Back to the Futures III

A sister arranges a man’s date and coaches his behaviour; a restaurant declares him and his companion a couple. A woman serves dinner while the others sit, and a robot sits apart after serving. An employee unfolds a finished towel and throws it back to a robot. Workers describe training AI, while a social worker describes recording a family conversation so software can draft the paperwork. The work asks viewers to notice the people who organise, serve, explain and reassure as vividly as those whose needs drive these stories.

The edit brings together twenty-two corporate films released between 2018 and 2026, spanning scripted visions, advertisements, robot demonstrations, recruitment films, worker and customer testimonials, and design fiction. Household assistance and delegated choices lead into instruction and training, then clinical, family and emotional care.

Icky Futures approaches editing as a method of inquiry. Original sound and sustained passages preserve the attraction of assistance alongside hesitation, negotiation and refusal. Sparse white Helvetica descriptions draw attention to the relations within a scene. Company logos act as broadcast identifiers, keeping the maker of each promise visible. Commentary moves into the timing of cuts, juxtapositions and text. See the series’ precedents and affinities.

Icky Futures names the unease in encounters where affection, obligation and authority become difficult to separate. Care remains desirable; the edit asks who defines it, who does its work, and how readily its terms can be refused. This remains an experimental working edit, open to further development.