Exhibition: “Safe, Right?” — A traveling exhibition on security research, crisis prevention, and disaster management

A power outage, flooding, or an accident at home: Crises can happen anytime, anywhere, and can’t always be avoided. The new exhibition “Safe, Right?” is on display through September 15 on the ground floor of the University Library and explores how we—as individuals and as a society—can deal with such exceptional situations.

Through interactive stations, the exhibition demonstrates how we can prepare for disasters and crises and what we can do during and after them. Visitors immerse themselves in various scenarios and learn—in a playful way—how to correctly assess situations, share information, make decisions together, and take precautions on their own.

At the interactive stations, for example, visitors explore how information is fed into a situational overview, evaluated, and relayed. They also examine how communication changes when it takes place under time pressure or when confronted with incomplete information and unexpected obstacles. The exhibition highlights that crises are complex, dynamic, and multifaceted, and it underscores the importance of collaboration between emergency responders, government agencies, the scientific community, private organizations, and citizens. The ability to manage crises does not arise solely from technical innovations, but through joint action, knowledge transfer, and an active engagement with future risks. The exhibition invites visitors to engage with the challenges posed by increasing natural hazards and other crisis scenarios and to reflect in a playful way on their own role in preparedness, response, and recovery.

Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space, explains: “Only an informed public can respond to crises with resilience. The exhibition lays precisely this foundation. It shows that security research is not an abstract science, but rather creates concrete solutions for everyday life and makes all our lives safer. This builds trust and strengthens our societal resilience.”

The exhibits are inspired by projects from model regions in Germany that are being developed as part of the Security Research Program (Sifo.de) funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR). Over a period of four years, the selected municipalities, together with their project partners, will test the developed solutions under real-world conditions. In doing so, they will assess how practical the approaches are, adapt them as needed, and further develop them. The goal is to permanently integrate these innovations into municipal crisis preparedness and management. Dialogue with citizens plays a central role in this process.

An accompanying scientific project, BeLIFE, independently analyzes the opportunities and challenges in implementing the project and raises awareness of them on a national level. The exhibition “Sicher, oder?” is part of this accompanying project and brings the topic of security research to various cities throughout Germany as a traveling exhibition. In addition to Freiburg, stops include Bielefeld, Braunschweig, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Dortmund, and Berlin.

The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) is funding the exhibition through its security research program (Sifo.de). The nonprofit organization IMAGINARY conceived the “Safe, Right?” exhibition as part of BeLIFE. All exhibits in the exhibition are available under open licenses.