A forest of unread books growing for a century

KATIE PATERSON
Future Library (certificate), 2014-2114
Two-sided foil block print on paper
16 1/2 x 11 11/16 in.
Edition of 1000
JCG7213

The Future Library Project is a 100 year long project, which commenced in 2014 and will continue through the year 2114. Each year, one author from across the globe is invited to write a piece of writing (anything from a poem, short story, to a full length book) which will be held in trust, unread and unpublished until the year 2114. In 2114, one full anthology of all 100 texts by 100 authors will be published. A project that will outlive its founder, and most of the authors and participants, The Future Library project serves somewhat as a time capsule and an optimistic view for the future, where literature and printed books are still printed, read and cherished.

To date, these authors have been invited to take part in the Future Library.

2014: Margaret Atwood
2015: David Mitchell
2016: Sjón
2017: Elif Shafak
2018: Han Kang
2019: Karl Ove Knausgaard
2020: Ocean Vuong
2021: Tsitsi Dangarembga
2022: Judith Schalansky
2023: Valeria Luiselli

Katie Paterson was commissioned by the city of Oslo and the National Library of Oslo.  In conjunction with the authors who are writing the stories year after year, the project has a physical counterpoint through the growth of 1000 trees in protected lands in forest outside of Oslo.  In 100 years, these trees will be fully grown and felled to be turned into the paper for the pages of the books. A dedicated room for the project is housed within the National Library of Oslo, which opened in the fall of 2019. A trust has been set up to secure the longevity of this project, long after the artist has passed.  The Future Library Trust will oversee the forest, the selection of authors, and the process of printing the anthology at the completion of this project in 2114.

In order to support this project through the years, and secure your ownership of the Future Library anthology, a print edition of 1000 is being sold.  Each future owner of this print (to be passed down from generation to generation), which is a certificate of authenticity, is offered one copy of the published anthology in 2114.  Only 1000 anthologies will be printed. 

To date, museum and university collections like Princeton, Stanford, Smith College, the Berkeley Museum of Art, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Walker Art Center, etc and many others have acquired this work for either their library collections or their art collections.  

More details on this project and extensive press coverage can be found on
the Future Library official website: www.futurelibrary.no.

You can also view the film about Future Library here: https://vimeo.com/372083403