The LABOUR LAB is an interactive laboratory for young people at the Museum Arbeitswelt in Steyr. It uses digital technologies to make the past and future of work engaging and tangible.
The central question is: How did young people work in the past – and how do we want to work in the future?
Using virtual reality and gamification, young people step into the 19th-century world of work. They experience its harsh conditions, explore the lives of early industrial workers, and learn how the first labour movements and trade unions emerged.
The second focus is on the future of work:
How are digitalisation, artificial intelligence and ecological change transforming the world of work? What role do social justice, security and co-determination play?
Mitzi, the virtual factory cat, is a unique educational companion in the LABOUR LAB.
She takes young people on a journey from 19th-century factory life to today’s pressing issues: working hours, sustainability, and digitalisation. The entire exhibition is designed as an interactive puzzle rally – making learning active, fun, and memorable.
Decision-Making Machine for Co-Determination
A central element of the LABOUR LAB is the decision-making machine developed by Ars Electronica Solutions. At five interactive stations, visitors design their personal vision of a future working world. Each of these stations is equipped with a dialogue-oriented chatbot and an interactive voting tool that invites active participation: Participants choose between predefined answer options by throwing in balls.
At the centre are fictitious works council members who appear as animated figures and act in the form of chatbots. Visitors actively shape their professional biographies – by entering into direct dialogue with the characters, making decisions and helping to shape their lives. This creates individually configurable characters whose working realities evolve over the course of the exhibition. Key topics such as pay, working hours, safety, co-determination and the use of new technologies are discussed and explored in greater depth through targeted coordination.
All collected answers flow back into a central, technically sophisticated centrepiece. This central unit links the results from all stations in real time and harmoniously integrates them using LED lighting, sound, and dynamic visualizations. This creates a sensory experience that makes visible how individual decisions influence collective developments.
The decision-making machine thus creates an interactive space for collective reflection — centered around the question:
How do we want to live and work together in the future?
The LABOUR LAB creates a space where young people, in particular, feel taken seriously. It not only imparts knowledge but also fosters a sense of participation – showing that everyone can have an impact on the future of work.
The LABOUR LAB was officially opened on 20 May 2025. The project was developed in collaboration with the Museum Arbeitswelt, Smesh and Ars Electronica Solutions. The Upper Austrian Chamber of Labour is supporting the project.
