Exhibition Good Ancestors: Art and Culture for Future Generations

Exhibit organised by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations and the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the United Nations, UN General Assembly Building, Visitors Lobby, Gallery C, September 16th through 27th, 2024

The information below is provided to accompany the exhibition. Some of the content was licensed explicitly for the exhibition and must not be reproduced without prior consent of the respective owners, listed on the first page of the exhibit.

Introduction

In the early 21st Century, short-termism is ubiquitous – and yet the world has never faced so many complex challenges that require a long term perspective to solve.

On current trajectories, the planet we hand over to tomorrow's generations could be in a worse state than the one we inherited. The continued progress, or even existence, of future generations is therefore not ensured. While social, economic and technological advances enable some of us to live longer and better lives, we have also created pathways to existential risks for humanity.

Rooted in indigenous (Haudenosaunee) philosophy, the Seventh Generation Principle emphasizes that decisions made today should be considered in the light of their impact on at least the next seven generations. This intergenerational responsibility must be applied to the decisions we make today. We are dependent on one another to create a peaceful, inclusive, just and sustainable world, not only across borders but also across time.

How can we be good ancestors towards future generations and leave a better world behind than the one we inherited?

The ‘Good Ancestors’ exhibition invites you to journey across time, from the coast of the Indian Subcontinent to the depths of the Amazon, exploring art projects, cultural practices and traditions from across the world, deeply rooted in intergenerational thinking and our shared human experience.

Woven throughout the exhibition are universal themes of community, ritual, and care—guided by the belief that future generations must be central to all our actions today.

Through art and culture, we are reminded of our collective responsibility towards future generations, cultivating the awareness and frameworks needed to safeguard their rights. By embracing the idea of our far-distant descendants, we find a unifying force, one that transcends division and inspires collaboration. Safeguarding future generations may be humanity's most powerful legacy and the key to our collective existence.

Organisers

Organised by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations and the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the United Nations, 2024

Photo Credits

Cave of the Hands: 1. © Pablo Gimenez; 2. CC BY-SA 3.0 by Fjturban; 3. CC-BY-SA 2.0 Carlos Alberto Zito
Ancestors Dreaming: Laurielle Noel © Ainsley Burrows (3x)
Future Library: 1+2. Kristin von Hirsch; 3. Einar Aslaksen all © Katie Patterson Studios
Great African Art Banner: 1+3. © Emmanuel Motta/GAAB; 2. © Collin Isimbwa / GAAB
Time Pyramid 1+2. © Felix Schmitt; 3. © Oliver Waimann
Uffington Horse: © Peter Landers (3x)
Clock of the Long Now: Chris Baldwin & Jesse Chandler © The Long Now Foundation (3x)
Fishermen and the Ocean: © Subodh Kerkar (3x)
Longplayer: 1. © James Whitaker; 2+3. © Jem Finer
Spirits of Transformation: © Paulo Desana (3x)
Cage Project: © John Cage Organ Foundation (3x)
Ghost Island: © Lisandro Suriel (3x)
Future Design: 1. © Reiichiro Ishii; 2+3. © Tatsuyoshi Saijo, Yahaba FDWS
Fungal Futures: 1+2. © Melissa Ingaruca Moreno; 3. © Kira Koch / Melissa Ingaruca Moreno
De Letters van Utrecht: 1+2. © Dick Sijtsma; 3. © Ramses Singeling - Pergamijn
Collective Time Capsule: 1. © Angelina Kumar & Hanneke Verheijke; 2+3. © Martin Kunze

Contributors, who helped prepare the exhibition

Alexandra Helfrich, Burbank, CA, USA; Alimi Salifou, Lagos, Nigeria (Partnership for Future Generations in Africa, Intergenerational Center for Global Action); Anastasia Evgrafova, Kazakhstan; Anneli Borgmann, Halberstadt, Germany (Cage Project); Angelina Kumar, artist from Delhi, India; Anne Beate Hovind, Oslo, Norway (Future Library); Barbara Laber, Munich, Germany (Zeitpyramide); Christopher Daniel, London, UK (Polysemic, Long Now London); Claire Marshall, Sydney, Australia (Museum of Futures); Claudette Salinas Leyva, Mexico, Mexico (SOIF); Danielle Engelman, San Francisco, USA (Long Now Foundation); Erlijn Mulder, Utrecht, The Netherlands (Letters of Utrecht); Julia Paes Leme, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (Museu do Amanhã/ IDG); Georg Weckwerth, Vienna, Austria; Hanneke Verheijke, Utrecht, The Netherlands (Letters of Utrecht); Jacob Ellis, Cardiff, Wales; Jem Finer, London, UK (Longplayer); Lisa Russell, Mombasa, Kenya; Lorna Okeng, Kampala, Uganda, Art Advisor and Curator of the Great African Arts Banner; Lukas Pfaller, Dresden, Germany (Zeitpyramide); Lydia Caldana, São Paulo, Brazil (Future Resources); Mallory Profeta, Utrecht, The Netherlands (Long-term Art Projects); Marina Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (Museu do Amanhã/IDG); Masako Ichihara, Kyoto, Japan (Future Design); Mehdi Nemri, Djerba, Tunisia; Melissa Ingaruca Moreno, Lima, Peru (Natura, Mycohakers Berlin); Michael Münker, Utrecht, The Netherlands (milliongenerations.org); Muhammad Dauda, Nigeria; Nathan Leonard, Tanzania; Rainer O. Neugebauer, Halberstadt,Germany (Cage Project); Ruben van Gogh, Utrecht, The Netherlands (Letters of Utrecht); Richard Fisher, London, UK (author ‘The Long View’); Tatsuyoshi Saijo, Kyoto, Japan (Future Design); Umar Sheraz, Islamabad, Pakistan (COMSATS University); Vidya Kandadai Giridharan, Vienna, Austria; Werner Waimann, Wemding, Germany (Zeitpyramide)

Join hands with deep-time ancestors

Cave of the Hands (Cueva de las Manos)

Location: Santa Cruz, Argentina
Established: ca. 7300 BCE (earliest prints)
Artists: unknown
UNESCO World Heritage Site

Many of the imprints of hands in the Cueva de los Manos in Argentina are almost 10,000 years old.

The strikingly modern handwave links humans across time. By imagining a man, woman or child placing their hand on the same rock surface many thousands of years ago, this ancient artwork bridges the gap between now and then, inviting people to reflect on the long-lived cultural heirlooms we have inherited – and the legacies we all leave behind.

more information

Photo Credits

1. © Pablo Gimenez
2. CC BY-SA 3.0 by Fjturban
3. CC-BY-SA 2.0 Carlos Alberto Zito

New Mythologies

Ancestors Dreaming

Location: Jamaica
Established: 2023
Artist: [Ainsley Burrows

The practice of artist Ainsley Burrows is deeply rooted in themes of Afro-Futurism – a way of looking at the future and alternate realities through a Black cultural lens – as well as the exploration of the future of dreaming.

His paintings often feature abstract figures depicted in disjointed movements, suggesting multiple perspectives and moments in time. The sharp lines within his compositions create a sense of confinement, yet certain elements break free from the constraints, resulting in refracted visual echoes and a simultaneous disruption of time and space.

Books that can't be read until the next century

Future Library

Location: Oslo, Norway
Established: 2014
Duration: 100 years
Artist: Katie Paterson
Maintained by: Future Library Trust

The largest African art piece ever made

The Great African Art Banner

Location: Uganda (Presence - Pan African)
Conceptualized 2010;
Registered 2022
Artist: Various (56,000)
Maintained by: “Great African Art Banner” Initiative

Over the next two years, 56,000 artworks representing the 55 African nations and the African diaspora will make a 55km-long physical art collection called the Great African Art Banner. It will be repeated every four years perpetually towards 2063.

The establishment of the first banner will build to the 2026 Great Africa Arts Music and Culture Festival (bringing 56 countries to participate) – the biggest Olympic - like convergence of the arts since 1977’s FESTAC festival in Nigeria.

GAAB website]

The pyramid that will take 1,200 years to build

Time Pyramid (Zeitpyramide)

Location: Wemding, Germany
Established: 1993
Duration: 1,200 years
Artist: Manfred Laber
Maintained by: Stiftung Wemdinger Zeitpyramide

In Bavaria in 1993, Manfred Laber initiated construction of a pyramid of 120 blocks. One added every decade. The project began to commemorate the city’s 1,200th anniversary. Wemding expects to continue building and maintaining the pyramid for another 1,200 years.

Initially, the pyramid was controversial. Today, the town is invested in its construction. There are four blocks so far – the most recent in 2023. Each new placement reminds locals and visitors of the many generations who will follow them.

more information (English)/(German)

This ancient horse must be maintained or it will disappear

The White Horse of Uffington

Location: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Established: ~1,000 BCE
Artist: Unknown
Custodians: English Heritage; The National Trust; Long Now London

Dating to the Bronze Age, a horse the size of a football field is carved into the grass of a hill in Southern England.

Left alone, it would be overgrown and disappear within a decade, so it has been maintained for 3,000 years by a process of “rechalking”. Every year, the UK National Trust – and volunteers such as the Long Now London group – attend the site with mallets and buckets of fresh chalk to ensure this ancient artwork continues to exist for future generations to see. It reminds us that long-term cultural legacies often require maintenance – and if we want them to last, we need communities willing to take on that mantle within their lifetimes.

More information: Uffington White Horse

A clock designed to keep time for ten millennia

The Clock of the Long Now

Location: Texas, USA
Established: 31 December 1999
Artist: Danny Hillis
Duration: 10,000 years
Maintained by: The Long Now Foundation

The Clock of the Long Now is an immense mechanical monument, installed in a mountain in Texas, and designed to keep accurate time for 10,000 years. It is hundreds of feet tall, engineered to require minimal maintenance, and powered by mechanical energy harvested from sunlight as well as visitors. The Clock offers an enduring symbol of our personal connection to the distant future.

Ten thousand years is about the age of modern civilization, so The Clock will measure out a future of civilization equal to its past. This assumes our civilization is in the middle of whatever journey we are on - an implicit statement of optimism.

Long Now Foundation

Oceanic feeling: sensing the eternal currents of the sea

Fishermen and the Ocean

Location: India
Established: 2019
Duration: Temporary
Artist: Subodh Kerkar

Subodh Kerkar’s images of Indian fishermen celebrate the long- term role the ocean plays in shaping civilizations.

“I have had the opportunity to know the life of fishermen at close quarters, since I used to practise medicine in a fishing village. The ocean is not just the provider of fish; their existence is marinated in the ocean. Through my works I have tried to present this idea of inseparability. The fishermen become the fish bone. The fishermen become the boat. The fishermen sit in a circle to perform some oceanic ritual. The fishermen sit in two rows touching the soles of their feet to mimic the keel of a boat. The fishermen line up to pay homage to the ocean. They walk along the waves.” – Subodh Kerkar

The sound of the Future: A 1,000-year musical composition

Longplayer Location: London, UK, public listening points, audio stream Established: 31 December 1999 Duration: 1,000 years Artist: Jem Finer Maintained by: [The Longplayer Trust Longplayer is a 1,000-year-long musical composition playing amid the hustle and bustle of London and beyond. Created from an algorithmic score and 234 singing bowls, and performed to date both by computer and by musicians in live concerts, the project encourages visitors and listeners to take a long-term perspective.

As trustee Gavin Starks writes: “Longplayer helps us ask many questions about our world and our role in its future... what might be happening in the future? What might our role be? What might our impact be? How might we communicate across 40 generations?”

Longplayer website