Trial of the Century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Which way to the future?

Trials of the Century - Season 5

From Monday, November 17, 2025 to Monday, March 16, 2026

What if we all questioned the struggles, issues and shortcomings of our contemporary societies in the form of a real-life mock trial involving experts, witnesses and exhibits from the Mucem collections?
This fifth season of Trials of the Century invites us to act in the face of the urgencies of a sick world tempted to turn back the clock: how can we avoid sinking into catastrophism? How can we warn without becoming tense? How can we work together to design a desirable, sustainable future? Be indignant, denounce, inform, gather, legislate, plan, celebrate, think, imagine, educate, love… where’s the future?

Moderated by Rokhaya Diallo, Nora Hamadi, Thomas Legrand, Paloma Moritz, François Saltiel.
A series of meetings devised and produced by the Mucem.

Events (14)

Free of charge
Commission of inquiry © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

The Inquiry Commission

Les procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Workshop
The Commission of Inquiry is a workshop for reflection and discussion open to all, during which participants play at thinking, putting points of view into dialogue and embodying different experiences.
For half a day, participants take up the subject of the next Trial of the Century and learn together how to develop arguments and testimonies, some of which can be put on the stand and debated at the next Trial of the Century. Between the art of persuasion and theater, the Commission of Inquiry brings a civil counterpoint to debates, because the issues of our world are everyone’s business. A proposal led, depending on the dates, by Grégoire Ingold (director) and Fabienne Jullien (actress)...
Free of charge
Overseas: relegated territories, sacrificed territories? Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Overseas: relegated territories, sacrificed territories?

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Nora Hamadi With Malcom Ferdinand (environmental engineer) and Benoît Trépied (anthropologist)
With the participation of Françoise Dallemagne, in charge of research and collections at Mucem. Environmental scandals, high living costs, struggles for autonomy: the French overseas territories are facing a host of challenges in which the weight of the past and colonial logics still weigh heavily. Between tourist postcard clichés and uncontrolled lawless zones, how can these territories find their rightful place, specific and singular, far from these stereotyped and instrumentalized images?...
Free of charge
Alerte sciences en danger Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Science alert

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: François Saltiel With David Chavalarias (mathematician and writer) and Valérie Masson-Delmotte (climatologist, research director at CEA)
With the participation of Enguerrand Lascols, heritage curator, head of the Domestic Life department at Mucem. Withdrawal of funding, redundancies, censorship of data: in the United States, certain areas of research and science are in such peril that they are referred to as an “anti-science crusade”. At the same time, conspiracy theories and fake news are fuelling mistrust of proven scientific truths. Faced with the danger of new obscurantisms and threats to scientific...
Free of charge
And what about the children? Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

And what about the children?

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Rokhaya Diallo With : Cécile Cée (artist, author) and Lyes Louffok (socio-educational assistant and child protection referent at Assistance publique des hôpitaux de Paris, lawyer, children's rights activist)
With the participation of Cléo Arnod, heritage curator in charge of the Clothing, Costume and Textile Department at Mucem. Incest, child abuse, rape, violence in the family and educational spheres. Children’s social welfare is running out of steam. Does our society really protect children? Does it allow them to develop into individuals who respect others and the world around them? The cases and scandals that are now surfacing after decades of silence are revealing dysfunctions and...
Free of charge
Working better to win together Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Working better to win together

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Nora Hamadi With Nicolas Framont (sociologist, founder and editor-in-chief of Frustration Magazine) and Pauline Rochart (independent consultant, author)
With the participation of Mireille Jacotin, Head Curator of Heritage, in charge of the Public Life Department at Mucem. Pension reform, uberization, malaise at work, loss of meaning, youth and senior unemployment: do we need to rethink the world of work and the time we devote to it? Between union mobilizations, legal reforms and social utopias, is the world of work a space we can reclaim together? After the meeting, join us for a signing session at the Mucem Librairie-boutique.  
Free of charge
News of our intimacy Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Intimate news

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Naya Ali With Marie Bergström (sociologist and researcher at Ined)
With the participation of Anna Millers, heritage curator in charge of the Techniques, practices and narratives of the body section at Mucem. How are new trends in our emotional and sexual lives shaping tomorrow’s society? More politicized than ever, intimacy is being shaped by new norms. Less committed, more fluid, more numerous or later: where do our intimacies stand, and how should we view them? This session looks back at two major studies published recently: ” Contexte des...
Free of charge
Trust me... how do you find your way through the information chaos? Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Trust me... how do you find your way through the information chaos?

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: François Saltiel With Olivier Legrain (businessman) and Bruno Patino (journalist, Chairman of ARTE)
With the participation of Mireille Jacotin, Head Curator of Heritage, in charge of the Public Life Department at Mucem. Information is pouring in from all sides, sometimes non-stop, sometimes in-depth, sometimes hot off the press. Buying, selling, shareholding… the media are increasingly losing their independence from economic and political power. So, who can we trust in terms of investigative work and sources, and how can we spot fake news? How can we (re)create engaged and free media...
Free of charge
Commission of inquiry © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

The Commission of Inquiry at Tiers-Lab des Transitions

Les procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Workshop
The Commission of Inquiry is a workshop for reflection and discussion open to all, during which participants play at thinking, putting points of view into dialogue and embodying different experiences.
For half a day, participants take up the subject of the next Trial of the Century and learn together how to develop arguments and testimonies, some of which can be put on the stand and debated at the next Trial of the Century. Between the art of persuasion and theater, the Commission of Inquiry brings a civil counterpoint to debates, because the issues of our world are everyone’s business. A proposal led, depending on the dates, by Grégoire Ingold (director) and Fabienne Jullien (actress)...
Free of charge
We had a great time, and now what's the plan? Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

We've made the most of it, and now what's the plan?

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderated by Thomas Legrand With Céline Marty (philosopher) and Cédric Durand (economist)
With the participation of Enguerrand Lascols, heritage curator, head of the Domestic Life department at Mucem. In a world that is becoming increasingly uninhabitable by the day, how and to what extent can we change our model? It’s time to make up our minds. Planning, bifurcation, transition, green growth, degrowth, sobriety: what exactly do these terms mean, and what changes do they suggest for the future?
Free of charge
Antiracist, feminist and writer, Maryse Condé's legacy Trial of the Century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Anti-racist, feminist and writer Maryse Condé's legacy

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Rokhaya Diallo With Alice Diop (director) and Felisa Vergara Reynolds (professor of French literature, University of Illinois)
With the participation of Caroline Chenu, in charge of research and collections at Mucem. On the occasion of the anniversary of her birth and almost 2 years after her death, Les Procès du siècle revisits the figure of Maryse Condé, with whom the Mucem had the honor of building the event “Les amitiés de Maryse Condé” in November 2022. In her works, the woman who discovered racism when she arrived in Paris to study, after growing up in Pointe-à-Pitre, has never ceased to tell of...
Free of charge
Is there such a thing as a good lobby? Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Are there any good lobbies?

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Nora Hamadi With Alberto Alemanno (lawyer, law professor, founder of The Good Lobby) and Lucie Pinson (activist, founder of the NGO Reclaim Finance)
With the participation of Mireille Jacotin, Head Curator of Heritage, in charge of the Public Life Department at Mucem. There are said to be 2,462 lobbyists in France according to the number registered in the directory of the Haute Autorité pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique (HATVP) as required by the Sapin II law since 2016. But what’s behind this figure? Are these interest groups threatening or virtuous for democratic debate? The game of influence goes on in political corridors,...
Free of charge
Go straight to prison! Punish or repair? Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Go straight to prison! Punish or repair?

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderated by Thomas Legrand
With the participation of Claire Dufour, documentation officer at Mucem. What if justice were more focused on prevention and care? How far can it go to make amends? Restorative justice, which aims to bring victims and perpetrators together in a confidential and secure setting, is one of the methods now being proposed to better support the former in their reconstruction and the latter in their empowerment and reintegration… And to go a step further, can we imagine a society without...
Free of charge
Video games: towards new imaginary worlds Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Video games: towards new imaginary worlds

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: François Saltiel With Fanny Lignon (lecturer in information and communication sciences) and Jennifer Lufau (video game player, marketing consultant for independent creators, founder of the Afrogameuses association)
With the participation of Elise Vanriest-Dabek, heritage curator, responsible for the Collections and Documentary Resources Department at Mucem After being accused of conveying screen addiction, propaganda of warlike values, violence, frustration, disconnection from reality or disengagement, video games are now plagued by masculinism, racism, sexism, cyberstalking and infiltrated radicalization… And yet, gaming culture is also the place where all things are possible, and its great...
Free of charge
For the right to celebrate! Trial of the century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

For the right to party!

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Moderator: Nora Hamadi
With the participation ofHélia Pauknerheritage curator, head of the Contemporary Art department at Mucemand/or Aude Fanlo, responsible for the Research and Teaching Department at Mucem. For the last session of the season, Les Procès du siècle propose to seriously consider the right to celebrate. And why not even a duty to celebrate? An antidote to widespread depression, of course, but also a playground of freedom that teaches us to look beyond social, identity and sexual norms. Far from...

Past sessions

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  • Media partner

    • Logo Libération

The trials of the century in comic strips

View all available readings (9)