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The Seeds of Futures Engagement: Oslo’s Future Library and Mortality Awareness on TikTok.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Seeds of Futures Engagement: Oslo’s Future Library and Mortality Awareness on TikTok.
Authors: Cranmer, Rachel1 cranmerrachelj@gmail.com, Zhang, Jenny Liu2 jenny@jenny.world
Source: Journal of Futures Studies. Sep2025, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p63-77. 15p.
Subject Terms: *FUTURES studies, *COGNITIVE psychology, *EXISTENTIALISM, *YOUNG women, *SOCIAL practice (Art)
Geographic Terms: NORWAY, OSLO (Norway)
Reviews & Products: TIKTOK (Web resource)
Abstract: In 2014, artist Katie Paterson launched Future Library, a public art installation of 1,000 trees planted in Nordmarka forest in Oslo, Norway. Each year, a distinguished author submits a confidential manuscript to the library, kept under wraps until the project concludes in 2114, when all 100 works will be printed on the trees planted 100 years prior. A form of long-running artwork, Future Library acts as a time capsule that will exceed the lifetimes of most people alive at its founding. Through a thematic and causal layered analysis of 576 comments on a viral TikTok video about the project, we explore how Future Library incites reflections about mortality on social media, exemplified by complex emotions, existential reflection, and curiosity about the future. This preliminary study concludes that this video’s particular audience — young, city-dwelling American women — may begin to engage in futures thinking through cognitive and affective processing of mortality, and that long-running art may be a viable form through which artists and futurists can foster interest in futures stewardship and thinking in this audience and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Database: Academic Search Index
Description
Abstract:In 2014, artist Katie Paterson launched Future Library, a public art installation of 1,000 trees planted in Nordmarka forest in Oslo, Norway. Each year, a distinguished author submits a confidential manuscript to the library, kept under wraps until the project concludes in 2114, when all 100 works will be printed on the trees planted 100 years prior. A form of long-running artwork, Future Library acts as a time capsule that will exceed the lifetimes of most people alive at its founding. Through a thematic and causal layered analysis of 576 comments on a viral TikTok video about the project, we explore how Future Library incites reflections about mortality on social media, exemplified by complex emotions, existential reflection, and curiosity about the future. This preliminary study concludes that this video’s particular audience — young, city-dwelling American women — may begin to engage in futures thinking through cognitive and affective processing of mortality, and that long-running art may be a viable form through which artists and futurists can foster interest in futures stewardship and thinking in this audience and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:10276084
DOI:10.6531/JFS.202509_30(1).0005