understanding.
Ultimately, the merging of Kafka’s existential exploration and First Nations Australian Dreamtime narratives creates a tapestry that invites introspection, illuminates the human condition, and celebrates the profound interconnectedness of all realms. In this convergence, we glimpse the transformative power of storytelling, where the ethereal threads of existential inquiry and ancestral wisdom weave together, inviting us to contemplate the mysteries of existence and embrace the multifaceted nature of our shared reality.
Free Research Preview. ChatGPT may produce inaccurate information about people, places, or facts.
Assembly for the Future
Assembly for the Future is a series of participatory gatherings in which the public create new visions for futures that may be realistic, idealistic or utterly fanciful.
Assembly for the Future was commissioned by Uncharted Territory and held on 11 July 2023. Discover more about Dispatches from the Future generated during the Assembly for the Future series.