March 27 – November 8

Light and Shadow in Optical Technologies

Light is shaping our future. This is the focus of the new special exhibition Ways of Light – Licht und Schatten optischer Technologien at the Deutsches Museum Nuremberg – the Museum of the Future.

Optical technologies influence far more than technical innovation: they also shape social structures and political decisions. At the same time, they raise important ethical questions. Who benefits from these developments? How should they be used? And what kind of future do they create? The exhibition explores these issues and invites visitors to reflect on the opportunities, risks, and possible futures connected with light-based technologies.

The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with SAOT (Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies) at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. Bringing together current research and museum expertise, it shows the role optical technologies already play in our lives today—and the impact they may have in the years to come.
“Ways of Light – Licht und Schatten optischer Technologien” will be on view at the German Museum Nuremberg from March 27, 2026.

Optical technologies are among the key technologies of our time. They enable us to harness light in almost every area of life, including:

• communication
• health and medical technology
• mobility
• digitalization
• sensing
• energy
• security
• manufacturing

This is not entirely new. Light has long been used as a tool because it is often cost-effective, gentle, and highly precise. Laser-based medical procedures and fibre-optic communication are just two examples. Even if it is not always obvious, these technologies ultimately rely on the controlled use of light.

Light and the Spirit of the Age

Like many other technologies, optical technologies reflect the priorities of their time. Can light help make industrial processes more sustainable? Can it contribute to a better future?
Research and innovation in optical technologies have the potential to transform key processes in ways that support both sustainability and digitalization. In this sense, they offer enormous potential: they can help reduce energy consumption while continuing to drive economic growth.

Light and Society

Technologies are never developed in isolation. Optical technologies, too, are closely tied to social change, political power structures, and ideas about the future.

• Who has access to advanced and strategically important technologies such as photolithography -and what advantages does that create?
• At whose expense are new technologies deployed? Who benefits from new, highly precise and minimally invasive medical treatments — and who decides?
• Do we want technologies such as lasers to be used as weapons?
• Who is allowed to use them, and against whom?

The exhibition presents cutting-edge applications of optical technologies and places them in a broader social context. It asks how these technologies affect society, politics, nature, culture, and our personal lives. The exhibition is divided into four thematic areas:

• Security
  From optical sensing systems used to identify people, to illuminated pathways that make us feel safer at night, to the reality behind so-called “light weapons” somewhere between Star Wars and military technology: optical technologies are often used in the name of safety. But every application has its darker side. The exhibition addresses issues such as data privacy, light pollution, and military use.
• Health
  Optical technologies — especially lasers — are revolutionizing medicine. Procedures can be performed more quickly and less invasively, reducing recovery times and costs. Light also plays a key role in diagnostics. To ensure that new medical methods remain accessible and inclusive, research and application must be accompanied by public debate.
• Communication
  Fibre-optic internet keeps us connected across the globe in real time. Highly realistic digital images of the world make virtual reality and visions of the metaverse possible. These are all optical technologies, and they raise fundamental questions about what is real — and who or what we can still trust.
• Manufacturing
  Optical technologies make manufacturing cost-efficient, highly precise, and, in some cases, globally consequential. Microchips cannot be produced without them, and chips have become one of the most sought-after resources of our time. Their production is shifting global power balances and creating politically sensitive situations

Interactive stations explain the physics behind these technologies and offer visitors hands-on ways to engage with complex social and ethical questions.

A Report from the Future

How will the technologies we are developing today shape tomorrow’s world? To make this question more tangible, the exhibition features future scenarios in which people from the year 2139 describe their everyday lives and working worlds. They talk about how they use optical technologies — and how these have changed society.

Explore the Exhibition with Ledina

Young visitors aged 8 to 12 can discover the exhibition alongside Ledina, a small LED character featured in a series of cartoons. Ledina explains the physical properties of light in a simple and engaging way.