issue2

The clown was muching on his carrot, he felt scared. He was ice skating whilst eating and that never ended well. As he glided around on the ice, he felt sure that someone was watching, the year was 2025, and everyone had only just stopped wearing masks. He still felt like if he was caught not wearing one in public, that he would get done. Plus, the ice rink was always a sketchy place. He continued to munch on his carrot and look furtively over his shoulder, something bad was going to happen he could just tell.

The setting is in a surgery theater where a human's body parts are being dismembered and this is used to collect stem cells and other parts extracted to form a moving being. These scientiststs wanted something more than a human; much more intelligent, strong and powerful but they wanted authority over these beings and call it theirs. From a distance, constant clicks of a pen is heard and somebody from afar is making notes and documenting each and every step.Over the past years, scientists have been capturing humans and using them to make a new species but these new beings became out of control and began to feed onto humans, overpowering all the other species.

i think i just hit a pothole, nonetheless ill keep driving. as always. another day, another job, another petrol stop and another person on the cusp of death. 30 years and the virus hasnt ended. still being taken to all corners of this island of nothing and loaded up w another corpse that doesnt know its a corpse yet. thousands a day and its only getting worse. they dont seem to last long, these fleshy mounds of bad choices and over processed "food" tho i wont speak too soon, whose to say i wont find myself amongst the scrap heap being torn apart for headlights and doors. and were stopping. as always i dont have a choice about that but why here? all i see is a well and thats about it. im not even gonna ask. i dont really even care that much. probably another case of jetpacking under the influence. ill just wait here till they load up the body. and out comes a bat. thats never a good sign. even before the virus i never trusted those wings. or the ears. one flew into the headlights once nearly took me off the road. so much for sonar...

The clown began to slip on his ice skates, ready to perform to the crowd of primary school students, waiting with impatient eyes. While tying the laces of his boots, a strange sound caught his attention. The sound came in waves, making the clown think it had disappeared, before it returned mysteriously again. Clambering as quietly as possible along the corridors, the clown felt a sudden snag on the blade of his ice skate. Looking down to see what it was, he noticed a small hole in the rubber floor. As he knelt further down to get a better look, the hole slowly began to enlarge. The hole quickly became 200 meters deep and randomly threw up a single tambourine - just what the clown needed to make his performance even better. Finally taking to the ice, the clown smiled towards his virtual crowd and began his new tambourine routine.

The setting is in a restaurant where a clown has showed up after their long, stressful shift to have a break and have some food. The clown is a very impatient person who gets very annoyed if their food doesnt come on time so the workers would always give the clown their food first but the workers were tired of the clowns rude behaviour so they have once overseasoned the food and the clown was very mad and was very angry and ended up exploding

it is 2070, humanity has gone back to the ages of ninja, the government is worse than ever, collecting money in the name of the villagers buying their lives off the government. it all started 8 years ago, when they took the position of being the government of perfectly good village. the villagers couldn't deal with the selfish government anymore and decide to go against the government. sharpening their shuriken and swords to fight the government. but in their surprise they realise the government had special weapounds, prepared for their rebellion.

Idea for what a work outfit would look like in 2045

It’s the year 2045. Looking back at the past now, humans have slowly yet surely became the disastrous clowns they are today. The clowns that used to bring innocent smiles to our faces, however that’s not what humans became today. Instead they turned into horrendously terrifying beings that lack empathy and humaneness. Walking by the streets I pass by the large shops, with sale signs hovered over the glass and ridiculously dressed clowns, grabbing the passerby’s attention.

Science has evolved crazily these past years and now it’s common to start selling embryos in shops. My shaky hands pushes the door and I feel a cold breeze travel through my body. Before my eyes, now there are bottled embryos displayed with different characteristics merely labelled as “Blonde hair and blue eyes: ON SALE”, I slowly began to quiver at the thought and wondered how this got here. A clown approached me suddenly and does obnoxiously comedic gestures that made me giggle, and it said to me

“Come with me, I’ll show you the best ones we have.”
I mindlessly followed, without asking questions. As I approached the metal door I then realised what I’ve gotten myself into. My eyes widened as the light began to fade and fear interceded within me.

My head began to spin, and as I looked around me there were dozens of endless needles and medical equipment scattered all around the floor. My body became paralysed because of fear and how tightly the rope was strapped. I tried to kick the rope off me but the clown’s gaze pierced through me. It smiled with all of its teeth and began to near me. I froze. I couldn’t move. It laughed hysterically at my tear stained face and watched me struggle with all my might but all it did was laugh. It psychotically widened its eyes and didn’t blink at all.

The things that humans will do to defect blame is ridiculous. Some of the horseshit I've been reading about how all this started.

yeah

I was going through some of the articles from back when the virus first hit and half of the rags i found were loading it all on our lot, despite scientific proof to say otherwise. like we had a say in it. Like we all decided one day that we were gonna contract what is essentially a 21st century plague so some idiot can pick us out as his lunch and send the world into panic and lockdown

Yeah. shambles

It is. And its not even the daily increase in death rates or governments pathetic attempt to bring it to an end some of them were all worried about. It was the pubs closing and shops going under that bothered them. All the while spreading rumours and unbacked theories about china and bats and 5G and need i go on?

Nah.

No ones ever liked us. They all seem to think they were the spawn of satan and for what reason other than having big ears and leather wings more capable of anything a humans legs could ever do. And we may have little eyes but do you see us faffing around with our phone torch every time the lights turned off?

I dunno

No. the answers no. cos were bats and we dont get enough credit. The only time we ever made it to fame was a so called super hero who completely butchered and appropriated our look and a pasty freak with big teeth that was only ever a bat when it was convenient. And ill never forgive them for what they did to me uncle. That gothy lookin bloke w the big goggles. Bastard

You mean ozzy

Yeah. him. but lets change the subject cos at the end of the day we had the last laugh. They got too cocky with their notions of space travel and revolutionary tech and now look. They took out half of the human population and left the planet . Not that im complaining. Fancy going for a fly

Welcome to Vaczine Issue 2! This is the second issue of an online collaborative zine produced by young people gathered together as part of the Auto Italia Young Artist Programme 2020-21. Whilst Issue 1 looked back at the year just gone, Issue 2 explores the world that is yet to come. It is a speculative fiction or experiment in world building, and each artwork explores differing ideas about where new developments in science, politics and climate might lead us. Encompassing both utopian and dystopian visions, these artworks portray a psychedelic vision of the near future. Whilst they might reflect a level of uncertainty in the current, they also demonstrate distinct perspectives of how we might shape the future.

Poppy Moroney, Auto Italia Programme Manager, March 2021