The Future Should Always Be Better

With her neon installation The Future Should Always Be Better explores Sharon Lockhart the idea of our future and its ability to hold and reshape hope. By executing a statement in neon, Lockhart recalls past utopian visions of a future full of technological, social and structural progress.

Amid the increasing impact of a struggling environment or a global pandemic, the installation's statement is an invitation to consider the future of humanity — not only with melancholy, but also with hope. The work was installed on the Y-ramp, where ships built on NDSM were launched. It's a place where memories, reality, and dreams come together. Lockhart's statement is gaining strength because of the different interpretations that the text evokes. What does “should” mean here? How are our conditions “getting better” and how can that term be defined? The presentation of the neon-lit sentence at NDSM refers to NDSM itself and its circumstances. In addition, the message also extends further into Amsterdam, by touching on the stories of the city's residents and collective social and political stories.