Science in Exhibitions: Imagining the Future
Science always works with the future. Years may pass between an idea or an experiment born in a laboratory today and a technical solution that becomes part of everyday life. Therefore, it is science museums and outreach centres that prove to be the venues where people can track the most important changes before they become routine. Scientific displays and exhibitions allow us, quite literally, to glimpse the future through a keyhole. What seems like science fiction becomes comprehensible and familiar. Discoveries, devices, and ways of interacting with the world succeed one another, generating a sense of uncertainty. Time is needed to grow accustomed to the new and to fit it into one’s own picture of the world. How can the future be exhibited so that it inspires rather than alarms? And what role can science museums and outreach centres play in preserving a sense of stability in a world that is changing ever faster?