A more sustainable way of life is currently more important than ever. However, it requires changes that need to be shaped through active participation. But what can we change? And what role can the museum play in this? In order to discuss these and other topical questions about sustainable thinking and action with each other and with visitors, colleagues from museum education and science developed and implemented a project for the spring of 2023 in a productive exchange that was intended to be a workshop for ideas, a place for creativity and the exchange of knowledge—and it was! The centerpiece was a studio for workshops and an event area with a café and reading corner for lectures and discussions in the exhibition space. This area was also used more and more by a number of employees, who were thus able to come into direct contact with our visitors in a completely new way. This center was surrounded by various thematic islands—Peace, Consumption/Recycling, Blossoming Landscapes, Diversity/Education, and Draiflessen/Sustainable Exhibiting—in which selected artistic positions were presented in a theme-specific manner.

Of crucial relevance here was the fact that museum work in general is increasingly concerned not only with questions of ecological and economic sustainability, but above all with questions of social and cultural sustainability. This means working with and on the museum’s own collection and—closely linked to this—it involves the question of how to communicate it. With a wide range of lectures, workshops, and guided tours geared toward the needs of a broad public, we succeeded in inviting visitors to the museum who played a gratifyingly active role. The project was a success in line with the annual motto “Shaping Transitions.” Quite independently of this, however, the topic of sustainability remains on the museum’s agenda.