2050. A Brief History of the Future

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium organizes in Taiwan, in collaboration with the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung a large exhibition entitled '2050. A Brief History of the Future.'
This is the third stage of an exhibition that was first set up in Brussels and Paris (Louvre Museum, in collaboration with Palais de Tokyo) in 2015 (September 11, 2015 – January 24, 2016), then in Milano (Palazzo Grassi, March 23 – May 29, 2016). In each venue, it met with great success, and encountered a very positive press coverage. A multilingual catalogue was edited, an app was created as a visitor’s guide, and several media documents were produced.
Based on the successful essay by famous French economist and thinker Jacques Attali 'A Brief History of the Future' (translated in 18 languages), it gathered works by, Edward Burtinsky, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Alighiero Boetti, Mona Hatoum, Andy Warhol, Hans Op de Beeck, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Yang Yongliang, Gavin Turk, Gonçalo Mabunda, Mark Titchner, Andres Serrano, Stelarc, and many others. The aim of the exhibition was to demonstrate how contemporary art deals with critical issues such as economics, ecology, social inequalities, …Can art help us understand today’s world challenges? What will the world look like in 2050 if nothing changes?
The new stage of '2050. A Brief History of the Future' will broaden the scope of the first exhibition, by including Mr. Attali’s theory of the heart cities, that demonstrates how several economical centers (Genova, London, New York, …) shaped the world as we know it, from the middle ages until the 20th century. As the show will take place in Taiwan, it will focus on the exchanges between the East and the West, including artists coming from all over the world.
The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung is one of the leading cultural institutions in Taiwan, while the Royal Museums of Fine Arts is the largest art museum in Belgium. This collaboration aims at creating strong links and cultural exchanges between both countries.