Daniel Arsham’s Future Relics (2013–2018) is a series that imagines everyday objects from our present as if they were unearthed hundreds of years in the future, transformed into archeological artifacts. Cast in materials such as plaster, volcanic ash, and crushed glass, these works resemble eroded relics, frozen in a state of decay. Polaroid cameras, cassette players, mobile phones, and boomboxes appear corroded and fractured, as though history has buried them and time has worn them down.

Through this body of work, Arsham explores how quickly technology becomes obsolete, and how objects once at the center of daily life can shift into symbols of nostalgia and cultural memory. By staging them as future ruins, he raises questions about permanence, obsolescence, and the way human innovation ages. The works blur the line between archaeology and contemporary culture, suggesting that the artifacts of our present might one day be studied with the same reverence as ancient tools or classical sculpture.

In addition to the sculptures, Arsham produced short films to accompany the series, starring actors such as James Franco, Juliette Lewis, and Mahershala Ali. These films expand the narrative of a future dystopia where the everyday items of our time survive only as fragmented remnants.

The Future Relics series sits at the core of Arsham’s broader practice of “fictional archaeology,” where he distorts familiar forms into corroded, calcified, or glitched-out artifacts. By collapsing the timelines of past, present, and future, Arsham invites viewers to consider how culture is remembered, forgotten, and reinterpreted across generations.