On February 27, the FIS Design Exploratory went into Erlangen and placed our time travelers from Mars into spots near Hugenottenplatz and the Arcaden. We used the figures and the QR codes to show how we as a community are destroying our planet. Our intentions are for people walking around town to notice the painted figures and scan the codes to bring them onto our project website which is written as figures from the future returning to Earth after a forced evacuation to Mars. On the different pages we ask them questions about the problems in our world and share research and possible solutions. We fought the elements and freezing temperatures placing about 40 figures with intentions of eventually having over 100 in total around Erlangen and its neighbouring cities. Keep an eye out for these figures. If you don’t manage to find one, you can always visit our website directly.
What we hope is that the community of Erlangen and the Franconian International School will benefit and be more educated about our world’s problems and will be more willing to make a change in their daily habits. The Design Exploratory has learned a lot in this process about designing art that can help solve problems. We as a class will work hard so everyone in the community thinks about the effects of their actions, like driving cars everywhere or leaving lights on in their house.
Figures from the Future is a Kunst im öffentlichen Raum project made by our students in partnership with Bridging Arts Nürnberg. Andreas Mayer-Brennenstuhl is the supporting artist working with us to prepare this and other pieces for an art exhibition titled Radically Minimal which is set to start in June.
Allen Lindblad
Director of Educational Technology
Christina King
Art and Design Teacher
