The Future Should Always Be Better
Artist: Sharon Lockhart
30.06.–31.08.2022
Façade of the Palace of Culture
Plac Defilad 1
Warsaw
Photo: Sisi Kreft
„The Future Should Always Be Better” (2021) is a work by American artist Sharon Lockhart (b. 1964). Created during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic, it was a response to a situation of isolation and confinement and the inability to participate in social and cultural life.
The neon was hung on the facade of the Kestner Gesellschaft, art institution in Hanover. In this way, residents strolling through the city centre were able to perceive art while staying in an accessible space.
After the lockdown was lifted and the cultural institution reopened, the idea arose to present the neon sign in other relevant cities around the world. After Hanover, the neon hung at the Middelheim Museum in Antwerp. In the summer, it will visit Warsaw.
In Sharon Lockhart’s work, Poland and its capital city are important points of reference. In 2017, the artist represented Poland at the Venice Biennale with her project ‚Small Review’. The project referred to the pedagogical thought of Janusz Korczak and was the result of Lockhart’s long-term collaboration with the charges of the Youth Sociotherapy Centre in Rudzienko. In 2013, the artist held a solo exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle. Her work is also in the collection of the Museum of Art in Łódź.
When the work was realised at the beginning of the pandemic the neon slogan: „The Future Should Always Be Better” could be read as words of encouragement and support at a difficult time.
On further reflection, however, the maxim takes on a not so optimistic tone. Is our future definitely going to be better? Can we be sure of that? Especially as we face a climate crisis that is drastically changing the image of our planet.
Two years after the first presentation, Sharon Lockhart’s slogan takes on another meaning, added by history itself. Looking at current political events and the war in Ukraine, what will our future hold? Do better times await us? Or has the best already happened?
Spreading into the city space, Lockhart’s slogan will provoke reflection, both in the context of individual stories as well as collective social and political narratives.
The presentation on the façade of the Palace of Culture, on the side of the Studio Theatre, is conceived as a temporary artistic intervention, constituting the keynote of the summer programme of the ‚Plac Defilad’ project.