Futures Festival

Discussions, activities, workshops, games and many other formats will make different future scenarios experienceable. The exhibition, the Forum and the Futurium Lab offer a wide range of cost-free formats, all of which revolve around the question: “how do we want to live?“ The Futures Festival gives visitors a foretaste of what might lie ahead of us in the future. A vibrant celebration for everyone – for experts, for everyday heroes and fantasists, for scientists and artists, for conservatives and progressives, for people with and without disabilities, for children and senior citizens, for nerds, future-makers and would-be future makers.

Thursday

14:30
Futurium Opening Ceremony
For invited guests, to be live streamed at futurium.de

When Futurium opens its doors on 5 September, Head of the Federal Chancellery Helge Braun and astronaut Alexander Gerst will be there to celebrate too. A discussion in the Forum with Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek and sea-ice physicist and climate scientist Stefanie Arndt will address the topic of ‘future’ in all its aspects. Music by Rundfunkchor Berlin will accompany the ceremony. The event will be live streamed on futurium.de.

#Game 1
19:15 – 19:45 Uhr
FUTURE CAT

Game on! What happens when you bring jump'n run and grassroots democracy together? We shape the future together, and one thing is guaranteed to be present in it: CATS! Steers FUTURE CAT through Berlin together. Thu, 5.9. 19:15. on time. Opening!

19:00
Big Opening Ceremony

All visitors are invited to celebrate the opening of Futurium with us.

20:00 -21:30
Tomorrow Begins Today
Why it is important to keep an eye on the future

The need to think about the future has not only arisen because of the climate crisis. How do we want to live in the future? How can we live in the future? How should we live in the future? These questions concern us all. Our opening podium discussion brings together people with their own personal and professional stories about the future. Why is it important to keep an eye on the future? How can we consciously contribute to shaping it?

Short film in which everyday people tell us their visions of the future; speech by Dr Stefan Brandt (Director of Futurium); and discussion panel with Margot Friedländer (contemporary witness and Holocaust survivor), Armin Grunwald (physicist and philosopher), Cléo Mieulet (Extinction Rebellion activist), and Kathrin Passig (author and thinker on the digital age) / Hans Raffauf (founder Clue & hy!)

Information: German / interpreted in sign language / wheelchair spaces and audio induction loop available

22:00
Whomadewho – live in concert

WhoMadeWho is a band with its own distinctive sound. When the experimental dance band arrived with their single ‘Space for Rent’ in the mid-2000s, it was a time of musical upheaval. Club music was turning into rock and vice versa, and the Copenhagen-based trio suddenly found itself at the forefront of an international movement that was uniting indie, techno, pop and pretty much every other genre of music imaginable. The world has changed since then – as has the band. Their core, however, has remained the same: in early 2018, with the release of their sixth studio album, ‘Through the Walls’, WhoMadeWho created a shimmering sonic odyssey that is epic, sincere, fast-paced and captivating in equal part. Arriving fresh from an appearance at the legendary Burning Man festival, WhoMadeWho will present the European premier of their new Live Hybrid at Futurum's opening.

Information: Forecourt / live interpretation of the music in sign language by Laura Schwengber

23:30 – 01:00
DJ-Duo Hoe_mies

Hoe_mies are the makers of a hip-hop party series that has quickly become one of the most popular events of its kind in Berlin. What distinguishes the duo is their political approach to making the hip-hop scene more inclusive, which is why they focus on female, non-binary and transgender acts. They offer a platform for all those DJs and performers who are often excluded from the mainstream, as well as a party space that celebrates hip-hop and other urban music styles and breaks open the male domination of the scene. The sound of Lúcia Lú and Meg10 moves between trap, dancehall, baile funk, neoperreo, 90s & 2000s classics, rap house, Jersey club and other styles.

Information: forecourt

Friday

10:00 – 18:00
Discovering and shaping the future

Friday is completely devoted to children, young people and those young at heart. Five interactive points throughout the Forum and the exhibition invite pupils and teachers to take part in open workshops. They deal with the future-related topics work, health, nutrition, cities and energy.

• Forum, Futures Island: The Future of Nutrition
• Forum, Futures Island: The Future of Work
• Exhibition, thinking space Nature below the Neo-Nature Sculpture: The Future of Cities
• Exhibition, thinking space Nature, south window: The Future of Energy
• Exhibition, thinking space Technology, genetic engineering: The Future of Health

Young People’s Day has already been fully booked for groups until 15:00. Berlin school classes had the chance to register for the workshops in advance. However, our house of futures with its exhibition, the Futurium Lab and other offerings will be open and freely accessible to individual visitors.

In our free formats in the Futurium Lab’s workshop, pupils can try out various devices and gain an insight into the work of our Fab Lab. In the Education Lounge, teachers can exchange their ideas about new teaching concepts. Every hour, short lectures and relaxed discussion rounds provide stimulating ideas for the school of the future and introduce Futurium’s educational offerings.

Information: Every 30 minutes there will be two short guided tours for school classes. Registration takes place on site at the information desk. Guided tours will start in the foyer at 10:30 / 11:00 / 11:30 / 12:00 / 12:30 / 13:00 / 13:30 / 14:00 / 14:30 / 15:00

Saturday

16:00 – 18:00
Visions for Science
Discussion

Technologies with potentially massive influence on life on Earth require a new discourse that is both global and inclusive. Two scientists outline their visions for science in the 21st century: what will science look or feel like in the 21st century? What roles will scientists play in the future? And what are the questions they will be faced with? These and other questions will be discussed by Professor Sheila Jasanoff (Professor and Director of Harvard University’s Program on Science, Technology and Society) and Martin Rees (Astronomer Royal and co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge). Introduction and moderation by Jürgen Renn (Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science).

Information: Forum / English with German translation / audio induction loop and wheelchair spaces available

Sunday

11:30 Uhr – 13:00
Concrete Utopias
Stimulating visions and discussion

What kind of society do we want future generations to live in? Our guests will formulate utopian visions of possible futures. In doing so, each of our guests will stand for a particular vision of a possible future development. It goes without saying that every utopia brings controversies in its wake. Our guests and their visions:

Enno Park (Chair of Cyborg e.V.): “In the future, human and machine will have become one”
Gregor May (Premium Kollektiv): “In the future, bosses will no longer exist”
Franziska Dübgen (Professor of Legal Philosophy, University of Münster): “In the future, there will be no prisons"
Hilal Sezgin (writer): “In the future, animals will have fundamental rights”
Nariman Hammouti-Reinke (Lieutenant at Sea and Chair of Deutscher.Soldat. e.V.): “In the future, homeland ("Heimat") will still be important”

Information: Forum / interpreted in sign language / audio induction loop and wheelchair spaces available

On several days

Futures Islands

On the Futures Islands in the Forum, visitors can exchange their personal visions, inform themselves about current research and try out our educational materials.

7 September / 10:30 / 13:00 / 15:00
8 September / 10:30 / 13:00 / 14:00 / 15:00
This Idea will Shape the Future
Presentations by Futurium’s associates

Futurium’s partners from the spheres of politics, science and business introduce themselves and present research approaches or ideas for shaping the future.

7 September / 10:30 - 11:00
DAAD
Whoever goes abroad changes - and the world changes a little too?
Speaker: Lenz Köhl, TU Berlin

7 September / 11:30 - 12:00
Boehringer Ingelheim
Digital transformation - opportunities for tomorrow's health
Speaker: Thomas Reith, Boehringer Ingelheim

7 September / 10:30
Siemens AG
The future of innovation
Speaker: Erik Wiegard; Managing Director Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science

7 September / 13:00 - 13:30
BAYER AG
Whether the treatment of chronic heart diseases or the development of climate-friendly crops - new biotechnological processes make the impossible possible.
Speaker: André Guillaume, Leaps by Bayer

7 September / 13:00 -13:30
Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
In conversation: "What we want to know about climate"
Speakers: Roland Koch (Press Officer, Helmholtz Association) and Dr. Alexander Marx (Head of Regional Climate Office, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ)

7 September / 14:00 - 14:30
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
The workplace of the future in production
Speaker: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Krüger, Fraunhofer IPK

7 September / 15:00 - 15:30
BASF SE
A minilab for your pocket #reason4optimism
Speaker: Felix Schmidt, trinamiX GmbH, Ines Kühn, trinamiX GmbH

8 September / 10:30 - 11:00
Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung
Computer-aided dialogue systems - can computers express feelings?
Speaker: Milica Gašić, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

8 September /13:00 - 13:30
Telekom Stiftung
Man versus machine. A simulation game about artificial intelligence.
Speaker: Ekkehard Winter, Managing Director Telekom Stiftung, Simone Opel, University of Paderborn

8 September / 13:00 - 13:30
Leibniz Association
Language in Interaction - How Children and Adults Communicate
Speaker: Nicole Gotzner, Leibniz Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS)

Wisdom of the Media? Text analysis in the economic forecast
Speaker: Thore Schlaak, Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin), Leibniz-Institut

Rudolf Virchow completed - Single cell medicine
Speaker: Mir-Farzin Mashreghi, Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin (DRFZ), Leibniz-Institut

Swarm intelligence
Speaker: Jens Krause, Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.

Device inspiring research - how real innovation emerges from materials research
Oliver Bierwagen, Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik

8 September / 13:00 - 13:30
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Crspr-Cas9 and the Future of Nutrition - Plant Breeding in Times of Climate Change
Speaker: Bernd Müller-Röber, Head of Research Group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam

08. September / 15:00 - 15:30
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Our Suitcase Full of `Value´ Things for the Future - The Strategic Forecast: A Look at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Speaker: Cordula Klaus, Zukunftsbüro of the BMBF

7 + 8 September
Concrete Utopias
Lightning talk and discussion

Our guests present present different utopian visions of the future and discuss these with the audience.

7 September / 14:00–14:30
“In the future, social media will bring us happiness” – Gemina Picht (FUTURZWEI. Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit)

8 September / 10:30–11:00
“In the future, my data identity will belong to me” – Frederike Kaltheuner (Privacy International)

8 September / 14:00–14:30
“In the future, people will only work as much as they want to” – Michael Bohmeyer (Mein Grundeinkommen e.V.)

7 September / 11:30 / 13:00 / 14:00
8 September / 14:00 / 15:00 / 16:00
Futurology for Everyone
Presentation of Futurium’s Future Boxes

Futurium’s educational materials invite users to explore the future in a playful way. The materials are based on the methodology of futures studies, as well as on education for sustainable development and on design thinking. They encourage pupils to view the future as an opportunity, inspiring them to help shape it in a conscious and self-determined way. The materials will be presented in 30-minute workshops.

7 September / 11:00 / 14:00
8 September / 10:30 / 14:00
The Future on Display
Conversation about how the exhibition emerged

An overview of the process of developing the exhibition. How can you exhibit something that doesn’t yet exist?

Information: German / registration not required

Pondering Playfully
Games make possible futures experienceable

In view of the global challenges with all their overlapping synchronicities and inscrutabilities, we ask ourselves: how can we even think about the future in a meaningful way? How can we as individuals and societies remain capable of acting and organising? And what can we do together to build a liveable future?

Even though we don’t have a time machine, we can still try to make possible futures experienceable in the here and now. We can literally expand the scope for action by bringing reality into play in a theoretical and playful manner. After all, in games we leave our everyday lives behind us, adopt other perspectives and grow beyond ourselves. We see, feel and act differently and more courageously.

And in this way, we discover what the world, and we as human beings, could be like. Whoever plays games, knows that reality is changeable.

By means of games, we jointly create and test different versions of the future. This enables us to better understand and discuss complex interrelationships and far-reaching changes. The future is unwritten. The game’s not yet over!

GAME #1
FUTURE CAT
05. SEPTEMBER / 19:15 – 19:45 UHR

Game on! What happens when you bring jump'n run and grassroots democracy together? We shape the future together, and one thing is guaranteed to be present in it: CATS! Steers FUTURE CAT through Berlin together. Thu, 5.9. 19:15. on time. Opening!

Game #2
CAN’T THEY TAKE A JOKE? Humans Laugh for Machines
Thursday / 19:30 Uhr /20:30 Uhr /21:30 Uhr / 22:30 Uhr / 23:30
Friday - Sunday / 11:00 Uhr / 12:30 Uhr / 14:00 Uhr / 15:30 Uhr / 17:00

A look into a not-too-distant future: everything is automated! Machines can shop, compose music, play chess or Pokémon Go, drive a car, be in civil partnerships with humans, care for the elderly and be politically active. In short: machines can simply do everything better than humans. Everything? Are you sure? No. Not quite. They still can’t take a joke. But they’re doing their very best to learn how. AI has prepared something for you in this regard...

Information: Interactive audio-walk for participants aged 10 and older / German / 30 minutes per round / maximum of 20 participants / registration in the foyer

Game #3
Who’s following whom here?
Friday - Sunday

Whether you’re shopping, standing in a queue or taking a walk – they never leave your side: followers on Facebook, Instagram, etc. Finally, in real life, you can lend suitable weight to your social-media presence – with the help of our followers made of flesh and blood. At Futurium, you can rent them and test them out on the spot. Just don’t be surprised if a troll pops up among them once in a while! Or would you rather become a follower yourself? We train apprentices too, of course.

Information: Speculative experiment for participants aged 12 and older / German / individual duration / no registration required

Game #4
Imagine You’re in a Future where Nobody Gets Old
Friday / 13:00 – 18:00
Saturday + Sunday / 10:00 – 18:00

This room has been set aside for Futurium’s youngest visitors. What does the coexistence of humans, animals and machines look like through children’s eyes – that is, what is the view like without the boundaries and limitations of the adult world? Join us on a daring and creative journey through time. Drop by and see for yourself what it’s like to live in the future. Design clothes of the future, build new creatures, and put everything together in a Bloxels-style, jump'n-run game world – so you can give adults an idea of how you imagine the future.

Supported by the ‘Stärker mit Games’ initiative

Information: Building-new-worlds construction site for children aged 4 to 9 and for the young-at-heart / German / individual duration / max 20 participants / no registration required

Game #5
ALL NEW FROM HERE ONWARDS
Friday / 15:00 / 16:30
Saturday + Sunday 12:00 / 14:00 / 16:00

It's late 2019: Global challenges are escalating to the point of no return; the world is at a crossroads. The newly established Federal Ministry for Development and the Future (FMDF) is sending a team of fearless researchers from various disciplines into the future to collect data using special multi-sensory equipment. The present MUST finally allow itself to be guided by the future! Humanity’s last hope depends on the insights that the research team will bring back... But wait! Is it possible that individuals on the mission are pursuing completely different interests?

Information: German / 30–45 minutes / maximum of 20 participants / registration in the foyer

Game #6
6-8 September / 10:00 – 18:00
Just Add People
Construction game around the future of mobility

For Futurium’s opening, we invite all visitors to explore with us the future of mobility. The makers of the game Just Add People have developed specially for this occasion a version using mobility cards that allows players to invent a world of their own consisting of vehicles, ships and (as yet) unknown flying objects. You can also play with mobility infrastructures of the future that we cannot even begin to imagine today. Brand-new, useless and necessary relationships – between people, objects and environments – emerge by means of wooden rods, neon-yellow connectors and brightly coloured spraying chalk. In cooperative processes, and with the help of exciting mission cards, new worlds are easily built, redesigned and torn down.

Information: German / English / children and young people up to the age of 16 may only participate if accompanied by an adult

6–8 September / 10:00–18:00
Open Lab
Having a tinker with the future

During the opening weekend, the workshop at the Futurium Lab is open to everyone and anyone interested. We will conduct small experiments, work with electric kits and solve creative design tasks related to the topics of our exhibition.

Information: German / maximum of 20 participants per workshop / children aged 10 years and up can participate with their parents / no registration required

7 + 8 September / 12:00–18:00
Future-Makers on Site in the Futurium Lab

Talking about the Futurium Lab exhibitsMany of the exhibits in the Futurium Lab were developed by future-makers from the fields of science and art. They will be on site to explain their work. Times for these talks will be found on the information signs at the installations themselves. Drop by and be surprised!

Information: German / English

Guided tours

6-8 September
Futurium Tour ‘Discovering and Shaping the Future’

What might our Earth look like in the future? Which paths do we want to take – and in which direction do we want to go? And what does all of this have to do with me and with my actions, my life and my personal plans for the future? The guided tour of the exhibition invites visitors to embark on a journey to possible futures.

• 6 September / 11:00 / 13:00 / 15:30 / 17:00
• 7 September / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:00 (English) / 12:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 15:30 / 16:30 / 17:00 (English)
• 8 September / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:00 (English) / 12:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 15:30 / 16:30 / 17:00 (English)
  

Information: Registration in the foyer / duration: 60 minutes

6+7 September / 15:00 Uhr / 16:30
Architectural tours

Futurium’s extraordinary modern architecture complements the urban environment of the government district in a remarkable way. On three floors and more than 5,000 square metres of exhibition and programme space, Futurium offers fascinating insights into the world of tomorrow, while in itself embodying a visionary concept of space.

Information: Registration in the foyer / duration: 60 minutes

7+8 September / 10:30 Uhr / 15:30
Children’s tours ‘Diving into the Worlds of the Future’

This guided tour is aimed at primary-school children. It provides a simple, playful introduction to the different ways of dealing with the major topic of our exhibition: how do we want to live in the future?

Information: Registration in the foyer / duration: 60 minutes

5-8 September
Off to the Future: Quiz trail through the exhibition

Children aged 7 to 10 can experience the exhibition of the future on their own and take a dive into the world of tomorrow. A colourful journey into the future awaits them – one that is full of tasks, riddles and discoveries. Our quiz pads are available at the information desk. Grab one and head off into the future!

Information: German / duration: 30 minutes

Music

6-8 September
This is the Sound of the Future
DJ-Set on the forecourt

On each of the launch weekend’s evenings, music of distinction will be played on the forecourt. Every day, different DJs will be on hand to keep the mood good up and the atmosphere relaxed. The perfect way to get in tune with balmy late-summer nights.

Friday / 17:00 – 20:00
[Selam X] RB_JUMBO

[Selam X] RB_JUMBO will show us his best YouTube links in the ‘too_many_tabs_open style’. Experimental to trivial mixing at its finest.

Saturday / 17:00 – 20:00
Arno Cao

Electronic and percussive sounds from all corners of the world. Selected with love and presented with enthusiasm.

Sunday / 16:00 – 19:00
Jazzmin und hansi_brise

Jazzmin and hansi_brise will be presenting the long-awaited, the forgotten, the danceable, and the art of not having to say yes to just any old song wish, because everything comes together on its own and shoots off into the clouds.

Food + Drinks

5 September / 18:00 - 01:00
6 - 8 September /10:00 - 20:00
Culinary offerings in the Restaurant at Futurium

The Restaurant at Futurium – run by Hoflieferanten Berlin – welcomes its guests with contemporary dishes that reflect at the same time the very latest culinary trends. The dishes on offer are always selected with the principles of regionality, seasonality and sustainability in mind. On the launch weekend, we will be serving a variety of dishes, including Bratwurst and Veggie Burger.