Future Conditional
Two-channel video installation, 2026
Anna Knappe & Amir Jan
Future Conditional examines families whose futures in Finland are made conditional by residence permits, employment contracts, family ties and shifting migration categories. The work focuses on Afghan parents whose everyday lives are guided by the hope that their children’s future will be continuous and safe, even when their own status is uncertain or narrowly defined.
The two-channel installation consists of parallel videos in which parents’ future-oriented wishes are set in dialogue with children’s present-tense thoughts. Moving between public outdoor spaces and domestic interiors, the images trace a temporal tension within the families: adults speak about their own lives through their children, while children imagine their future from within everyday life. Future Conditional explores how migration policy and cross-generational expectations intertwine with intimate relationships and shape ideas about what kind of future is possible at all.
