How can we challenge the Superposition of Christiantiy? Can the tools of ancestral mythologies and Radical Imagination bring about an emancipation of thought in the Digital Age?

If one were to believe the stories presented by the European mass media, it would seem as though we are living in apocalyptic times; climate crisis, global pandemics, political and cultural upheaval rage and swell around us. 

A sense of meaning has disintegrated as the gods of Media and Technology replace the Church. Our digital world is one of attention-grabbing, behaviour-modifying algorithms so exponentially effective we don’t even realise we’re being targeted.

Christianity is ubiquitous in collective thought, telling a tale of a broken world beyond redemption; our souls are immortal entities; salvation will arrive at some far-off time; the future will take care of itself.  

This narrative not only removes personal autonomy, but it also postpones The Now, thrusting the responsibility of Earth Caretaking on to our descendants, stealing from the worlds to come. 

We must regain control of the stories we are telling. They are casting the future we are creating. 

Our ancestral stories remind us to remember. To emotionally and spiritually connect with our environment. These stories were tools used to heal and ground intricate concepts in reality.

I chose to work with ‘Give Something Back to Berlin’. This charity works predominantly with immigrants. Being an immigrant in Germany myself, I intended to promote cathartic change on an individual level in a collaborative environment. The idea is to encourage the current generation to live their lives for the benefit of their ancestors seven generations in the future. 

I have been developing a multidisciplinary approach with my studio community to conceptualise – through meditation, costume design and storytelling – a seventh-generation future ancestor as a means to acknowledge the past and reimagine the future.  

Once the group has a set of visceral emissaries, we engage with the avatars through spoken word and theatre. The idea is to use Radical Imagination as a social movement, testing what emerges from and guides collective doing. 

I will take this method to my chosen institution to explore and expand the research with individuals from many backgrounds over one month to ascertain how emotionally engaging with different aspects of our heritage can provide healing stories. 

Can we harness humanity’s aspects at its best – inspiration, healing and connection – to resist its worst?