Luigi Micheletti Award

THE LUIGI MICHELETTI AWARD 2021-2022 goes to Futurium, located in the new Forum in the centre of Berlin
among government buildings and near the central railway station. Its first director was Reinhold
Leinfelder who wanted to build a museum of the archaeology of the future, based on the proposition
that future generations should be able to develop freely and should not continue to run into problems
during their lifetime. This concept was developed into Futurium, in which holistic, interdisciplinary,
international and participatory work is carried out and communicated widely. In the Exhibition visitors
are confronted and invited to interact with ideas and visions of the future in three ‘Thinking Spaces’:
Nature, Human, Technology. In the Forum, throughout the museum, people can exchange ideas
about future topics. Visitors get a wristband to be used at points in the exhibition, giving them the
opportunity to position themselves with regard to the hot issues.
The judges said: Futurium, house of futures, presents major future challenges in a stunning,
ideologically neutral way. Visitors can develop their own ideas and visions of the future, in the
museum or digitally, thanks to a clear presentation of topics that are crucial for the future, beginning
with the basic question ‘How do we want to live?’. The museum aims to be an integrated institution in
which science, politics, business, the arts and the social field meet and work together in workshops,
discussions and events. Artists like Olafur Eliasson are invited to contribute to the mission. He did so
by creating the ‘Earth Speakr’, consisting of an app, a website in 25 languages, physical installations
2
and other elements. Every country should have its own Futurium, and this is one of the 30 institutions
co-operating in the FORMS network (Futures-Oriented Museum Synergies).