Katie Paterson

PACT Member

PLANTING A FOREST TODAY FOR BOOKS THAT WILL BE READ NEXT CENTURY

Katie’s poetic works collapse the distance between people, time, and the cosmos. Her 100-year artwork, Future Library, began with planting a forest in Norway to supply paper for a book anthology to be printed in 2114. Each year, a new author contributes a secret manuscript—with writers including Margaret Atwood, Amitav Ghosh, Han Kang, and Ocean Vuong. In her TED Talk, The Mind-Bending Art of Deep Time, Katie explores how art can stretch our sense of time, connection, and care for the planet.

Impact

A living artwork spanning 100 years—a meditation on legacy, ecology, and hope.

Katie Paterson

Katie Paterson, Future Library, 2014-2114

Katie Paterson, Hollow, 2016

Katie Paterson, Afterlife, 2025