Royal Enfield’s Art of Motorcycling Envisions the Future, Specifically the Year 3000

It’s human nature to imagine and dream about the future. It’s something that people have been doing pretty much since the dawn of humanity. And while there really is no way to predict the future—at least not yet—there is one tangible way to envision the future: through art.

Over the millenia, works of art have painted pictures of the future, and whether or not these pictures became a reality never really mattered. These works are snapshots of the artist’s perspective—a glimpse into the way they looked at the world and what was to become of it. It’s abstract and tangible at the same time; a reality and a work of fiction all at once.

And it’s something that Royal Enfield’s leaning heavily on with its new Art of Motorcycling contest.

Now on its fourth season, Royal Enfield’s Art of Motorcycling contest this year focuses on the theme “Y3K.” In essence, the contest invites creative minds to bring to life what they imagine the world of motorcycling to be in the year 3000—exactly 976 years from now. Suffice it to say that none of us will be around by then, heck who knows, maybe humans will no longer be on Earth, and will have since become an intergalactic species?

And it’s precisely this uncertainty that makes it all so exciting. RE’s art contest will see brilliant minds from all over the world showcase their vision of the future. For now, the contest is open only to participants from India, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan—no US as of the moment, but hopefully in the coming seasons of Art of Motorcycling.

So if you’re reading this from any of the countries listed above, and are eager to express your creativity, all you have to do is register by visiting the Royal Enfield Art of Motorcycling official website and filling in your details. You’ll have to pick a category, too, so submissions will have to be either digital, hand-crafted or even AI-generated pieces of art. This year’s contest will also see the addition of a special comic category, allowing you to tell a longer story through words and pictures.

But hey, you don’t have to join the contest to share your vision of the future. What do you think the world will be like in the year 3000? Will there even be motorcycles on the road by then? Will humans even still be around by then, or will the sun have gobbled the Earth whole and anything and everything that once was would now be specs of galactic dust scattered across the universe?

Let me know in the comments below.