The 2023 Shared.Futures community art piece collects our shared visions for the future, featured on a circular clear acrylic sheet as a window into our shared futures. This piece represents the collaborative process of bringing the desires and goals of a community from a conscious and communicated space into a physical reality. As we navigate the path from thoughts to physical manifestation, we can influence the resulting shared reality with constructive or destructive perspectives. We asked attendees at the April 2023 Meet a Scientist and Artist event (Explora, April 1, 2023) and the Sustainability Expo (University of New Mexico, April 18, 2023) to contribute a constructive and inclusive message to inform our journey towards a shared future written on a piece of paper. This message was then arranged onto this collective window into our future. 

At times, as individuals, we can feel alone in our thoughts and fantasize that our perspectives can only be seen and understood by ourselves or those who are closest to us. The messages written into this window can serve as a beacon to the next generation of community members and show that we are not alone in our hopes for a better world. Building a shared reality and a shared future is going to be more fulfilling by using constructive and loving communication with ourselves and others so that we may grow, listen, and create together. Collaboratively constructed by people of all ages, this window helps us to consider our ancestors and our descendants as we create our hopes and desires, and in turn, our physical experience.