08.10.2019
Exploring the Future at Futurium – More Than 100,000 Visitors Already
Futurium celebrated its opening on 5 September 2019. Since then, public interest in our house of futures has exceeded the most optimistic expectations. In the first month alone, around 100,000 visitors passed through the doors of Futurium and engaged themselves with the question: how do we want to live?
Responding to the tremendous reception received by the house of futures in its first few weeks, Futurium’s Director Dr Stefan Brandt says: “We are overwhelmed by our visitors’ feedback, which has exceeded all our expectations. According to our observations, visitors of almost all age groups and social origins are coming to Futurium – so our audience represents a large cross-section of society. Many international guests have also found their way to Futurium.”
Nicole Schneider, Commercial Managing Director of Futurium, adds: “I am delighted by the positive response our house of futures has received. The large number of visitors shows us that people are seriously interested in the question of how we want to live and how we can shape our future. My special thanks go to the Futurium team, whose unflagging commitment has ensured that everything has run smoothly since the opening.”
The exhibition highlights five topics taken directly from the daily lives experienced by our visitors: nutrition, health, energy, work and urban life. Visitors can discover different ways of shaping the future in the three large thinking spaces Human, Nature and Technology. Within these thinking spaces, the topics are linked to the great challenges of our time. At Futurium, all content has been developed by a team of scientists. Numerous experts from the spheres of science and civil society have advised us on the selection of content, helped us put it into concrete terms, and then looked over the resulting concepts and texts.
The Futurium Labis a place for trying things out: in creative workshops, visitors of all ages can involve themselves playfully with future technologies and tinker about with new inventions. The Showcase is where future-makers present their ideas.
The Forum is the place where people talk to each other. Scientists, artists, future-makers and curious citizens exchange their different perspectives with one another. It is also a place where a variety of possible answers and different future designs coexist side by side.
“We are particularly pleased to see that many people are spontaneously discussing issues of the future at the exhibition or in the Lab,” says Brandt. “The time seems to be ripe for a concept like Futurium, which deals holistically with the great challenges of the future in its three dimensions of nature, human and technology. With our programme, we wish to encourage as many visitors as possible to help shape a sustainable future.”
More events in 2019:
At numerous lectures, workshops and performances, visitors will have the opportunity to discover, try out and discuss scenarios of the future.
Perfect Match: What is artificial intelligence capable of? Speed-Dating with AI Experts
31 October 2019, 18:00–21:00, free admission.
Flirting for a scientific cause: participants get to know AI-based systems and their makers. With the speed-dating format “Perfect Match”, any question is then allowed. It’s all about closing gaps in knowledge, verifying things you’ve heard about, or simply learning more about your counterpart’s profession. The experts are from research and development, use AI in their working environment or are involved in pioneering decision-making in political forums. In cooperation with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and Plattform Lernende Systeme (PLS), Germany’s platform for artificial intelligence.
Ranga Yogeshwar & Iyad Rahwan: Human Machine – Who’s Programming Whom?
28 November 2019, 20:00–22:00, admission 10 euros, reduced-price admission 5 euros.
The events series “Ranga Yogeshwar & ...” focuses on the rapid development of artificial intelligence and its implications. It provokes a confrontation with the prevailing, culturally-shaped understanding of the world and raises new ethical questions. With the support of the network partner Falling Walls Foundation.
Future-of-Health Festival: How will we feel tomorrow?
5 to 8 December 2019, further details to follow shortly.
Four days filled with discussion rounds, workshops, mindfulness training, VR games and the Pub Quiz – all focussing on ground-breaking questions about the future of health: will we soon be immortal? Will climate change become a risk to our health? And what would it mean if the latest technologies were used to modify the genome of unborn babies?
Further information can be found at https://futurium.de/de/veranstaltungen.
Futurium is open Wednesdays to Mondays from 10:00 to 18:00, and Thursdays from 10:00 to 20:00; on Tuesdays, we are closed. Admission is free.
