Total Recall.

The German term Gesamtkunstwerk, which approximately translates as a ‘total work of art,’ has been used to describe any artwork, design, creative output or process where a range of different media employed combines to establish a greater, unified whole.

The composer Richard Wagner would discuss the idea of the ‘consummate artwork,’ arguing "No one rich faculty of the separate arts will remain unused in the Gesamtkunstwerk of the Future".

The concept was developed and applied throughout the 19th and early 20th century, where it became a precept of much modern art practice. Whilst this notion fell out of fashion in the post-modern period, the term has more recently enjoyed a renaissance with regard to multimedia artworks and digital installations, and may also be applied to states of the ‘phygital.’

This can tell us that the pursuance of new creative futures, in practice and research, should be composed of ‘consummates’ of many different forms, types, and expressions. These can involve intriguing mixes of the real and the conceptual, but should reflect a broad spectrum of criteria, agendas, approaches, places and personnel, both familiar and alien.

Such complex and convoluted initiatives may facilitate compelling ‘idea alloys’ that allow us to find ‘undecided futures,’ over more convenient silo-thinking that principally ordains ‘determined futures.’