Remember those futuristic visions from the mid-20th century? Shiny cities, robot helpers in the kitchen, flying cars… All of it was once the stuff of dreams, brought to life in films and magazines. Today, artists around the world are revisiting these old visions of the future through what we call retro futurism. But retro futurism isn’t just about nostalgia—it’s a movement that uses the past to question our present and rethink what the future might hold.
One artist who masterfully blends the past and the future is Simon Stålenhag, a Swedish digital artist whose works combine futuristic machines with 1980s rural landscapes. His paintings depict an alternate past where people stroll alongside towering robots, as if they’ve always been part of everyday life. In his work, there’s no rush for technological dominance—the world feels peaceful yet oddly unsettling. The nostalgia and unease exist side by side, giving viewers a sense that our world isn’t too far removed from the one in his art.
But retro futurism isn’t limited to visual art. It’s made its way into fashion design as well. Designers like Iris van Herpen have created collections inspired by 1960s sci-fi, using cutting-edge fabrics and materials. Van Herpen’s futuristic dresses look as if they’ve stepped straight out of a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Her designs show how fashion can be a space where past and future collide, offering visions that feel both nostalgic and forward-thinking.
In architecture, retro futurism comes to life in projects like Biosphere 2, an experiment in Arizona originally designed as a self-sustaining Mars colony. Launched in the 1990s, this project drew inspiration from the futuristic architectural ideas of the 1960s and 70s, when the dream of living in space was at its height. Though the experiment had its technical failures, the design remains a symbol of retro-futuristic aspirations for space exploration. Today, artists and architects use this aesthetic to reflect on our relationship with technology and sustainability.
However, retro futurism isn’t just about visual style—it also carries deep social and political meaning. In movements like Afrofuturism, we see the blending of past visions with futuristic ideas to challenge the present through the lens of African culture and history. Take the film Black Panther, for example. It uses Afrofuturist aesthetics to imagine a world where technology exists in harmony with nature and tradition, offering an alternative vision of what African civilizations could have become without the impact of colonization. This version of retro futurism isn’t just entertainment—it raises important questions about the future of society and our global relationships.
Through art, music, fashion, and architecture, retro futurism reminds us that the future has always been subjective. What was imagined fifty years ago didn’t always come to pass, but those dreams still shape our collective imagination. Musicians like Daft Punk take electronic sounds from the 70s and blend them with modern technology, creating songs that feel like the future we once dreamed of. Their visual identity—always donning robotic helmets—emphasizes this seamless mix of past and future, reminding us how deeply ingrained these visions are in our culture.
A fascinating aspect of retro futurism is the critical perspective many artists bring to it. Some, for example, tackle environmental issues, using retro-futuristic aesthetics to ask how we might have addressed climate change with the technologies of the past. These artists take us back to a time when the future was filled with optimism, while also cautioning us about the dangers of placing blind faith in technology.
The conclusion is clear: retro futurism is much more than simple nostalgia. It’s a journey through time, reexamining how we once envisioned the future and what we can learn from those visions today. Instead of offering easy answers, it encourages us to ask tougher questions—about technology, society, ecology, and our role in shaping the future.
Contemporary artists use retro futurism like a palette, painting worlds that seem contradictory yet perfectly harmonious. Through their work, audiences don’t just feel nostalgia for the past—they’re invited to reflect on the present and the future in the light of those old dreams. And that’s what makes retro futurism so appealing—and so relevant—in today’s art world.