16 October 2025 press release

One of humanity's greatest achievements is the preservation of knowledge. Without it, cultural and technological progress would be unthinkable. The new exhibition "Forget it?! The future and past of knowledge storage " ventures on "a journey through the history of remembrance culture" while looking ahead to the future of knowledge storage and the scientific principles on which it is based. The exhibition is being organised by the German Museum of Books and Writing in cooperation with the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig.

Even in the days of classical antiquity, Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness, showed how closely remembrance and oblivion are intertwined. Modern-day developments – impacted by global connectivity, the rise of artificial intelligence and even the decoding of our genes – have given this topic a new sense of urgency. While some celebrate the unprecedented possibilities of data storage, others fear the black hole of amnesia. One person's utopia is another person's nightmare, the nightmare of losing control over a flood of knowledge.

Besides telling the story of the hunger stones that warned of impending drought in medieval times and explaining the uses of memory chains, the exhibition "Forget it?! The future and past of knowledge storage" sheds light on the existential questions of nuclear semiotics, takes a look inside bioarchives, evidence rooms and time capsules, and explores the first attempts to store knowledge in DNA. It undertakes a journey through the history of remembrance culture that spans vast periods of time, and presents the history of humanity as a history of knowledge preservation.

Without stored knowledge, there would be neither cultural nor technological innovation – indeed, there would be no future at all. At a time in which increasing volumes of digital data are being transmitted in a matter of milliseconds, the question of how we store information has become more pressing than ever before: will we still know anything about ourselves in a hundred years' time?

"Forget it?!" examines the conflict between remembrance and forgetting, between digital overload and cultural amnesia. While AI, microelectronics and global connectivity are opening up new possibilities for storing knowledge, there is also a growing fear of digital oblivion: data loss, obsolete storage media, lack of accessibility, political censorship. The future of remembrance is not only a technical challenge but also a political and ethical one.

Above all, however, the exhibition addresses social issues such as the "right to be forgotten" in digital space, or the threat posed by global regimes to the preservation of global knowledge. Particular attention is paid to the highly topical debate on access to knowledge – who has it, who controls it, and who is kept out?

With interactive stations, “Forget it?!“ also invites visitors to participate: what would you put in your personal time capsule? What would you like to forget – and what must humanity never forget? Have you ever experienced data loss? What does your personal Ariadne's thread through the digital labyrinth look like?

A mini-festival titled "Day of Oblivion – and Remembrance" will be taking place from 10:00 to 16:00 on Saturday 8 November 2025 to mark the opening of the exhibition. Held in cooperation with the University of Leipzig, the City of Leipzig, Wissensspuren e.V. and numerous scientific and cultural institutions, the programme will feature workshops, guided tours, lectures and walks. The festival will explore what we want to remember and what we have to leave behind in order to move forward. It will be a day to reflect, to tell stories, to share experiences, to marvel.

Information

Title: Forget it?! The future and past of knowlede storage
Place: German Museum of Books and Writing, Leipzig
Duration: 24 October 2025 to 22 March 2026
Cooperation: German Museum of Books and Writing - German Institute for Literature Leipzig

Website: dnb.de/EN/forgetit

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Background

The German National Library collects, documents and archives all written publications and sound recordings issued in Germany since 1913 together with works in German and about Germany published worldwide; it then makes them available to the public. It offers a comprehensive range of services at its sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that can be accessed all over the world.

With the the German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Exile Archive 1933-1945, the German National Library also has valuable and rich special collections. It regularly organises readings, exhibitions, presentations and concerts to draw attention to its treasures and promotes a culture of books, reading and music with a diverse programme of events.

The German National Library welcomes donations to support its work. Whether for general purposes or specifically for the areas of education, collections, cultural programmes and research - donations help us preserve our national cultural heritage, educate our public in the fields of science and culture, and kindle their enthusiasm. Any support helps!
www.dnb.de/EN/engagement

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Press image material is only available in German.

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