History repeats itself, but how much and at what frequencies? How far must we live our existence to run out of new flavors? It is almost paralyzing how we can see ourselves making the same mistake over and over again, yet in the moment we don't notice it. It is only a matter of time before someone trips on an existence banana and sets in motion a series of events leading to our demise. One thing is for certain: when cloaked figures appear, it is probably best to listen and heed their advice. If something ever takes the time to travel from a different time or dimension to give us advice, we are on the verge of a monumental decision.

Four of Clubs symbolise the foundation of Knowledge - the knowledge to be shared to educate and grow. Fours must be in command of every situation that arises. They are dealing with practical applications of knowledge, and they the power to glorify it. What awaits us in the future? As this year’s pandemic teaches us, it’s impossible for humans to predict what is going to happen, and the effects of our actions. Between pandemic, environment and economical crisis, and the huge battles for race and gender equality, 2020 may be seen as a turning point for mankind. And what about the future? We imagined that mankind - finally aware of its past - will reach a superior level of universal knowledge, and with that will be finally able to master the universe, and through a total understanding of life, love, nature and equality, bring balance to the world.

Inspired by what we are living now, the idea is that perhaps in the future, masks will not only be used as an instrument to keep us safe, to protect ourselves and the others, but it will evolve into an high-tech fashion accessory. Like are smartphones, or smartwatches today. Especially those last ones, that proved already in many occasions how a beautiful iconic piece of tech it's not only that, but it's also something that can prevent, detect and saves many lives. We took inspiration from futuristic fashion and thought that masks will become socially accepted in the future. An instrument that doesn't just scream 'I'm contagious', but that will be seen as 'fun', and 'social'. We imagined that it could work by tracking the movement of our mouth, to replicate that on the screen of the mask, which if swiped, shows different type of lips or filters. This way a futuristic mask will not just work to keep us safe, which will always be its primary function, but while doing that it will work also to make us smile. Litterally.

The future will still be beating to the same rhythm.

In the distant future, sea level may have risen so high that even New York’s famous Statue of Liberty’s head is barely above water.

Natural mental humanity — the name of my art work, which reveals a code of the idea. I hope that the world 100 years from now will be more natural and humanity will become wiser. Although many of us can not imagine the future without modern technologies and robotics, the situation nowadays makes me feel that the way of survival is humaneness and close connection with our environment. My work is a symbol of this idea: human's communication with human, keeping our surroundings green, clean and safe, finding more time for ourselves and living in harmony with nature.

In 2120 the face of humanity has changed. The overgrowing human population with an overconsumption based mindset has been the main catalyst for speeding up the sixth mass extinction, therefore darker consequences started to picture a grim future for the entire human species. The massive loss of wildlife and the high volume of deforestation of the Earth’s rainforests has brought unimaginable destruction transforming almost 40% of Earth's surface into a completely uninhabitable environment. A series of deadly viruses and epidemics, chained earthquakes and heavy tectonic plate movements followed by the great Krakatoa volcanic eruption in 2062, decimated the Earth’s population, putting the entire human civilization on the brink of extinction. The United Earth Consortium’s contingency plan to revitalize and maintain the life on Earth is deemed as a complete failure, being unable to provide sustainable and practical application of Lem’s theorem. At the same time, relocating on Mars was no longer a viable option due to the negative effects on the human body brought by prolonged exposure to solar radiation traveling through the Enselm Corridor, as it seems there is literally no escape. The entire fate of humanity lies now in the hands of a small group of rebel scientists that have managed to alter the genetic information of a carefully selected group of subjects, only four in the entire world. Rising from all the bad humanity has caused thus far, these individuals will be genetically modified in order to be able to access a higher level of intelligence, unimaginable by any standards up to this point. Each of the four individuals (Clubs, Spades, Heart, and Diamonds) has unique and specific abilities that allow them to find viable solutions to restore nature and wildlife and to elevate the entire civilization to new unimaginable heights in technology. The tradeoff for this superpower is that their lifespan was dramatically reduced by 12 years, making them known as the group of Sacrificial Twelve. With these abilities, the plans, the ideas, and the pure knowledge that resulted were astonishing, elevating the entire civilization to new unimaginable heights in technology. As a result, all efforts were redirected into the conservation and preservation of the little that was still left. With the help of super-evolved science and technology, robotic insects, and lab-made miniature creatures, the year 2120 became a solid target of reversing the negative effects. Meat consumption has been legally banned throughout the entire remaining population and conserving Earth’s resources became the new paradigm of human civilization. Planet Earth is reborn, humanity has a permanent shift into mentality focusing on conservation and respecting Earth's resources and the sixth mass extinction is successfully reversed.

My queen of Diamonds illustration reflects the future hundred years from now as I imagine it would be. People will discover new technologies, develop new devices and interfaces. This will all ultimately lead to changes in our own physiology. I imagine we would achieve a sort of human and machine blending. And while it will give as more advanced capabilities, it surely will affect our perception of life. My main concern is if we will still possess our current level of humanity. Or if the ongoing race for physical improvement will take away a part of our inner world and everything that makes us human. I guess time will tell.