Acquisition Ongoing: Carbon Age Souvenirs is a new exhibition by artist Lu Williams. This installation in our café transforms the everyday environment into a speculative “gift shop”.

A series of sculptures combining resin, light and digital technologies reinterpret the fridge magnet as a future relic. Across these works and print paraphernalia, Williams explores how value is assigned to the ordinary and how memory is preserved, replicated and circulated in the era of AI.

Drawing on research into social history and the practices of collecting and replication, this fictional lens explores the familiar language of souvenirs – objects that are collected, gifted and handed down – offering a way to examine class, aspiration and taste.

Williams invites you to investigate how your daily life could be portrayed in the future. You’re invited to contribute designs to the evolving installation, using posters and zine templates, producing a collective reflection on memory, value and the afterlives of ordinary things.

How ordinary would your life look in hundreds of years’ time?

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About the artist

Lu Williams is an artist working across sculpture, print, zines and socially engaged projects. Their practice explores social history, labour and accessibility through the lens of queerness, neurodivergence and working-class experience. Drawing on processes of collecting, replication and distribution, Williams elevates everyday objects and overlooked cultural materials. They are the founder of Grrrl Zine Fair and co-founder of Dog Ear.