Another Future Five
We're swimming in a world of infinite illusion. Endless spectacle, simulacra and simulationships. Why lose ourselves within imposed realities, especially when we have the power to create our own?
Here we go again…
If 2026 were a movie, who’s doing what - and for which plot?
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about two giant celestial spectacles, each existing on either side of now.
There’s the recent trip to the moon; met with a universal mix of disinterest, disbelief, or outright dismissal.
Then there’s Spain’s upcoming total solar eclipse, mooted as an electrifying addition to the peak pandemonium of Ibiza’s summer season on the 12th of August.
But what becomes of wonder, magic, and star-gazing when no-one seems to believe anything they see anymore? Is our capacity to dream big being drowned out by the cacophony of non-stop noise down here on Earth?
Another Future always begins with a statement of intent. A piecemeal portrait of our urgent reality. Let me preface this one with a stock-standard spoiler alert: after wading through the requisite carnage, this opening episode will end on a lighter, more inspiring, instructive note. I promise.
First: the reality check.
We’re five months into this new year and the unfolding shitshow is cinematic.
Ripple effects from a stupid, greedy, intractable war continue to wipe out the old world.
Warmongers and genocidaires lead us towards an economic, environmental, existential horror film.
Meteorologists flirt with familiar stories of the apocalypse, their warnings barely heard in the background.
Supply chains stretch thin, suspending the state of disbelief that sustained the globe’s energy intense economies, which never really made much sense anyway.
AI’s mass-marketing campaign is stuck in overdrive; its cadre of tech-oligarchs all competing to be the chief architects of our coming cage.
And everywhere I look, people are zapping their brains with short-form slop videos, zonked into a state of waking-sleep-stupor.
I used to believe the world was lost, locked into a collective state of denial. Not long ago, I would have been angered by all the apathy, the ignorance, the cognitive dissonance.
Today, I take a more compassionate view.
People are tired. The collective, hyper-fatigued.
We’re all looking up at the main stage of the world and recoil at its shitty showcase of mad men. We’ve numbed to their talking-points feeding a fear-economy that paints endless scenarios of a world that will imminently suck.
No wonder so many of us choose to check out.
First, as a matter of nervous system survival.
Second, so we don’t have to assume responsibility and actually do something about it.
A sea of escapism floods this void; arresting and distracting us from any chance of emancipation. Mass-hypnosis from an entertainment industry churning out factory-grade fictions, infinite illusions, and manufactured realities.
Who’s writing the scripts though? What’s the endgame for flooding our frontal-cortex-zone with so many storylines?
If there’s a mass programming of perception at work, it isn’t being forced onto us like the eye-clamping re-education chairs in ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Most of us opt-into these streams of multidimensional optical illusions.
Tuning in to tune out, there’s a never-ending supply of slop stacked with synthetic characters, fairytales and fantasies all neatly calibrated to take the edge off.
On we scroll, sifting through an endless carousel of doom, delight and dopamine hits, searching for that elusive something.
Spectacle, simulacra, and simulation, forever and ever, etcetera, eternal.
But the bread is getting stale and the circus is becoming boring.
Familiar plot-lines rehashed, re-packaged, re-sold.
Nostalgia has become a cosy and convenient spiritual safe space. Hyper-sexualised content and its click-hungry creators seem thirstier than ever. The cadence of ChatGPT-automated slop hollows out the discourse, saying everything but nothing: “this wasn’t a caption, it was a declaration of intent...”
Apocalyptic war rhetoric is timed to game financial markets. Every major event spirals into virtual fodder about false-flag operations. Again: no-one seems to believe the latest trip to the moon.
In our new age of orality, of endless podcast chatter, of newsfluencers and noise, we overhear, but rarely read. From politics to performative social media, it’s all theatre depicting a world to be over-experienced, but only virtually, vicariously, through a screen.
We see but don’t believe. “Is that AI?” is now both a query and a quick way to invalidate anything, anyone, and everything - all the time.
If the purpose of a system is what it does, entertainment - which literally means “to be held in-between” - is the intentional clouding of our consciousness; freezing our full potential by limiting perceived parameters of what’s possible.
Magicians are masters at misdirection, drawing audience attention towards one thing as a way to distract from another.
That’s the world right now. A giant game of “look over here, not there”. Enjoy this, ignore that. A multiverse of make-believe populated and sustained by para-social relationships with people we’ll probably never meet, but somehow love.
Our connection to this fake world goes deep. Our connection to this extra-dimensional dopamine-rich destination is a new form of simulationship. We’re all guilty of this flirtation with fiction. We’re all wedding ourselves to our own reality of choice.
And even though the simulation’s bread may be glitching, our simulationships feed us with just enough crumbs to keep going.
Another Future was born from the universal idea that we deserve better than all this.
The realisation that we weren’t giving enough time to clarify what we actually want, to be able to see where we want to actually go.
To imagine the future on our own terms.
This year it’s our fifth edition and we’re switching things up a little.
Rather than concentrate our story into a short 3-day mini-series, Another Future will unfold over a longer season. We’re putting together an episodic programme of singular events that will be more accessible and affordable, and still interconnected as a whole.
We’re keeping things cerebral, celebratory, and a little bit spiritual. Despite the condensed sample of doomscrolling above, we’re determined to have fun. And we will. Not in a cognitively dissonant way. Just because we still believe in the urgency - and necessity - of keeping spirits high.
Season Five of Another Future comes with a simple premise:
If we’re going to willingly dive into so much spectacle, simulacra, and simulationships, why not choose something better?
If everything is fiction now, why don’t we just write our own script? Let’s put a pen to our own plot-twist. Fanfic the fuck out of the future.
Most importantly, what clouds do we need to clear from our consciousness to make space for what we’re all actually here to do?
These core questions will be everpresent as we journey towards the ultimate celestial spectacle: a total solar eclipse.
We want to cast a spotlight on our creaky culture of mass-entertainment, then show people how to swim more clearly through the ever-surging seas of distraction.
We don’t have a magic pill. No-one does. The answer isn’t out there, but inside all of us. Which is why our programme is all about helping people to drop people back into their bodies, listen to their inner intelligence, and appreciate the tactility of the here and now.
Another Future is here to create some dedicated space for people to reconnect with their own creative calling.
Why are we back in Ibiza again?
We’re not just green-lighting an easy-win sequel to last year’s blockbuster production. Ibiza makes sense again because, in a way Ibiza is the ultimate movie set. At times the island feels like an international reality show. It remains a playground of dreams and dramas where decades of entertainment culture has industrialised and made the White Isle a blockbuster beacon of projected fantasies.
Ibiza is somewhere people come to play dress-up, harness their inner alter-ego, then search for something transcendental. It’s also a place where celebrity, social media personalities, and elusive musicians jump out of screens to populate the panorama IRL.
Talk to the island’s veteran characters and many will tell you they were drawn here after watching Barbet Schroeder’s 1969 film ‘MORE’. The plot follows a couple of existentially-adrift youngsters as they fall deeper into Ibiza’s mordant geography of desire. Full of libertine love, hallucinogenic drugs, and flirtations with the void, the movie’s depiction of Ibiza’s duality of light and darkness echoed acroos the world, attracting legions of lost wanderers in the years after its release.
That was almost half a century ago, but this singular film managed to enshrine much of the island lore that people cling onto even today.
It’s just one example, but this goes to the essence of what we’re exploring this year. The way the stories we tell ourselves programme our perception, the way irreverent ideas furnish realities all around us.
I hope to see you at one of our multidisciplinary talks, performances, or curated dinners. Stay tuned for bursts of content that will expand the imagination and question the fabric of reality itself.
In our fragmented cultural media landscape, the possibilities are endless.
The illusions infinite.
And the world is ripe for a re-write.
Just remember to look over here, not there.
We’ll be rolling out specific updates related to our summer seasonal programme in the coming days and weeks, but here’s a teaser of what’s in store:
Another Future IIIII - The Programme
Thursday, 28 May
Episode 01
Multidisciplinary Talk & Moonlight Movie Night
‘Expectations vs. Reality: How film manufactures dreams, dramas, and fantasies pushing us all into a world of make-believe.’
A compelling conversation with a multidisciplinary panel, followed by a special under-the-stars screening of David Lynch’s surrealist masterpiece ‘Mulholland Drive’.
LOCATION: SOHO FARMHOUSE, IBIZA
«TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE»
Late June
Episode 02
Secret Experience
« FULL SYNOPSIS ANNOUNCED SOON »
LOCATION: MADRID
Early July
Episode 03
Secret Experience
« FULL SYNOPSIS ANNOUNCED SOON »
LOCATION: IBIZA
Thursday, 23 July
Episode 04
‘Another Party’
« LINE-UP ANNOUNCED SOON »
LOCATION: NOCTURNA, IBIZA
Monday, 10 August
Episode 05
Performative Dinner Experience
« FULL SYNOPSIS ANNOUNCED SOON »
LOCATION: SECRET
EXCLUSIVE EARLYBIRD PASS AVAILABLE HERE
Tuesday, 11 August
Episode 06
Sunset Art Performance
« FULL SYNOPSIS ANNOUNCED SOON »
LOCATION: SECRET
EXCLUSIVE EARLYBIRD PASS AVAILABLE HERE
Wednesday, 12 August
Episode 07
Total Solar Eclipse Experience
« FULL SYNOPSIS ANNOUNCED SOON »
LOCATION: SECRET
EXCLUSIVE EARLYBIRD PASS AVAILABLE HERE
What are you going to do with all this future?
Just follow this Another Future checklist:
1.
Mark, block, or just bring yourself to any (or all) of these dates. We can’t wait to host you again.
2.
If you’re not living in Ibiza, start scoping accommodation options. The prediction markets say it’s going to be a busy summer. From a beautiful hotel room, friend’s villa or even your cousin’s couch - we encourage creativity in the quest for a good bed in Ibiza (and can kindly offer tips if needed).
3.
Be the first to grab an Another Future Earlybird Pass. There’s only 10 of these 250-euro passes available. Having one will guarantee you unfettered access to our entire season of events.
4.
Join The Simulationship Hotline on Telegram to receive all of our timely updates. This channel will also double as a sporadic stream of mind-bending media from the world of make-believe.
5.
Tell your friends, family, and anyone else in need of another future. Then let’s join forces as we stroll confidently together towards a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of the moon and sun - and figure out the future we all actually want along the way.
See you in the (near) future.
For more updates, follow Another Future Festival on Instagram or check our official website to purchase your pass.
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