Today, climate change, growing inequality and poverty, the crisis of democracy, the destruction of biodiversity and the constant breaching of planetary limits have reached a point where we can no longer stand still ... More than ever, we need to act against the force of the status quo, and cultivate the “optimism of our will”.¹ Why should art be part of this movement? How can it assist political and social claims?

In the following, I aim to develop a short design fiction to explore answers to those questions.

It is the year 2040

It’s been a while since I left the city of Paris behind. Like so many other Parisians, I got tired of its intensity and density. But here I am, back in the city for a few days. And to my surprise, as soon as I step out of the train station, all the memories from my years of political struggle come flooding back. Why? Because so many art symbols are lying there, in the public space, as reminders of how it was in the past, but also as proof of how it changed.

We can see the leftovers of the street collages made by the feminists...