Humanity has always been fascinated by ideas, visions and versions of the future. Faced with global challenges, themes like resource scarcity, climate crisis and socioeconomic injustice dominate social awareness. Designers and artists increasingly focus on aspects of possible “futures”: The plural reflects the options, scenarios and also the uncertainty with which we look forward.
Design no longer sees itself as a discipline solely of aesthetics and function. It searches for possibilities, explores systems and processes, and is often outcome-independent. This exhibition shows that design serves as a source of inspiration, threading together research, industry and society. 150 years after the museum was founded, we consider the role of design in
the world of tomorrow. Across three chapters, the exhibition explores themes of the distant and near futures.
WHAT IF …
The first chapter of the exhibition shows proposals from the fields of art and design, which use speculative methods to make different futures visible and tangible. Symbiotic, post-human, and interspecies relationships are the focus. We question the role and responsibility of humans within the ecosystem. The emphasis is on cooperation with microorganisms, cohabitation with animals and plants, or the protection of Martian inhabitants. Visitors encounter not only post-apocalyptic futures, but also positive and desirable ones. Nevertheless, one thing is clear: human behavior must change fundamentally, and swiftly.
With works by
Juliana Schneider, Superflux, Alexandra Fruhstorfer, Institute of Queer Ecology, Pei-Ying Lin, Studio Circology, Nonhuman Nonsense, Bea Brücker & Vincent Goos, Theresa Schubert, Johanna Seelemann with Fraunhofer Institut, Near Future Laboratory
Curators of the overall concept:
Sabine Epple, Silvia Gaetti
https://www.grassimak.de/en/museum/upcoming/futures/
