ABSTRACT
In a present that seems to hurtle toward an apocalyptic future, and the threat it poses for making rash decisions that may do more harm than good, the capacity to collectively experience—and suspend—time is an important component of teaching the future responsibly and creatively (as opposed to destructively and reactively). This essay reflects on one pedagogical approach to accomplish this—arts-based practices featured in WOUND, a study center for collaborative time that exists as both an online archive and physical space. As practices that also register in the field of community organizing, activism, and political life, the tools and trainings at WOUND present opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at imagining and realizing alternative forms of communal life. I explore how the arts-based tools and trainings curated in WOUND’s archives might comprise an arts of futurity and provide innovative teaching tools for classroom use. Aimed at cultivating capacities for collaboration and attention in relation to the way things are and could be, the tools at WOUND have the potential to develop a wide-awakeness in the present and spark imaginings of what might become possible.
