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Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the most ‘disgusted’ of them all? According to an emotion-reading mirror in the V&A’s ‘The Future Starts Here’ exhibition: this reviewer. There must be a bug in the system, because ‘disgust’ would be a harsh response to this new show. The worst you could say is it’s a bit of a muddle, but it’s also largely good fun.
With phone-checking kidults in mind, the Sainsbury Gallery has been turned into an interactive playground of techy gadgets, detailed dioramas and video installations – there’s even a sandpit to run your RSI-riddled fingers through.
The displays are a mash-up of the type of technology that inspires hand-wringing (a self-rocking crib or a robotic cuddly seal designed to keep dementia-sufferers company) and new-era inventions that are unquestionably beneficial – in particular those helping people with disabilities.
Between creepy glass cases of equipment for cryogenically freezing humans and various plans for cities of the future, it’s basically the V&A does the Science Museum. Instead of being full of old things (as the V&A often is), everything here is either new or newer than new.
But it doesn’t entirely avoid the inevitable paradox that means everything intended to look ‘futuristic’ actually looks a bit dated, like it’s still the Cold War and the future’s full of flying cars and spacesuited dogs. There’s also a slightly cringe-inducing edge to the stoner philosophy questions that adorn the four sections of the room: ‘If Mars is the answer, then what is the question?’ and ‘Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor?’
Many of the exhibits are befuddling enough on their own, like the ‘Library to Rebuild Civilisation’, an ongoing project collecting writing deemed vital to humanity’s rebirth in the event of an emergency. Books on the post-apocalyptic reading list so far include ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich’.
If the future really does start here, we might be in for some trouble.