Poop, a serious story: the exhibition that finally talks about toilets at the Cité des sciences

Taboo topic, a health issue and potential resource: poop is headed to the Cité des sciences with a family-friendly exhibition planned for spring 2027. From age 9, the journey explores what our toilets reveal about our societies, our bodies, and our relationship with the environment.

It's rarely discussed, yet it concerns everyone. The Cité des sciences et de l’industrie in Paris presents Caca, a serious story, an exhibition devoted to human excrement, its history, how it's treated, and the social, health, and environmental stakes involved, starting in spring 2027.

Designed by the Québec City’s Museum of Civilization, then co-produced and adapted with Universcience, the exhibition is geared toward families and visitors aged 9 and up. The topic may bring a smile, but it raises very concrete questions: how have societies managed fecal matter? Why have toilets become a private space? What happens to excrement after flushing? And what can we do with it today?

Caca, une histoire sérieuse : l’expo qui parle enfin toilettes à la Cité des sciences — Photo de Giorgio Trovatosur Unsplash

A seemingly lighthearted topic, but actually very serious

The exhibit route tackles excrement head-on, but with a scientific approach. It covers microbiome, nutrition, hygiene, access to toilets, incontinence among seniors, wastewater treatment, and inequalities. Behind this everyday act, the exhibition reveals a set of issues tied to public health, the environment, and life in society.

The tour also takes the form of a voyage through time and around the world. Eight recreations of intimate spaces let visitors observe different ways of going to the toilet, from antiquity to today. Along the way you’ll encounter, in particular, the collective practices of ancient Rome, Japanese toilets, and even more playful depictions of poop in various cultures.

Restrooms, Waste and Recycling

The exhibition also highlights that poorly managed excrement can become a health risk. Conversely, once collected and treated, it can be turned into biogaz, fertilisers, or other resources. The caca thus becomes a topic of engineering, écologie and urban planning, far from a simple playground joke.

The route is pitched as family-friendly, with immersive staging: recreated restrooms, set design, textures you can feel, everyday-life situations, and activities geared toward the youngest visitors. The exhibition is expected to be less focused on hands-on manipulation than some other offerings at the Cité des sciences, as the museum explained at a press conference, but it centers on a universally relatable theme designed to spark conversations within the family.

Bringing toilets into the cultural and scientific arena, Poop, a Serious Story at the Cité des Sciences reminds us that a topic once deemed embarrassing can reveal a great deal about an era. As water, hygiene and recycling move from abstract concerns to everyday realities, this theme could well keep emerging from the bathroom and into public discourse.

This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.