Anthem for the Future

Anthony D Kelly | Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland

Anthony D Kelly combines advertisements for Phoenix Clothes, Dexter Shoes, and the Otis Elevator Company from the 1970s with a postcard of Main Street Middlebury found in the Stewart-Swift Research Center archives to update a postcard that imagines the future published by local businessman C.F. Rich. The artist wrote: “Inspired by the postcard Middlebury, Vt., in the future originally published by C.F Rich and taken from the archives of the Stewart-Swift Research Center. The original postcard is, on one hand, an act of speculative fiction; on the other, it can be understood as a hopeful act of community care originating within the artist’s imagination. “The original postcard utilizes collage-like techniques to respond directly to an image located in Middlebury’s town center. By superimposing illustrations of subway stations, tramlines and railway bridges criss crossing a busy intersection, as well as a sky full of hot air balloons and novel flying machines, the artist engages their creativity to envisage a hopeful, lively, advanced and connected future for their local community. “In the spirit of the original postcard, and by using a different street scene from the Sheldon Archives, I have also taken up the challenge of visualizing a new future for Middlebury’s town center. Echoing the original postcard’s theme of transport and technological advancement, the Vermont air is filled with passing space planes, as a large spaceport rises over the skyline, and futuristic cars traverse the street below. “Music and color also fill the air in an Anthem for the Future, a nod to the aspects of community care which are borne out by the arts through both an individual imaginations, and creative collaborations.”