INSIDES: THE FUTURE

THE FUTURE is:
Melissa Antunes de Menezes
Tony Renaissance
Ana Paula Franco

Hello, how are you?

We are all doing okay, despite everything that’s going on outside.
We talk to each other very often. Mel wakes us up in the morning with her “Diaries of the Apocalypse”, a Whatsapp audio series that consists of random facts, lunatic comments and nightmarish puzzles of reality.

Which sounds surround you?

Video conference echoes of our own voices.
We’re working on a compilation coming out on Tony’s label Tender Matter featuring artists from The Future, so that’s what we’re listening to right now.

Have you been productive so far? What are you working on?

We all felt the pressure to be productive during the last weeks, but we also felt compelled to stop, to literally do nothing, sit still and go inward.

At the moment we’re trying to figure out a way to expand The Future to an online format. The idea of expanding The Future was already there 2 years ago when the project started, but now we have found more time to reflect on it and try out some new things.

Also we’re working on the release of Tony’s debut EP ‘Dreamreality’ coming out 5th of June. We had planned to do the release show in the frame of The Future but had to postpone.

What inspires you right now?

To think about ways to keep our project running and continue to support our local communities and other projects.
To see how others, locally and abroad, deal with the situation and how they are finding solutions.
We find it important to keep in contact. Everyone has been hit differently by this isolating situation but it’s important to notice that individuals from communities that already feel isolated in our society: minorities, queer people, the LGBTQI+ are especially affected by this.

Listening material?

https://dubais.bandcamp.com
https://hex-tape.bandcamp.com/
https://malaherba.bandcamp.com/album/ep
https://soundcloud.com/clgolem
https://soundcloud.com/joie-de-fille
https://lilatirandoavioleta.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/zionflex
https://soundcloud.com/dvrst-official
http://wiendiesel.cool/
https://cutsurface.bandcamp.com/album/body-death
https://epilepticmedia.bandcamp.com/album/hunger
https://soundcloud.com/djhauswein
https://soundcloud.com/restandrelaxation911
https://soundcloud.com/lamb-kebab-blt
https://fettkakao.bandcamp.com/track/masquerade-infinite-palace-remix
https://matayawaldenberg.bandcamp.com/
http://www.karolinapreuschl.com/music.html
https://soundcloud.com/thereseterror
https://tonyrenaissance.bandcamp.com/

What’s your opinion on live-streams? You see any alternative ways to support the music community?

The conversation keeps revolving around replacing real life experiences. I don’t think anyone who is live streaming music around the world is trying to replace these experiences. The internet can’t substitute getting together, listening to music, going to live shows or drinking a beer with friends. But we are trying to adapt to a change that is occurring whether we like it or not. Nobody knows how long this situation is gonna last or what will be the consequences. Despite the difficulties of the current situation, people are trying to see it as an opportunity to create and to open up to change.

Access to culture is a fundamental need, it’s not a surprise but it’s still very frustrating that we don’t have enough support from our governments. So we need to defend for ourselves and rely on mutual support from our communities in the art/culture scene. Unfortunately the capitalist mentality of competing against each other, of focusing only on your own individual problems instead of supporting each other is still very strong.

What are you missing most? What are you afraid of?

There are so many things to be afraid of right now, the virus itself seems small in comparison. States cutting off people’s rights, freedom and privacy, the upcoming financial crisis, the increasing dominance of tech companies that are accumulating even more power… It’s clearly a transitional historical period, and nobody knows what’s coming. But it’s also a chance for people to get politicized, get aware of the power structures and form alliances to support each other and the less privileged.

Are you still able to pay your rent?

For now yes.