2126: What If?

2126: What If? unites artists María de la O Garrido, Alice Hume, and Matt Westbrook to envision alternative futures for the city in this centenary year. Their proposed visions are rooted in personal relationships with Portsmouth - as a constant presence, a city left and returned to, or a chosen home. For all, their lived experiences of the city become a launch point for exploring how communities make place and, in turn, can shape their future.

The future is often understood through prediction, uncertainty or crisis. In contrast, this exhibition reframes the future as an opportunity and a space of possibility. 2126: What If? asks what might happen if communities, creativity and sustainability were placed at the centre of Portsmouth's development over the next century. The artists invite us to consider how places are shaped not only by infrastructure and policy, but also by relationships, shared knowledge, and collective care. Acts of building, growth and reconfiguration emerge as recurring themes across the exhibition.

Hope runs as a connective thread throughout the exhibition. Not as a passive optimism, but as an active force rooted in cooperation, imagination and resilience. The works draw attention to the intangible knowledge held within communities, the value of local action, and the possibility of creating systems that prioritise care for both people and their environment.

2126: What If? does not attempt to predict what lies ahead. It creates space to reflect and imagine - and to ask what the future could become?