ABOUT THE WORK

Please click this link to view the work.

A set of 100 rules for surviving the end of the world, inspired by the apocalypse ‘prepper’ movement. Exhaustive Rules for the End Times combines real survivalist tips with a fictional narrative that emerges through what is not said, examining future fear, moral relativism and the impossibility of being totally prepared for disaster. Using black humour and speculative fiction, Exhaustive Rules is activated by the viewer, immersing them in an unsettling storyline delivered through direct address.

Reflection

Since I wrote this, the world has changed a lot. But one of the nice outcomes of 2020 has been the realisation that crisis and catastrophe don’t just lead to the highly individual, every-man-for-himself cowboy narrative that preppers hold dear. Real disaster is less linear, more complex, and surprisingly, kinder. It’s easy to lose faith in people, to imagine a future populated by shotgun-toting loners. To overlook the communities, the people helping, the common striving for good. Rosi Braidotti talks about how future thinking requires us to prioritise action, hope and care. Those are qualities I’m trying to bring to my own imaginings of the decades to come.