Inaugurating the New Museum’s expanded building, New Humans: Memories of the Future explores artists’ enduring preoccupation with what it means to be human in the face of sweeping technological changes. The exhibition traces a diagonal history of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the work of more than 150 international artists, writers, scientists, architects, and filmmakers, highlighting key moments when dramatic technological and social changes spurred new conceptions of humanity and new visions for its possible futures.

Presenting new and recent works by contemporary artists in the context of works by twentieth century artists and cultural figures New Humans illuminates artists’ evolving visions of the future. The exhibition surveys the myriad shapes that humanity might take, from robots and cyborgs to haunting, seemingly alien life forms, and moves beyond the field of art by bringing together utopian architects, sci-fi filmmakers, and eccentric writers who imagine physical, virtual, and even post-human worlds. In an age when technological advancements and their unintended consequences seem to be accelerating at uncontrollable rates, New Humans proposes art as a collective form of creative prognostication—a vital self-portrait of the humans we may become.