When UNPLUGGED travelled to Slovakia, it entered a completely different context. From May to August 2024, the exhibition was presented at the newly opened Environmental Centre Klimapark Kysak, operated within the Košice region and dedicated to environmental education.
This setting gave UNPLUGGED an opportunity to reach one of its youngest and most diverse audiences.
The Klimapark works with kindergarten children, primary and secondary school students, as well as university students. During the exhibition period, 3,222 people visited the centre: 1,530 secondary school students, 1,254 primary school pupils, 201 kindergarten children and another 237 participants attending open days, information days, seminars and conferences.
The exhibition complemented the centre’s existing educational programme on climate change, waste, transport, consumption and environmental protection. UNPLUGGED added another layer to these discussions: the circular economy, electronic waste and our increasingly intensive relationship with electrical and electronic devices.
One observation from this stage of the journey was particularly revealing. The organisers reported being surprised that the concept of the circular economy was still relatively unfamiliar to many secondary school students. The exhibition therefore became an entry point into a subject that is likely to become increasingly important in their lives.
Visitors were also invited to imagine the future themselves. Four Future Scenarios were collected, giving participants an opportunity to describe possible relationships with technology from their own perspective.
And the youngest visitors discovered their own favourite part of UNPLUGGED: the oversized plush plug. According to the report, kindergarten children and primary school pupils liked it so much that some wanted to take it home as a toy.
A playful object thus became an unexpected gateway to a serious conversation about energy, electronic waste and the resources hidden inside the devices surrounding us.