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Weekend Tips: What to Do This Weekend in Berlin
September 18 to 20, 2026: Events, festivals, exhibitions and more things to do for your perfect weekend in Berlin. more
ON/OFF RELATIONSHIP
How we will share our lives with technology
© Foto: Futurium
„Hi there, how can I simplify your life today?“ We turn to AI with prompts, tasks and requests for analyses, hoping for recommendations, ideas and answers in return. But if we hand over more and more competences to our new assistants, will this really simplify our everyday lives in the long term?
New kinds of roommates and co-workers are moving into our lives: chatbots and robots are being designed to increasingly resemble us, interact and work more closely with us. And as machines become more like us, we, in turn, are moving closer to machines. We augment our bodies with wearables, implants and prostheses and integrate machines into our private and professional routines. We ask artificial intelligence for advice, communicate emotionally and rely on it as an assistant at work. These technologies promise to make our lives easier and to work in our benefit. Nevertheless, a sense of unease remains, as the question inevitably arises as to who will have control of our data and our sense of self.
The technological advances of recent years are transforming the way we interact with machines. How will our social lives change in the presence of increasingly intelligent systems? What do intelligence and consciousness mean in the context of machines? Who can take advantage of these technologies and who is left behind? What interests and ideologies are driving their development? And how do we shape technology responsibly and ethically?
Futurium’s new thematic focus explores how we can shape the relationship between humans and machines in response to these pressing questions. Together, we want to imagine, rethink and discuss how we want to live and work with technology in the future – where to keep it ON, and where to switch it OFF.
In the Exhibition
Intelligent machines, empathetic algorithms, brain implants and augmented realities: the boundaries between people and technology seem to be increasingly blurred. How will our understanding of what it means to be human change? Some see the rapid development of technology as the dawn of a golden age, others fear the risks. So where should we be cautious and where should we feel confident? Explore a spectrum of perspectives on the future of human-machine relations in the exhibition.
Doppelgänger
With Doppelgänger digital copies of us and the ways we communicate are created. The AI gets to know us: our interests, hobbies and memories all through conversation. It turns us into 3D avatars who encounter other visitors’ avatars in a virtual world. But what do our digital reflections do when we’re not there? And just how much of ourselves is actually in them?
TECHnotOXIC
In his project “TECHnotOXIC”, the Italian artist Christian Fogarolli explores the invisible connections we humans have with the digital world. Through futuristic sculptures and a film, “TECHnotOXIC” explores new forms of dependence and vulnerability – which, for Fogarolli, are symptoms of the human condition today. He asks how attention, time, emotions and behaviour are transformed into data, economic value and instruments of control. His artwork thus creates a landscape of body, technology, and power.
Is that AI?
Taking a selfie, uploading it, waiting for likes and comments… that is a thing of the past. The internet of the future will no longer be made by humans. AI will generate texts, images, voices and videos that are not always anchored in thruth and reality. The lines between reputable news and deepfakes, as well as between entertainment and manipulation, are blurring. What can we do to navigate this online maze?
The ever-increasing prevalence of AI-generated images, videos and audio is changing the way we perceive information online. If everything could be fake, what can we still believe? And how can we tell which sources are trustworthy? Check out how well you can spot deepfakes yourself. First, put your skills to the test and take a close look: then decide for yourself if it is real or fake.
Borrowed senses
What if technology allowed us to experience the world through unfamiliar senses? For the “Borrowed Senses” exhibit, Futurium teamed up with students to explore how we might expand the boundaries of our perception in the future. The exhibit features two very different sensory paths.
The first path takes you on an inward journey
“Subtle Sounds” focuses entirely on listening. The moment you put on your headphones, a whole new soundscape unfolds, in which 3D audio blends recordings from nature with musical instruments and human voices. Through your movements, you can explore “Subtle Sounds” of sound as perceived by the common shrew – in ways different from humans – and discover details that would otherwise remain hidden from our ears. The sound installation was developed in collaboration with the Music Design Lab at the Trossingen State University of Music.
The second path opens your eyes to the vastness of space
The virtual reality installation “Becoming Many” takes you on a journey. Using your body, you can navigate through space on a VR flight simulator called ICAROS: Even slight shifts in your centre of gravity can alter your course. Little by little, a world beyond human perception begins to reveal itself. Scents drift across the landscape, movements leave trails, and the magnetic field stretches across the sky. Created in collaboration with the Future Realities Lab at HTW Berlin, the installation reveals what would otherwise remain hidden from our senses.
Book your flight here.
New kinds of roommates and co-workers are moving into our lives: chatbots and robots are being designed to increasingly resemble us, interact and work more closely with us. And as machines become more like us, we, in turn, are moving closer to machines. We augment our bodies with wearables, implants and prostheses and integrate machines into our private and professional routines. We ask artificial intelligence for advice, communicate emotionally and rely on it as an assistant at work. These technologies promise to make our lives easier and to work in our benefit. Nevertheless, a sense of unease remains, as the question inevitably arises as to who will have control of our data and our sense of self.
The technological advances of recent years are transforming the way we interact with machines. How will our social lives change in the presence of increasingly intelligent systems? What do intelligence and consciousness mean in the context of machines? Who can take advantage of these technologies and who is left behind? What interests and ideologies are driving their development? And how do we shape technology responsibly and ethically?
Futurium’s new thematic focus explores how we can shape the relationship between humans and machines in response to these pressing questions. Together, we want to imagine, rethink and discuss how we want to live and work with technology in the future – where to keep it ON, and where to switch it OFF.
In the Exhibition
Intelligent machines, empathetic algorithms, brain implants and augmented realities: the boundaries between people and technology seem to be increasingly blurred. How will our understanding of what it means to be human change? Some see the rapid development of technology as the dawn of a golden age, others fear the risks. So where should we be cautious and where should we feel confident? Explore a spectrum of perspectives on the future of human-machine relations in the exhibition.
Doppelgänger
With Doppelgänger digital copies of us and the ways we communicate are created. The AI gets to know us: our interests, hobbies and memories all through conversation. It turns us into 3D avatars who encounter other visitors’ avatars in a virtual world. But what do our digital reflections do when we’re not there? And just how much of ourselves is actually in them?
TECHnotOXIC
In his project “TECHnotOXIC”, the Italian artist Christian Fogarolli explores the invisible connections we humans have with the digital world. Through futuristic sculptures and a film, “TECHnotOXIC” explores new forms of dependence and vulnerability – which, for Fogarolli, are symptoms of the human condition today. He asks how attention, time, emotions and behaviour are transformed into data, economic value and instruments of control. His artwork thus creates a landscape of body, technology, and power.
Is that AI?
Taking a selfie, uploading it, waiting for likes and comments… that is a thing of the past. The internet of the future will no longer be made by humans. AI will generate texts, images, voices and videos that are not always anchored in thruth and reality. The lines between reputable news and deepfakes, as well as between entertainment and manipulation, are blurring. What can we do to navigate this online maze?
The ever-increasing prevalence of AI-generated images, videos and audio is changing the way we perceive information online. If everything could be fake, what can we still believe? And how can we tell which sources are trustworthy? Check out how well you can spot deepfakes yourself. First, put your skills to the test and take a close look: then decide for yourself if it is real or fake.
Borrowed senses
What if technology allowed us to experience the world through unfamiliar senses? For the “Borrowed Senses” exhibit, Futurium teamed up with students to explore how we might expand the boundaries of our perception in the future. The exhibit features two very different sensory paths.
The first path takes you on an inward journey
“Subtle Sounds” focuses entirely on listening. The moment you put on your headphones, a whole new soundscape unfolds, in which 3D audio blends recordings from nature with musical instruments and human voices. Through your movements, you can explore “Subtle Sounds” of sound as perceived by the common shrew – in ways different from humans – and discover details that would otherwise remain hidden from our ears. The sound installation was developed in collaboration with the Music Design Lab at the Trossingen State University of Music.
The second path opens your eyes to the vastness of space
The virtual reality installation “Becoming Many” takes you on a journey. Using your body, you can navigate through space on a VR flight simulator called ICAROS: Even slight shifts in your centre of gravity can alter your course. Little by little, a world beyond human perception begins to reveal itself. Scents drift across the landscape, movements leave trails, and the magnetic field stretches across the sky. Created in collaboration with the Future Realities Lab at HTW Berlin, the installation reveals what would otherwise remain hidden from our senses.
Book your flight here.
Runtime: Fri, 11/09/2026 to Sat, 11/09/2027
Takes place here:
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