RetroFuture

The future is now

Experience the future of yesterday with RetroFuture: an astonishing exhibition about humanity's ongoing dreams of the future. RetroFuture explores how we envisioned the future in the past, while reflecting on our understanding of the future today.

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If you want to shape the world to your liking, you have to look ahead, into the future. Change and innovation are initiated by those who believe that the world can be better or different. It's the artists, designers, scientists, and great thinkers who make tangible what others do not yet see.

To the future... and beyond!

In ten tunnels filled with fiction and facts, the visions of yesterday's futurists are on display, experienced and felt. The idealists and the doomsayers, the scientists and the dreamers. What did they imagine the world of today would look like? Were they right?

The future repeats itself and evolution keeps moving forward. What seemed quite strange not too long ago is now familiar (think of video calling). What was once unimaginable is now normal (think of flying). Many future visions remained science fiction (like time travel). What does this mean for how we look at the future today? What can we learn from yesterday's futurists?

Experience it all at the world's first major exhibition on the future of the past.

Discover yesterday's visions of the future

Which dreams have come true and which fantastic ideas remained a fantasy? RetroFuture starts with classic dreams and challenges. From Da Vinci's wish to fly to a jetpack from the Space Age. From Nostradamus predicting the end of the world to the Egyptians believing in eternal life. Future visions from the past are an inspiration for contemporary artists who shed a new light on the future with a surprising mix of objects, film and design.

RetroFuture showcases works from Studio Drift, Maison de Faux & Esmay Wagemans, Audrey Large, Driessens & Verstappen, Tabita Rezaire, Floris Kaay, Michael Mandiberg and Smack.

What seemed quite strange not too long ago—video calling—is now familiar. What was once unimaginable—flying—is now normal. Many future visions—like time travel—remained science fiction. What does this mean for how we look at the future today?

RetroFuture is made possible with the support of Fonds 21, Mondriaanfonds, Het Cultuurfonds and BPD Cultuurfonds. The exhibition is part of the multi-year programming at the Next Nature Museum by Next Nature, made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ministry of Education, Culture & Science, Municipality of Eindhoven, Province of Noord-Brabant and the Brainport Eindhoven Regional Deal.