Industrial museum setting with a metal staircase and walkway beside a shipping container with large yellow letters.
Photo: Jakob Hedlund, The Naval Museum/SMMTF. CC-BY

The Future Ship

Step aboard the Future Ship – an interactive exhibition where you explore what security means in our time and in the future. Here, you are not just a visitor, but part of the crew, navigating together through difficult questions, choices, and possible futures.

Understanding the Future Through History

We live in a time of growing uncertainty. War in our region, climate change, technological risks, and social polarization all affect how we view security and the future.

The Future Ship takes its starting point in these questions and explores how security is shaped—not only through military defense, but also through human values, resources, and societal choices. Here, historical experiences from the naval defense meet the challenges of today and possible futures.

On Board the Future Ship

The Future Ship is an immersive exhibition where the present, the past, and the future meet. When you step aboard, you become part of the crew. You move through different parts of the ship, taking a stand, collaborating, and reflecting on the challenges of the future.

Here, it becomes clear that security is not something given, but something shaped in relation to what we choose to protect and prioritize.

What You Can Do in the Exhibition

  • Choose Your Weapon
    Select three items to bring on the journey and see how your choices influence the future that unfolds.
  • The Communications Center
    Listen to stories from people living close to threat, conflict, and crisis.
  • The Storage Deck
    Discover historical objects and encounter stories from the naval defense’s past.
  • The Bridge
    Collaborate with others, make decisions, and navigate dilemmas that affect your journey.

Knowledge, Participation, and Hope for the Future

The Future Ship does not provide ready-made answers. Instead, you are invited to explore, reflect, and engage in dialogue with others.

By making choices and encountering different perspectives, you develop your ability to think about the future—and to understand how the decisions we make today shape what is to come.

Who It’s For

The Future Ship is aimed at both adults and children. From around age 12, young people can engage with the content independently, while younger children experience the exhibition together with an adult. It is designed to be experienced together and encourages conversations across generations.

Image carousel

  • Two teenagers look at an exhibit featuring a drone model in a modern museum setting.
    Choose Your Weapon. Select three items to bring on the journey and see how your choices influence the future that unfolds. Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
    Two teenagers look at an exhibit featuring a drone model in a modern museum setting.
    Choose Your Weapon. Select three items to bring on the journey and see how your choices influence the future that unfolds. | Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
  • Four teenagers explore an interactive exhibit with a tabletop game in a modern museum setting.
    The Bridge. Collaborate with others, make decisions, and navigate dilemmas that affect your journey. Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
    Four teenagers explore an interactive exhibit with a tabletop game in a modern museum setting.
    The Bridge. Collaborate with others, make decisions, and navigate dilemmas that affect your journey. | Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
  • Four teenagers explore the storage room on the Future Ship exhibit.
    The Storage Deck. Discover historical objects and encounter stories from the naval defense’s past. Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
    Four teenagers explore the storage room on the Future Ship exhibit.
    The Storage Deck. Discover historical objects and encounter stories from the naval defense’s past. | Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
  • A visitor uses an interactive screen at a museum exhibi
    The Bridge. Collaborate with others, make decisions, and navigate dilemmas that affect your journey. Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
    A visitor uses an interactive screen at a museum exhibi
    The Bridge. Collaborate with others, make decisions, and navigate dilemmas that affect your journey. | Photo: ©Rickard Cullefors
  • Three teenagers stand in the Future Ship’s communication center, watching events across multiple screens.
    The Communications Center. Listen to stories from people living close to threat, conflict, and crisis. Photo: ©Emil Andersson
    Three teenagers stand in the Future Ship’s communication center, watching events across multiple screens.
    The Communications Center. Listen to stories from people living close to threat, conflict, and crisis. | Photo: ©Emil Andersson