Annual review 2023

In 2023, focusTerra celebrated a number of successes: the exhibition in planning 'KEEP IT CO₂OL' was honoured with the Optimus Agora Prize from the Swiss National Science Foundation, Museum Night and Fairytale Sunday celebrated record visitor numbers and the exhibition 'Expedition Solar System' was donated to Ukraine.

04.12.2023

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Exhibition in planning

With 'KEEP IT CO₂OL– Tech to the rescue?', the focusTerra team has been working on a major new project since the beginning of the year: together with experts from various fields, focusTerra is developing an exhibition on the possibilities for tackling our excessive CO₂ emissions. Visitors will be invited to engage creatively and critically with the challenges posed by the impending climate catastrophe.

'KEEP IT CO₂OL' was awarded the external page Optimus Agora Prize 2023, which is awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF and swissnex San Francisco and recognises the communication potential of the project.

Award winners on stage — Presentation of the Optimus Agora Prize 2023 at ScienceComm, the national congress for science communication. Image: Peter Rüegg, ETH HK

In order for 'KEEP IT CO₂OL' to open its doors at the end of 2024, we are still looking for partners who want to support this project and enable science to be experienced and touched. Are you also involved?

Waves move on

The special exhibition 'Waves – Dive in!' about waves in everyday life, technology and research was shown in focusTerra until 5 March 2023 and then moved on to the Seemuseum in Kreuzlingen, where it will be on display until 14 April 2024 before moving on to Germany.

A total of 32,000 people have seen the special exhibition since it began in August 2021; around 40% of them were children and young people. The contents of the exhibition are still available online at waves.ethz.ch or can be ordered as an illustrated book in German or English.

Zwei Jugendliche betrachen ein farbenfrohes Bild — Immerse yourself in the colourful world of waves: what can animals see, hear and feel - and we can't? Image: Clara Neugebauer

Guest exhibition on therapeutic bacteria

From 1 September to 29 November 2023, focusTerra hosted the guest exhibition 'The flux under your skin', which took an artistic approach to the question of whether bacteria can be used as drug carriers and specifically controlled in the bloodstream with the help of a magnetic field.

Green and red gaming projection in a dark room — Using the gaming controller to control therapeutic bacteria through simulated human tissue. Image: Andreas Eggenberger

The immersive spatial installation was developed by artist Susanne Winterling in collaboration with Simone Schürle from the Responsive Biomedical Systems Lab at ETH Zurich and invited visitors to merge technology, research and imagination.

Solar system exhibition for Ukraine

The special exhibition 'Expedition Solar System' was translated into Ukrainian and transported to Chernivtsi in Ukraine in October. It will be shown there by the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in order to familiarise young people in Ukraine with research despite the ongoing war.

Together with the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, we would like to thank all the individuals, organisations, companies and foundations who have supported us in this project.

Visitor records

Zurich's Long Night of Museums at the beginning of September once again broke the visitor record: 3,800 visitors were enchanted by light and colour.

Dancer in a white dress — Colours were even danced at Zurich's Long Night of Museums. Image: Gillian Grün

The experimentation and storytelling afternoon in January also attracted a large number of visitors: more than 400 mostly new visitors found their way to us on this rainy Sunday to listen to fairy tales and music and then explore the properties of waves.

Other selected current projects:

focusTerra has joined the external page Environmental Emergency Pledge of Ecsite, the European network of science centres and museums, and is thus setting an example for sustainability together with like-minded institutions throughout Europe and the USA. Ulrike Kastrup was Vice President of Ecsite until her term expired in summer 2023.
The existing audio guide on volcanoes has been revised and can now also be used by visitors on their own devices (online).
Together with the Earth Science Collections, a new crystal growing workshop was developed for children and young people, which can be booked for groups and is offered as a holiday activity in the summer.
The simulation of the Earth's interior from the focusTerra permanent exhibition is now also on display in the new external page permanent exhibition at the Natural History Museum Vienna.
focusTerra in the media