Cabinet: the 2014 exhibition of the Anthropocene at the Deutsches Museum

Crumbling skyscrapers, crushed soda cans, trashed plastic bags, and worn-out mobile phones: concrete, aluminum, plastic, and electronics are the physical traces of our time. It is a time in which humans intervene in nature, and thus change and shape it. A world has developed in which humans and their needs play a dominant role in the ecological system. Agriculture, trade, transportation, and industry: as long as humans have existed we have been utilizing and altering our environment. Industrialization, in particular, has contributed to the unmistakable and often irreversible fingerprint that we are making upon the Earth. Today, the human imprint is so deep and pervasive that scientists, policymakers, and society are considering whether human-caused changes are affecting the geological record over the long term—and there is talk that a new geological era has arrived. Welcome to the Anthropocene!

This thesis was first introduced fifteen years ago and has been the topic of much debate since then. At first, the idea of an “Age of Humans” was only discussed among geologists, but now it has evolved into a multidisciplinary mental framework that links scientific and engineering theories and approaches to social and cultural scientific concepts. Humans in the Anthropocene not only intervene in nature as geological and biological actors, they also initiate mental processes in order to reinterpret the relationship between nature and culture, environment and society.

So far, the Anthropocene is only a hypothesis and there is no consensus about its temporal scope or its scientific status. With its special exhibition on the Anthropocene, the Deutsches Museum is taking part in the global debate on this topic. In cooperation with the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, the Deutsches Museum is the first such institution to present the Anthropocene in a large-scale exhibition. In doing so, the two Munich institutions have created a space for reflection, interpretation, and discussion—and for further research on human–nature interrelations.

Covering 1,450 square meters, the gallery inspires visitors to ponder various questions. How could humans gain such an enormous influence on the ecological system? What is typical in the world of the Anthropocene? What will we eat? What will our cities look like? Will machines take control of our world, which is already highly automatized and regulated by algorithms? Through selected topics such as urbanization and mobility as well as evolution and food, the exhibition explores the past, present, and future of humanity. Historical artifacts trace the technology that put us on the path to the Anthropocene, while current research presents the challenges we are facing today, as well as possible solutions. Artistic interpretations provide visions for the future and ask us to look at the world in new ways.

At the entrance, a supersized media cube familiarizes visitors with the Anthropocene by showing short video clips and an additional movie on this topic. The object shelf, which embraces the whole exhibition room and resembles a huge notebook or diary, presents real objects that trace the increasing influence of humans on the natural world, from industrialization to the present.

Six large thematic “islands” address the following topics in detail: urbanization, mobility, humans and machines, nature, food, and evolution. They highlight the Anthropocene’s effects and interactions on a global, biological, and social level. Carefully selected objects in combination with the central installation of film and media stations illustrate the spatial and temporal dimensions of human-caused global change and the chances and challenges we face in the Anthropocene.

The exhibition contains multiple participatory elements. In particular, it invites visitors to answer such pressing questions as: what will the Anthropocene look like in the future? What sort of future do you wish for? What dangers do you see, what motivations are there for change, what are you afraid of, and what are your hopes for the Anthropocene?

Visitors can take a sheet of paper and write down their thoughts, wishes, fears, and suggestions. They fold the paper and place it on a vacant stem in the flower bed. The flowers planted by visitors during the course of the exhibition are being “harvested” and presented online.

The virtual exhibition, interviews, a virtual tour of the exhibition, and further information on the exhibit can be found directly on the webpage of Deutsches Museum.