The Future Ship (opens February 2026)
The Naval Museum’s new exhibition The Future Ship is a thematically designed journey through the present, the past, and the future. The exhibition explores what security means in our time and how we can collectively reflect on the possibilities and challenges of the future. Through objects, stories, sound, interactivity, and artistic expressions, visitors are invited to reflect and engage in dialogue about safety, defense, democracy, and human values.
Understanding the Future Through History
We live in a time of growing uncertainty, with war in our vicinity, climate change, technological risks, and social polarization shaping the conditions of people’s lives. The Future Ship begins in this contemporary moment, asking how we can understand and build security in a rapidly changing world.
The exhibition connects historical and contemporary examples from the Navy and maritime defense with today’s societal issues and future perspectives. It shows how the concept of security can be interpreted in many ways – from military defense to human safety, social trust, and climate sustainability.
On Board The Future Ship
The Future Ship is designed as a vessel – a symbol of cooperation, movement, and shared direction. On board, different voices, perspectives, and experiences meet. Visitors become the ship’s crew, invited to navigate together between the challenges of the present and the possibilities of the future.
Through interactive experiences, stories, and objects from the museum’s collections, the exhibition explores how threats and security have evolved over time and how they shape our view of the future. Historical narratives are interwoven with contemporary voices and visions of what lies ahead, giving each visitor the opportunity to reflect, collaborate, and imagine different futures.
Three Perspectives on the Security of the Future
To understand future security challenges, we need to view them from multiple angles.
The Future Ship is built around three perspectives that help visitors interpret the world beyond the purely military and see the future as something we all participate in shaping:
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Futures literacy is about imagining multiple futures and using futures thinking as a tool to make wise decisions in the present.
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Human security puts human well-being at the center, widening the notion of security to include living conditions, health, the environment, and democratic values.
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Wicked problems describe complex societal challenges with no simple solutions – issues that require cooperation, reflection, and new ways of thinking.
Knowledge, Participation, and Hope for the Future
The Future Ship is an exhibition that does not offer ready-made answers, but instead invites a shared exploration of the future. With this exhibition, the Naval Museum aims to strengthen visitors’ ability to reflect, collaborate, and envision the future. By learning from history and understanding our present, we can work together to shape a more sustainable tomorrow.
The Future Ship is designed for both adults and children, encouraging shared learning and conversations across generations. The content is suitable for children from around twelve years of age.