In Future Hands

A growing number of people around the world are having fewer children or none at all. Falling birth rates challenge systems built on endless growth and long-held gender norms, and policymakers look ahead with growing concern. Will current economic and political structures survive an ageing population and shrinking workforce?

The new project from artist duo and couple Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere starts from a personal question: Do we want to have children? Drawing on their documentary theatre practice, they weave their intimate reality into a global discussion, embarking on an intergenerational journey in conversation with parents, non-parents, elders, caretakers, politicians, and children. Meanwhile, the public debate polarises as governments introduce incentives to have more babies, politicians and tech leaders call non-parents selfish, and alt-right influencers promote having large families as a “duty to their own kind”.

Together with their conversation partners, Huysmans and Dereere reflect on our uncertain future, together with the hope of new life, the desire to pass on knowledge, create broader kinship, and imagine new futures. In Future Hands asks what kind of world we want to place in the hands of those who come after us.