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Objects of the Misanthropocene: Unearthing futures
Free. Closed Christmas – New Year.
Octagon Gallery, Wilkins Building. © UCL/Kirsten Holst.
Hoard of canned human meat, c. 0002210s - 0002729 CE. various locations. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Fungiprocene, Kibwezi Forest, Kenya, 5602000 CE. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Ticket for the Survival Lottery, c. 0002420 CE, Rendlesham, Suffolk. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
3D printed specimens including Thylacine skull, 21st century. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Dr Roach’s Golden Spike Tool Kit, End of Polypropylene Layer, excavated by Dr.Roach, 00034500 CE, Molesey Heath. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Nematode worms, 19th century. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Archaeological Remains of an iPad, Year of Our Risen Lord 1468 (0003493 CE), Addicott St. George, Wessex. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Ghost Strata from a Sunken Future, c. mid-21st century Norfolk coast, England. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Sent back in time from distant futures, the objects in this Octagon Gallery exhibition were unearthed from a remarkable crash site discovered during the construction of the UCL Student Centre in 2012. What they reveal is set to revolutionise our understanding of the past, future and time itself.
Through painstaking forensic investigation, a team from the UCL Institute of Archaeology has identified that the crash site contained the remains of a time-travelling vehicle carrying objects from a future museum. Was the museum attempting to send the objects back to us as a warning?
Curators from this future museum present us with nematode worms put to work by humans, a pocket-sized T-rex worshipped by an extinction cult, and a gilded horn controversially removed from the last unicorn. Other objects reveal the harsh realities of the Survival Lottery, in which only the winners receive sufficient resources to survive, a planning application by a family of potato migrants, human-fungi hybrids, representing a new and resilient stage in human evolution, and edible human meat.
These discoveries come at a time in which the world is grappling with the implications of entering the Anthropocene, the geological epoch in which humans have irreversibly altered Earth’s climate and caused the depletion of resources on a planetary scale.
The unearthed objects reveal what lies in store for us. They announce what the excavation team now term the ‘Misanthropocene’, our future world ravaged by apocalyptic damage, unable to sustain human futures.
This exhibition presents these extraordinary finds to the public for the first time, as a provocative message sent back from the edge of the Anthropocene.
Read about the origins of this extraordinary project
Find out more about the Illegal Museum of Beyond
2023 free events programme
Artist Talk with Xiao Yuhan
Wednesday 18 January 2023, 13:30
Exhibition Mis-tour with Deep Love
Wednesday 1 February 14:15 and Thursday 2 February 18:00
Fossils from Another World
Thursday 16 February 2023, 10:00 and 14:00
Octagon Gallery, Wilkins Building. © UCL/Kirsten Holst.
Hoard of canned human meat, c. 0002210s - 0002729 CE. various locations. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Fungiprocene, Kibwezi Forest, Kenya, 5602000 CE. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Ticket for the Survival Lottery, c. 0002420 CE, Rendlesham, Suffolk. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
3D printed specimens including Thylacine skull, 21st century. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Dr Roach’s Golden Spike Tool Kit, End of Polypropylene Layer, excavated by Dr.Roach, 00034500 CE, Molesey Heath. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Nematode worms, 19th century. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Archaeological Remains of an iPad, Year of Our Risen Lord 1468 (0003493 CE), Addicott St. George, Wessex. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Ghost Strata from a Sunken Future, c. mid-21st century Norfolk coast, England. Image © UCL/Kirsten Holst
Sent back in time from distant futures, the objects in this Octagon Gallery exhibition were unearthed from a remarkable crash site discovered during the construction of the UCL Student Centre in 2012. What they reveal is set to revolutionise our understanding of the past, future and time itself.
Through painstaking forensic investigation, a team from the UCL Institute of Archaeology has identified that the crash site contained the remains of a time-travelling vehicle carrying objects from a future museum. Was the museum attempting to send the objects back to us as a warning?
Curators from this future museum present us with nematode worms put to work by humans, a pocket-sized T-rex worshipped by an extinction cult, and a gilded horn controversially removed from the last unicorn. Other objects reveal the harsh realities of the Survival Lottery, in which only the winners receive sufficient resources to survive, a planning application by a family of potato migrants, human-fungi hybrids, representing a new and resilient stage in human evolution, and edible human meat.
These discoveries come at a time in which the world is grappling with the implications of entering the Anthropocene, the geological epoch in which humans have irreversibly altered Earth’s climate and caused the depletion of resources on a planetary scale.
The unearthed objects reveal what lies in store for us. They announce what the excavation team now term the ‘Misanthropocene’, our future world ravaged by apocalyptic damage, unable to sustain human futures.
This exhibition presents these extraordinary finds to the public for the first time, as a provocative message sent back from the edge of the Anthropocene.
Read about the origins of this extraordinary project
Find out more about the Illegal Museum of Beyond
2023 free events programme
Artist Talk with Xiao Yuhan
Wednesday 18 January 2023, 13:30
Exhibition Mis-tour with Deep Love
Wednesday 1 February 14:15 and Thursday 2 February 18:00
Fossils from Another World
Thursday 16 February 2023, 10:00 and 14:00
Event Octagon Gallery