The interactive exhibition “PolsXtrems: Your gym for training critical thinking” – an ICIP project developed in collaboration with the Directorate General for Dissemination – closed its doors on Sunday 17 May to resounding public success. Over the course of three months, the show drew up to 28,000 visitors, transforming Palau Robert’s Exhibition Room 2 into a gym for training critical thinking.
The exhibition also captured the interest of educational centres: 700 secondary school and vocational training students visited the show through guided tours led by the association Verificat, as a pedagogical resource for developing critical thinking in the classroom.
Produced by ICIP and curated by the creative studio Domestic Data Streamers – responsible for the art direction and museography – “PolsXtrems” is a high-intensity circuit training course designed to put critical thinking to the test, resist toxic polarization, and stimulate curiosity and respect for those who think differently.
In a context of information overload, where disinformation and hate speech spread with alarming ease and polarization is on the rise, the exhibition space recreated a training room with a range of activities aimed at building mental flexibility and a critical mindset, and raising awareness of unconscious biases and the importance of fact-checking. The final section of the circuit recreated a changing room where visitors were invited to listen to different points of view on current social debates, such as immigration, housing and tourism.
