We Will Survive

How can we survive a natural disaster or man-made emergency? How should we prepare for life after a catastrophe? What if all of our systems collapse? These are the questions asked by preppers, who believe that the end of the world is inevitable—and imminent. While the rest of us simply hope that nothing too terrible will happen, preppers take action. Their coping strategy affords them a sense of control over the uncontrollable: preppers actively prepare for what they call TEOTWAWKI, i.e., “the end of the world as we know it”. But not only that, they are also preparing to build a NWO, a new world order, afterwards.

The exhibition We Will Survive. The prepper movement explores how preppers deal with what they believe will soon be the end of the world. In three main sections—Existential threats and risk assessment; Governmental prepping, Individual prepping— the exhibition examines the underpinnings of preppers’ beliefs, and how they prepare for the supposed end of the world.

The exhibition features more than 400 works, including architectural models, photographs, drawings and magazines, as well as historical video material and film clips of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic dream worlds. Also on display are speculative design objects and more than 300 examples of popular product design by the prepper community. Renowned designers, filmmakers, photographers and artists such as AATB, Reed Kram, Tapio Snellman, Studio Folder, and Charles Negre, have developed new works especially for the exhibition. Additionally, the exhibition includes works by Atelier Van Lieshout, Erwan & Ronan Bouroullec, Julian Charrière, Dunne & Raby, Martí Guixé, Simo Heikkilä, Fabien Roy, Tapio Wirkkala, and Martin Szekely, among others. This is complemented by installations created especially for the exhibition.