We Have Never Been Only Human

The members of the responsible Junge Akademie's Research Group understand the posthuman, the "more-than-human" and the "non-human" not as an abstract theoretical field, but as a question that is equally relevant across a wide range of disciplines: from human genetics and the neurosciences, art history and philosophy, robotics and systems biology, to theology, history and the arts. In this context, the posthuman is understood not merely as a diagnosis of the present, but also as a historical and aesthetic figure – Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (1818) already responded to a world transformed by the eruption of Mount Tambora, whilst simultaneously raising the question of whether humankind is "playing God". The Research Group therefore examines the posthuman, the more-than-human and the non-human in their temporal density – through the interplay of historical perspectives, contemporary imperatives and future thought experiments. What unites the members is the conviction that many of the most pressing questions of our time – from the climate crisis and artificial intelligence to the potential interventions of genetic engineering – can no longer be answered if humanity continues to be regarded as the sole yardstick for the world and reality, without taking diversity and living environments into account.

The twelve speculations presented in this exhibition are not definitive answers, but rather experimental set-ups. They take the collections, spaces and history of this museum seriously, in order to ask – in a site-specific manner and in dialogue with them – what remains when humans are no longer placed at the centre – and what might take their place: animals, plants, machines, microbes, data, objects. The fact that artistic and scientific perspectives not only complement one another but also repeatedly merge is no coincidence, but rather a deliberate choice: the question of the posthuman can only be posed in an interdisciplinary manner.

Runtime: Fri, 30/10/2026 to Sun, 20/06/2027

Price: €10.00

Reduced price: €5.00

Reduced price info: The following persons are entitled to a reduced admission fee upon presentation of the relevant proof of eligibility:

- Pupils, students, trainees, persons doing voluntary service

- Pensioners

- People with disabilities (from GdB 50)

- People who receive transfer benefits (S-Ticket, unemployment benefit, citizen's benefit or benefits regulated by the Asylum-Seekers' Benefits Act)

- Charité employees with the corresponding ID cardMuseums Pass

- Members of Freundeskreis der Charité

- Stationary patients
 

Free admission:

- Holders of the Museumsbund or ICOM card

- Holders of a press card

- Members of the Friends of the Museum

- Students and apprentices of Charité

- Persons accompanying disabled persons (registered in disabled persons official certificate)

Takes place here:

• Charité - Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum