What if

EXHIBIT OPEN AT

MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER @ 5ive Points • Cleveland, TN

AUGUST 8-OCTBER 3, 2026

Experience artifacts and stories from the future imagined by seven Tennessee artists and farmers. The speculative designs invite you to think about the broad impact of possible change–from sports to building, burial to celebrity– and how it may shape our future communities. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

 

IMAGINING FUTURE STORIES SPECIAL EVENT
MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER @ 5ive Points • Cleveland, TN

AUGUST 8 • 1:30-2:30 PM

Join What If: Designs from the Future of Crafting & Growing curator Liza Blair in conversation with crafters & growers from the exhibit for a deeper dive into the future stories they imagined and the artifacts and ideas that inhabit them. Panelists include Annie LaVoie (Mouthy Oddities), Sheila-Renee Williams (Moore Family Century Farm) and  Julia Donagrandi (Loof’n Round Gardens).

EXPLORE MORE

FURTHER READING

For a deeper dive into the What If…? topics raised in the exhibit, explore the ideas futurists have about these trends:

• • Learning without a Screen, The Foresight Lab
  • How to Turn a Human Body into Soil, by Mallory McDuff, Narratively
  • The Global Food System is Reversing, The Foresight Lab
  • To Keep Building Materials out of Landfills, Cities are Embracing ‘Deconstruction’, Syris Valentine, Grist
  • Gen Z is Function over Form, The Foresight Lab
  • On the Ground with Toolmakers Helping Small Farmers Keep It Local, Melissa Julia, Modern Farmer via The Daily Yonder
  • Cyborg Botany is Coming to a City Near You, Izzie Ramirez & Dan Hoopert, Atmos

ABOUT THE SPECULATIVE DESIGNERS

Crafters

• • • Annie LaVoie, Mouthy Oddities
    • Mike Rose, Cole’s Handcrafted Co.
    • Marisa Mitchell, Mars Fabrication

Growers

• • • Jess Wilson, Summer Fields Farm, The Marugg Company
    • Renee Williams, Moore Family Century Farm
    • Julia Donagrandi, Loof’n Round Gardens
    • Ashley Keener, Sequatchie Cove Farm, Cumberland Folk School

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What if: Designs from the Future of Crafting & Growing
is funded by
Humanities Tennessee and
By the People: Conversations Beyond 250.

This exhibit was created by Humanities Tennessee’s Shared Futures Lab. Humanities Tennessee is an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of Humanities Tennessee or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The exhibit was funded in part through By the People: Conversations Beyond 250, a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils across the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia in collaboration with local partners. Together, these programs explore 250 years of the nation’s cultural life and imagine its shared future. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage as a complement to the 2026 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.