Film · In making Things to Come (L'Avenir), Mia Hansen-Løve was inspired by the "image of a woman opening the window of her house and giving herself to the wind...as an image of both emancipation and resignation. And with the ambivalence of that as a metaphor for life." Like an overflowing bookshelf, this film is filled with philosophical musings on how to adapt to change, maintain hope, and embrace the absurd.

Music · This song, At My Window Sad and Lonely recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco, is from their Mermaid Avenue album. This project features never-before-released songs written by Woody Guthrie, whose music also appears in our film as an ode to protest and perspective.

Words i · In this excerpt from Emmanuel Levinas' Totality and Infinity, his ethics of "the Other" is explored. He speaks of the irreducible epiphany of face-to-face encounters with others which brings our mortality and reverence for life into perspective.

Photographs · A selection of the 1,566 photographs taken during Marina Abramović's 3-month long The Artist is Present performance art piece. This is one of the truest exemplifications of Levinas' “face à face” philosophy, exemplifying pure individuality and vulnerability.

Words ii · From To Sing on the Water (Auf dem Wasser zu singen), the poem by Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg. Franz Schubert's lied of the same name appears in our film as a foreboding reminder of our obligation to evolve.

Words iii · German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer represents the rejection of irrational hopes and expectations and that freedom and happiness are incompatible.

Paintings · German Symbolist artist Clara Siewert rebels against attempts to accurately represent reality in favor of describing truths indirectly or metaphorically. Schopenhauer's absurdity ethics largely influenced the Symbolism movement.