Proto–Futura is an ongoing research-based art project by Rob Stolte that explores the speculative futures of writing through its ancient origins. Drawing from early proto-alphabetic inscriptions carved in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadim, the project reimagines script as a cultural practice rooted in sensory experience, intuition, and collective meaning-making.

In an immersive, participatory installation, visitors carve new, non-alphabetic signs into physical surfaces, liberated from conventional language systems. These intuitive gestures are documented and analyzed, forming a living archive of contemporary symbolic expression.

Bridging media archaeology and inclusive literacy, Proto–Futura investigates how writing might evolve beyond standardization and toward forms of communication that embrace neurodiversity, a re-connection between sound and symbol and post-technological embodiment.

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