The Grassi Museum of Applied Art in Leipzig, one of the most important institutions of its kind in Europe, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year (ndion 30 July). As part of the year-long anniversary programme, the special exhibition ‘Futures Material and Design of Tomorrow’ will be on show from 21 November to 24 August 2025.

In the face of global challenges such as resource scarcity, the climate crisis and social and economic inequality, the exhibition announcement states that designers and artists are therefore exploring aspects of possible ‘futures’. The use of the plural reflects ‘the options, scenarios and also a certain uncertainty with which we face what is to come’. In this context, design explores multiple possibilities: exploring systems and processes, engaging with other disciplines from the natural and social sciences to computer science, and linking research, industry and society. Design is often surprisingly open-ended, as the announcement states: ‘In the face of long overdue steps towards more sustainable industrial production, innovative design disciplines are exploring and questioning the present’.

The exhibition is divided into three chapters focusing on themes of the near and distant future: The first part – What, If… – deals with questions of future, partly post-human and interspecies perspectives. Here, speculative design approaches and a research-oriented, experimental design approach are central. The second thematic complex – Ready-Made Future – presents materials and products that are the result of an already existing circular economy, but are still underutilised by industry or not yet prominent in public perception. In the third chapter – Material Lab – four universities and a Dutch design studio working at the intersection of biology, design, art and industry present the processes behind their current research. The exhibition is based on numerous collaborations with research institutes, companies and labels in the Netherlands and abroad.