It Happened Tomorrow: Tiny Cli-Fi for Living with Higher Waters

At the core of this work are fictional letters from an unknown researcher traveling through the Netherlands, offering glimpses into possible futures on how humans and other species might adapt, cohabit, and struggle in a landscape altered by rising waters.

Carlo De Gaetano curated a special collection of more than 400 videos from the open archives of Sound & Vision, including short films, documentaries, and news reports about different forms of (other than) human relationships with water in the Netherlands. In a series of workshops, still images from the collection have prompted international students, artists, researchers, and policymakers to collectively speculate on future ways of living in a country with higher waters. Through drawing and climate fiction exercises, they were invited to look at the collection to imagine possible future landscapes, adaptation scenarios, and how to co-inhabit them with other species. Based on conversations, drawings, and stories from the workshops, the present work assembles archival footage, AI generated visuals, and speculative storytelling. Just as the workshops reassembled archival images, speculative climate fiction, and personal memories, this video work queers dominant narratives of climate adaptation giving shape to tiny climate fictions that question how we look at nature and how we can reimagine ourselves as part of it.