Initial ideas for project #1

 One of the ideas that struck me as a particularly interesting topic when addressing the future is how the environment, and society by extension, will change. While the topic often conjures up ideas of a future where the earth is a barren dessert, this is not the only symptom of a changing climate. Heat induced desolation scenarios such as drought in the American West, continualy poor yields of rain in the Horn of Africa, and soaring temperatures in the Persian Gulf. For the purpose of a 3 frame progression they might appear like this:

    Another possible future may involve increased flooding due to melting ice. This is a looming reality in some parts of the world (like the Maldives which is attempting to buy land in other countries to house its citizens, Venice whose old wooden frames are rotting giving way to increased flooding, and the small nation of Kiribati which is sinking so quickly it is pleading with Australia and New Zealand to accept its citizens as refugees. A progressivley flooding future may look like this:

Despite this dim future, there is the possiblity that society may adapt to climate change positively. This is the case in Tokyo where a tunnel system has been built under the city to counter floods and generate electricty while in post-Hurricane Sandy New York officials have officials are instating new policies and building up flood preventions to keep the United States cultural heart afloat. For the purpose of this project it may be interesting to create all 3 panels split in half to show the development of society either heeding climate change's problems or not side by side. 

Another interesting topic for the future is Balance of Power. As a topic it is as old as society and the rule of law itself. In this way the future seems somewhat foreseeable. This process is as old as it is because it goes on ad infinitum. This can be seen in many places in history but two particular instances stand out. The first is soon after European countries were liberated during WWII they released their own colonial territories. These former colonies then had many more shifts of power resulting in conflicts between India and Pakistan, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Congo War, the 6 Day war and many others. The second instance would be the Soviet revolution which replaced the Tzarist government of Russia in the early 1900s only to fall 100 years later to inner revolutions that would create power conflicts like the Yugoslavian wars, Chechen Wars, the Georgia incursion and the current conflict in Ukraine. To illistrate this cyclical revolution I would imagine showing a group with a flag liberating the people only to become a dictatorship that is overthrown by another group with a flag. The concept looks something like this: 

I would title this "Via La Revolution", a play on words of the catch phrase Viva La Revolution used in the French Revolution. Instead of Viva, meaning to long live, Via, meaning road or way, is substituted.  A little further research into this yielded a good source of inspiration for art in both Goya and Diego Rivera. Also Inspirational would be depictions of the French Revolution and early Soviet propaganda. Thankfully all countries do not follow this cycle since after further thought the US had a successful revolution and after the Spanish Civil War as well as the death of Franco Spain was able to somewhat peacefully become a modern nation, even going so far as to join the European Union.

Another interesting topic not listed would be Space Exploration as the development of a shared terrain over three blocks with varying levels of settlement may make for an interesting subject matter.

I hope you all find these interesting. I am somewhat torn between the three so please feel free to comment as to which you prefer.