If eating robot poop and enforced meditation are the key to a brighter more prosperous future, count me in.
This weird future is imagined by the children of Bluecoat’s Out of Blue after school clubs in Anfield and Norris Green, and brought to life by three perfectionists – The collaborative duo Roxy Topia and Paddy Gould, and Cormac Gould.
Like everything the two long-term collaborators touch, this exhibition is pristine. Every sheet of MDF is lacquered to exacting standards, and every twisting knob, levered door, and tassel runs smoothly. It might get lost in the jokes about how we reach our future, but its crucial that an exhibition designed to engage every age group and every ability runs and looks like this. There are no misleading instructions, no hard-to-decipher prompts. Everything is clear, and it all leads you to your own creative response.
Structure, as the exhibition shows, isn’t bad. It is the structure we’re collectively working in that’s the problem, and the answer, apparently, lay with letting kids imagine a better world.
The better world is brought to life as a series of creative chores, which let you apply for a job on Mars. Whether the future will see us working there or not, doesn’t really matter, but the fact the kids in this working group envisage a world where the jobs on Mars include artists, gymnasts and vets is a great affirmation.
This could have been one chaotic joke, but it isn’t. It’s really beautiful and everyone should experience it, with or without children present, because eating robot poo as a core part of our diet is probably worth it, and I for one would love to gain knowledge by eating, rather than reading books.
Though saying that, we’re apparently eating panda in the future (it makes us feel special). Clearly humanity’s need for superiority and earthly dominance isn’t eradicated completely, but at least we’re all happier about it and less likely to be overworked and overwhelmed in the pursuit of greatness.
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Roxy Topia and Paddy Gould with Cormac Gould: Let Your Ideas Come Back as Children is open at Bluecoat until 29th September
Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith