Future Histories is a collective storytelling ritual designed by Karen Palmer that activates imagination as a strategy for liberation. Using the fishbowl format and a live drummer to hold a sacred listening space, it invites participants to remember futures that haven’t happened yet — and speak them into being. This is not a panel.It’s a portal.It’s not a story about the future — it’s the beginning of one.
From MozFest to SXSW, Tate Modern, Public Spaces Conference to Immersive UK, Future Histories has seeded chants, movements, and visions. In one moment, a participant whispers, “We don’t need this,” — a phrase sparked by digital oppression that echoes into collective refusal. In another, a Ukrainian refugee remembers a future where his people cry only from laughter.
Each story is passed from voice to voice, one memory triggering the next, building a shared tapestry of radical possibility. The process bypasses logic and taps into the subconscious, sparking blueprints for worlds we do want to live in. The audience doesn’t spectate — they co-author.
⸺ Future Histories: An algorithm of our own future chronicles. Kenya
⸺ Gallery
