In 2012, Alabama Contemporary Art Center saw record-breaking numbers for the Futures Project, featuring Kenny Scharf, Candy Chang, Dawn DeDeaux, Nina Weisman, Tom Leeser, and New York design firm, 2X4.

This highly interactive exhibition combined art and play with participatory installations that indulged the senses and the mind. Kenny Scharf’s Cosmic Cavern offered visitors an illuminated neon experience by combining music with repurposed and painted discarded materials in an enclosed space. Nina Weisman’s Body Envelope added another sound element by inviting viewers to walk through sensors that responded to physical presence through faint audio. And Candy Chang’s wildly popular School of the Future stole the show by combining art with play; her ball pit (enticing to children and adults alike), was an irresistible element to the thoughtful aspect of education explored by the desk and commentary on Barton Academy and vacant spaces. The journal on the desk asked: What do you wish you had learned in school? What do you feel needs to be taught in the future?

The Futures Project also provided endless inspiration for educational programming, and engaged more visitors than ever before through film series, talks, tours, classes, workshops, camps, lectures, and musical performances.