The Way of the Future
Single-channel UHD video (color), 2-channel sound, 8’ 02”, 2025, Palestine
created by Firas Shehadeh
Set against the hauntingly desolate backdrop of The Last of Us video game, The Way of the Future follows a lone figure traversing a decayed territory after a long war, where echoes of resistance and displacement reverberate through the hollow ruins. The sound design, deeply rooted in the auditory textures of the attacked country — prayers and drones — brings a dislocated yet familiar reality. As the protagonist moves through these fragmented spaces, their journey becomes an allegory for the ongoing struggle: a fight not only for physical territory but for the survival of identity, memory, and visibility. Blurring the lines between the physical and media landscapes, the film explores a future where the cause transcends borders and occupies the global consciousness, a spectral nation fighting to reclaim existence in a political world order that continuously erases them.
Firas Shehadeh is a Palestinian artist and researcher exploring issues of identity, meaning, and aesthetics in the digital age. His interdisciplinary practice engages with post-colonial effects, technology, and history through the lens of worldbuilding and internet culture. Shehadeh holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His education also includes studies in conceptual art, video, and architecture in Vienna, Barcelona, and Amman. Investigating topics like colonial legacies, memory, and belonging, Shehadeh creates speculative narratives that reveal unseen structures and realities. His research-focused practice utilizes and subverts the visual languages of new media, examining how technology transforms society’s relationship with knowledge and power. His work, which has been exhibited internationally, offers a critical perspective on the role of the internet and digital imaging in shaping contemporary identities, histories, and ways of world-making.
