Future Humans at the Berggruen Institute invites you on a journey of science and imagination to alien worlds that orbit the star Proxima. Proxima Kósmos is a collaboration between planetary scientists, astrobiologists, artists, and speculative thinkers—an experiment in worldbuilding grounded in real science.

For over a year, scientists from MIT, NASA, and leading research institutions have been designing a speculative yet scientifically plausible solar system. They manipulated planetary levers—mass, temperature, acidity, density—to nudge unfamiliar life forms into being, pushing the boundaries of habitability. The goal? To explore how life—truly alien life—might evolve under radically different conditions.

The result is nine fictional—but plausible—planets, each a thought experiment in the possibilities of life beyond Earth. Some resemble early Earth, teeming with microbial oceans. Others challenge our assumptions entirely—plasma-based intelligences, machine-organism hybrids, or ecosystems thriving in sulfuric skies. Each world was shaped through simulations, lab experiments, and creative inquiry, blurring the line between what is known and what is possible.

This zine series, presented as a collectible, limited-run set of four volumes, is a companion to the Proxima Kósmos website—a growing platform where scientific research, speculative design, and digital storytelling converge. Volume I: Theories & Visions lays the foundation, introducing the speculative worlds and the scientific imagination that shaped them.

We invite you to rethink life as you know it. Imagine life as you don’t. Step into worlds where the familiar becomes strange, and the strange becomes familiar.

Continue your journey at proxima-kosmos.berggruen.org.

Welcome to Proxima Kósmos, where new possibilities of life shimmer into existence.