Everything here revolves around the question: How do we want to live? Visitors can discover many possible futures in the exhibition, discuss them together in the forum and try out their own ideas in the Futurium Lab. We already know today: We will have to overcome major challenges in the future. How can we get climate change under control? Which technologies do we want to use in the future? Will technology serve us - or will we serve it? How do we develop our democracy? The future is also shaped by our decisions and actions in the present. The Futurium, which opened in September 2019, would therefore like to encourage all visitors to engage with the future and help shape it. Since the Futurium opened, more than 2.2 million people have visited the museum and millions more have used the digital offerings.
Futurium © Futurium
"Treasures of the future": Opening of the Raw Materials theme year at Futurium
Raw materials are omnipresent and form the material basis of our lives. By extracting and processing them, trading with them and using them, we influence the environment, economy and society worldwide. A world without the use of raw materials is inconceivable. The industrialized nations base their prosperity on a resource-intensive way of life. In view of global challenges such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity, the disadvantages of this model are becoming increasingly clear. This is because other countries are exploiting nature to meet our society's demand for raw materials, often under socially problematic conditions. As a result, we are ultimately also endangering our own livelihoods.
Futurium Director Dr. Stefan Brandt: "The annual Earth Overshoot Day underlines the relevance of Futurium's Raw Materials theme year. In 2024, the Earth's capacity for sustainably usable resources would already be exhausted for the year on May 2 if raw materials were consumed worldwide to the same extent as here in Germany. This also applies in a similar way to most other industrialized countries. It is therefore obvious that a major national and international effort is needed to become more 'resource-light' - in other words, to use raw materials more sparingly, recycle more and innovate more. In short, we need to dare to become more circular. As usual, we at Futurium not only want to highlight problem areas, but above all draw attention to possible solutions and encourage critical discussion. Because only if we consistently implement the positive approaches from science, business, politics and civil society in many areas of life can we achieve the raw materials transition."
Program highlights at the opening festival on 4 May
On May 4 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Futurium invites interested people of all ages to celebrate the opening of the Raw Materials theme year with a big opening party: musical instruments will be built from recycled materials on the forecourt and then played in a jam session. In the foyer, improvisational theater will set the mood for the theme. And in the forum, visitors can look forward to a family adventure with Julian Janssen, known from the KiKA show "Checker Julian": on a large stage, Julian asks himself what gold actually does in his cell phone and takes the audience on a raw materials journey around the world. Using VR goggles, visitors to the exhibition can then enter the digital version of a gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and learn about the conditions under which gold is mined there. In the afternoon, international guests will provide insights into their visions for the sustainable and fair use of raw materials. Experts will provide concise knowledge on the topic in short lightning talks. Young people and adults who enjoy solving puzzles are invited to take part in an exciting escape rally. Music and food will provide a relaxed atmosphere throughout the day. Admission to the Futurium is free. The opening activities take place exclusively on May 4 and are free of charge.
Treasure hunt in Berlin with exclusive prizes
Even before the opening on May 4, all young and old explorers in Berlin are invited to go on a treasure hunt in the city: QR codes for five raw material treasures are waiting to be discovered in Berlin from April 27. These are placed on selected waste bins of the Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR). The GPS coordinates of the "treasure buckets" can be viewed on a treasure map on the Futurium website. Participants will collect the last of the five different raw material treasures exclusively at the opening festival on May 4 directly at Futurium. Treasure hunters who have found all five treasures will receive a "treasure" to take home at the opening party and have the chance to win further prizes. With this campaign, Futurium invites visitors to discover and rethink raw materials in everyday life in a playful way. The treasure hunt is a cooperation between Futurium and BSR.
https://futurium.de/schatzsuche
Two new areas in the exhibition
Raw materials often come from far away and are frequently mined under questionable conditions, often without our knowledge. In the exhibition's Thinking Space People, six examples from six regions of the world illustrate the background to extraction and trade - in works by artists as well as in a make-up tutorial on the topic of "Mica", which is reminiscent of "Get Ready With Me" videos, a popular social media format in which easy-chatting creators show how they style themselves for the day.Inspired by the dice game Monopoly, visitors to "Fair-o-poly" can slip into the role of a mining company and learn about the production conditions of raw materials. The aim of the game is to improve the working conditions of local people, distribute profits more fairly and implement more environmental protection. However, as the game progresses, it becomes clear that this is no easy task.
The new raw material themes are grouped around the "Re-Use Ball Track" in the Thinking Space Nature. Here, visitors can set the raw materials cycle in motion and make recycled materials resonate. The marble run, which has been in the exhibition since 2019 and is very popular with the public, has been rebuilt according to sustainability principles: As much material as possible was preserved and recycled raw materials were used.
Futurium LAB © Ali Ghandtschi
New exhibits and workshops in the Lab Reduce, Re-Use, Repair, Refurbish, Recycle - the basic principles of the circular economy are the focus of the simulation game "RRRRRR". While the title of the exhibit initially encodes these principles through textual reduction, the game breaks down the complex process in a comprehensible form: Using the everyday object of our time, the cell phone, it demonstrates how a circular economy can emerge from the linear economy. By placing markers, players can successively change the existing system. This creates an understanding of the necessary steps that can lead to a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. Whether beverage packaging, T-shirts or flower pots - many everyday objects consume large quantities of resources and are difficult to reuse. The exhibit group "Material Treasures of the Future" presents 40 examples of alternatives for a climate-neutral and sustainable future. The objects on display include packaging materials made from banana fibers, building materials made from recycled paper and leather alternatives made from orange peel. Visitors can then examine the structural properties under a microscope.
In the workshop series "Visiting Material Futures" organized by the experimental laboratory "CollActive Materials", participants speculate on what materials the world of tomorrow could be made of. Researchers from the Berlin Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity" will give an insight into their work and develop future scenarios with the participants based on this. The workshop topics range from tree bark or mushrooms as building materials to temperature-regulating materials for the cities of the future.
Futurium © David von Becker
