From 3 to 31 March 2026, the exhibition “The Future Is Today” will be closed due to refurbishment works. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The Future is Now takes a closer look at the challenges of the modern world and helps to better understand them. It showcases the results of combining cutting-edge research with technological advances, encouraging a critical view of their implications. It also draws attention to the relationship between our personal values and the values of others. It shows that we shape the future and influence the course of events.
The exhibition features state-of-the-art robots - a humanoid Ameca who communicates thanks to AI, the robotic Babyclon® and a robodog that you can control yourself. Read more about our robot family.
The three faces of the future
The exhibition explores three key themes:
A digital brain?
How does artificial intelligence know what we are thinking about? Is it possible to befriend a robot? Where does a computer artist look for inspiration?
This part of the exhibition prompts thoughts about the limits of trust, privacy, intimacy, a sense of security and new definitions of art and creativity in a world built with the help of modern technologies.
Artificial intelligence is always at our fingertips today, as long as you use a smartphone. Its operating principle is showcased on the basis of two neural network models - a historical one, based on the pandemonium model developed in the 1950s and a more complex one that recognised handwritten numbers. AI is not only learning to read and respond appropriately to our emotions, but is becoming increasingly adept at mimicking and 'showing' them. Is there room for such a technology in the world of our emotions? It is a matter of personal choices and individual boundaries. You can reflect on establishing them by looking at a hologram figurine that came straight from Japan, where it is growing exceedingly popular among single people. The robotic infant allows you to assess your own attitude towards humanoid robots. It is so realistic that it causes the so-called uncanny valley effect in most people.
You will also learn about robotic artists and their works. You will listen to the composition by AIVA, which knows more than 30,000 scores of the greatest composers in history. You will look into the Cubist mirror and paint a picture together with artificial intelligence.
The exhibits are divided into four thematic zones:
#Basics of AI #Relationships #Creativity #Trust
Mission: Earth
What will the future Earth look like? Will it still remain the same planet? What are the odds that we will continue to live comfortably? What are they for the next generations?
This part of the exhibition focuses on ideas about the future world as our place to live. It concerns environmental degradation, global warming and future cities.
The Globe, which overshadows the exhibition, helps to look at the Earth from the cosmic perspective and to see visualisations of data on climate change, CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere, as well as migration. Mandy Barker's photographs show thousands of plastic objects dumped on the beach of the uninhabited and pristine Henderson Islands. They show old fishing nets, plastic packaging and toys nibbled on by marine animals alongside microplastic fibres. You can also see the latter under a microscope by looking at a sample of sand from a beach on the Vistula River. The Wobbly Balance exhibit looks like a Jenga tower, but the individual pieces differ in size. They are symbolic representations of species and the links between them.
At the exhibits, you will also discover the extent to which our everyday decisions have an impact on reducing plastic consumption and CO₂ emissions on a global scale. You will also have an opportunity to try your hand at managing the city's green energy supply and test the performance of solar panels, nuclear and wind power plants.
Human 2.0
What would it be like to have an extra thumb? When will microrobots replace pills? Could genetic modification and sensory implants become a part of our reality? What might future human evolution look like?
This part of the exhibition makes us consider the limits of taking care of health and quality of life. Life sciences are no longer exclusively about research, instead they are becoming intertwined with engineering and arts. We build replacement parts for humans - printing cartilage, bones and even bionic pancreases and new organs. We connect our brains to computers and communicate. Drugs now come in the form of nucleic acids, proteins, cells or even robots. We understand biology so well that we are able not only to cure diseases, but also to improve our bodies. You can see a bionic pancreas, printed cartilage, microrobots used in medical procedures, cerebral implants and high-tech prostheses.
Artists' works are also an important part of the exhibition - Proteus 3.0, which is based on human-computer interaction, Emilia Tikki's Æon, which is a reflection on the gravity of potential choices concerning immortality, and the Third Thumb, which tests the usefulness of such an organ.
“The Future Is Now” exhibition and educational programme were created under the “Educational-informative campaigns aimed at popularising the benefits of the use of digital technologies” project, which is executed by The Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland together with National Research Institute NASK and Copernicus Science Centre. The campaigns are aimed at promoting the use of technologies in everyday life by persons of different ages, breaking the barriers in the field, and increasing the digital competences of our society. The project encompasses five areas: quality of life, public e-services, network security, programming, and a digital future.
