Future History

In 1917, Russia was swept by two revolutions. During the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas was deposed, bringing an end to more than three centuries of rule by the Romanov dynasty. The October Revolution saw the Bolsheviks take power definitively, dashing the short-lived hope for a democratic Russia. This chaotic year and its two revolutions come to life in a powerful torrent of messages on social media, written by historical figures who were directly involved in the events: kings, artists, revolutionaries and their opponents.

Similarly, Future History transports you to the year 1968, which saw big and small revolutions in places all over the world. On Martin Luther King’s smartphone, we read the hatemails that he receives; in another of the 18 stories, the reformist Czechoslovakian president Alexander Dubček chats with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Although some passages have been modified here and there to abide by the rules of social media, all these messages come from extensively documented sources such as letters, memoirs and journals, and are supported by photos and films of the events. By unleashing this deluge of reports in such a unique way, the website makes tangible how these revolutionary years felt for the people caught up in them.