Flops?! Dare, fail, innovate: the funny exhibition unveiled at the Musée des Arts et Métiers

The Musée des Arts et Métiers takes a look at failure and its necessity in the world of invention, with the amusing exhibition "Flops. Oser, rater, innover", presented from October 14, 2025 to May 17, 2026.

The subject might seem sad or depressing, but the exhibition at the Musée des Arts et Métiers is unexpectedly funny. In its permanent collections, the Musée des Arts et Métiers houses some of mankind's greatest inventions. The Parisian museum traces the history of science and technology, and exhibits fascinating objects that have revolutionized the world. But before achieving these creations, inventors had to work, think, test... And fail.

In a brand-new exhibition entitled Flops?! Oser, rater, innover, the Musée des Arts et Métiers takes a closer look at the essential stage of invention: failure. From October 14, 2025 to May 17, 2026, the exhibition presents a wide selection of objects and technologies, both old and new, in a fun and entertaining way. With this exhibition, the museum reminds us of the importance offailure on the road to success!

The Musée des Arts et Métiers offers us a four-chapter tour: the first reveals failed objects and prototypes. We discover toys deemed too dangerous for children, technologies too far ahead of their time... The exhibition then turns to the artist Jacques Carelman, a painter and decorator who created the Catalogue d'objets introuvables. This caricatured and poetic work, based on misappropriated objects, highlights the absurdity of consumer society.

This theme is also reflected in the third part of the exhibition: the museum explains how certain creations have failed, due to economic problems, the wrong target audience, technical obstacles... Reality sometimes prevents inventors from innovating and bringing their ideas to life. Finally, this exhibition looks at the importance of failures, presenting "flops" that later led to the creation of far more remarkable and indispensable objects and technologies.

The exhibition features original objects with entertaining and fascinating histories. Visitors can also take advantage of interactive devices and immersive staging of the creations. In this fun and educational way, the museum aims to play down failure, and remind us that it can lead to great inventions!

In fact, the scenography and the objects chosen create a highly amusing journey: we discover surprising, zany stories, historic objects and constructions and more mundane, but equally unsuccessful creations. Some of these objects, like the bi-bop, have been overtaken by new technologies. Others have suffered from disastrous marketing. Some are still waiting to find their audience.

Along the way, visitors of all ages can rediscover objects from their youth that have now disappeared (from the Minitel to the Wii U), or discover the ancestor of our modern technologies, such as videophony.

Some pieces, more artistic than scientific, allow us to imagine a crazier world. Designer Katerina Kamprani offers a contemporary counterpoint, with a collection of deliberately impractical objects: with her creations, the artist underlines the work that lies behind each everyday object, the importance of those details that make our lives simpler.

The exhibition is aimed at a slightly older audience: children who are too young may enjoy the toys on display, but may not understand the message behind a record player or an ancestor of the modern vacuum cleaner. What's more, take the time to read the labels that accompany each object: that's where you'll find the story, the details of this flop.

The Musée des Arts et Métiers takes us on an amusing behind-the-scenes tour of the invention, with an exhibition that should - ironically enough - appeal to many a curious visitor.

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