Universum Bremen – sustainable exhibition and financing concept

The scientific experience museum Universum Bremen has become one of the city’s key features. In the context of Expo 2000 in Germany, the first part of the facility, the Science Center (Wal), was opened as a purely private-sector establishment. Over the last few years, more than 100,000 people a year have visited the 4000m² permanent exhibition, which covers the topics Expedition Mankind, Expedition Earth and Expedition Cosmos. In 2007, the Universum® was extended to include the DiscovererPark outside area and the cube-shaped SchauBox. Declining visitor numbers are making it necessary to rethink the concept, and this is going hand in hand with alterations to the buildings.

The work is being based on the Universum Bremen Strategy 2015+ produced in 2012.
Alongside trends from the field of the communication of science, the concept describes the future thematic orientation of the permanent exhibition in the Universum/Wal. In future, there will be closer co-operation with schools and universities in order to further enhance the Universum’s profile as an out-of-school centre of learning and as a platform for a scientific dialogue. So far, the concept of the Universum® has been summed up as go along, be amazed, find out, but in future, it is to include discover, understand, assess and to contribute towards.