Within the context of producing a set design for a sequel to Children of Men, by Alfonso Cuaron, we created a series of journeys descending through the formal and compositional logics of the future as image. The experiment here is to make no distinction between the found versus the designed. We designed sets out of found objects by giving them new readings yet also attempted to distance ourselves from relying on authorial intention. To some degree, we wanted to be surprised by the sets ourselves—as though we found them. Similar to the sets of Cuaron’s original, the inspiration for the sequel is not from a single style, location or architect but from the lineage of architectural history. The basic premise is that the image of the future (or the new) is nothing more than an estranged, re-contextualized past.

Created by Kellan Cartledge & Nastaran Karen Ghaidar