The Archive, the Future, the Common

These five accordion-booklets made by five young people send messages to future people about our present moment. The Archive, the Future, the Commons is a Big Pond Small Fish publishing project realized in collaboration with the teens and Mammalian Diving Reflex. Norbu Dawa, Rinchen Tso, Tara Luding, Tenzin Tsephel, and Tenzin Tsering participated in a one-year experiment of falling apart and coming together over the fall and winter of 2024 to 2025.

The outcome is a collection of photo-records prompted by the question: “What do you want to show your grandchildren, fifty years from now, about your life today?”.

Each one offers a story for an imagined future generation of drifting, of flickering, of light and joy.

We are grateful to Art Metropole, MKG127, Open Studio, Jack Bride and Zoe LePiano for their thoughtful contributions. Concept and editing by Krys Verrall and Bill Burns. Design by Shannon Griffith.