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The telecommunications and data exhibition

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The telecommunications and data exhibition

Bli kjent med informasjons- og kommunikasjonteknologi (IKT) gjennom tele- og datahistorien på en nyskapende og unik måte: Ta med en identifikatorpinne, som du finner i inngangen, og logg deg inn på utstillingen! Kunstig intelligens (AI) hjelper deg til en museumsopplevelse i spektakulære omgivelser, der fortid møter nåtid – med engasjerende pekere mot fremtiden. Hele familien kan "nostalgireise" i tiden og dele erfaringer knyttet til mer enn 250 gjenstander som representerer eldre og nyere teknologi med hver sin fabelaktige historie.

 I/O shatters the mould of what you expect when you hear the word exhibition. With the innovative use of AI sets, you become part of the exhibition in ways you have never experienced before. You even get to express yourself through an avatar! Since the exhibit becomes "new" each time you enter your selections, the exhibit will present you with the objects and history (and stories) in different ways—every time.

Log in to the exhibition's AI using an identifier and answer various questions. I/O responds by offering different trails through the exhibition that are adapted to your choices. When you experience the exhibition, you will leave anonymous data which in turn forms the basis for the experience you get in Reaktor.

We promise you spectacular surroundings, stories and objects selected and adapted just for you! And do you want more? Yes, then you can just enter other choices and go through the exhibition once more.

Hele fjerde etasje på 1200 kvm er tatt i bruk til museets innovative og interaktive storsatsing, til glede for barn og ungdom, såvel som foreldre og besteforeldre!

Mobile phones. Photo

For all ages

Permanent exhibition

Where: The entire museum's 4th floor

See drone footage from the exhibition

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The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has four floors of exciting exhibitions about technology, industry, science and medicine.

See all our exhibitions here.

Young people explore the exhibition. Photo
Young people explore the exhibition. Photo
Young people explore the exhibition. Photo
In the connect zone, you log in to the exhibition's artificial intelligence

Here you get to know I/O, and I/O gets to know you.

Prøv gjerne hjemmefra: Få din anbefaling (åpnes i nytt vindu).


The collection zone (collect)

Once you have made your choices, I/O recommends a themed trail for you. You can change your choices at any time. Here you collect objects while you get an insight into exciting stories about them.  


Reaction in Reaktor (React)

The data I/O has collected from everyone who visits the exhibition will be reflected in Reaktor, the exhibition's last stop. Among other things, issues related to the trails will be discussed by two avatars driven by AI. Join in, or just watch. Welcome inside!   

A whole series of words, which form opposite pairs, problematise the effects of information and communication technology throughout the ages. 

- Before I/O, we had no comprehensive ICT exhibition in Norway. We are in the midst of digitization and need arenas to discuss and understand. Through the exhibition, we tell the ICT stories on which our future is based, also with regard to sustainability and the green shift.

Museum director Frode Meinich

Young people explore the exhibition. Photo

From the telephone's infancy to the digital society


The exhibition shows and discusses the development from telegraphy and the introduction of the telephone at the end of the 19th century to the present day. More and more are digitally connected - and artificial intelligence is part of everyday life. You get to see various things from this entire period through various trails that I/O recommends for you. A trail can be something from the 1970s. Back then, laptops hadn't seen the light of day. The World Wide Web did not exist. Cell phones were in their infancy. NRK had a TV and radio monopoly and the IT explosion did not come until the 1980s and 90s. Times were different, and are fun to reminisce upon.  

phone booth. Photo.
Old phone. Photo.

Unique collection of items 


The exhibition is developed around the museum's unique collection of telegraphic and computer technology objects, which represent important characteristics of Norwegian telecommunications and computer history. The exhibition is also in touch with the present and sets up discussions about the future.

Old phone. Photo.

A digital time travel


Skap dialog på tvers av generasjoner i En digital tidsreise. I en kjempetelefon finner du temakort som tar for seg vår nære data- og telehistorie. Med dette ønsker vi å styrke barn og unges kunnskap i møte med ny teknologi, og synliggjøre sosiale reaksjoner som kan være unike for digitale møter. Gjennom dialog øker vi vår felles teknologiforståelse!

The phone was designed by Christian G. Falch and developed in collaboration with Save the Children, with support from the Dam Foundation.

Den ene prosjektlederen for utstillingen, Henrik Treimo, har tidligere ledet arbeidet med nyvinnende utstillinger, som Mind gap og Ting. Teknologi og Demokrati. I Ting ga museet det digitale større plass enn det tidligere har vært tradisjon for på The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology.  

- We have used digital technologies actively to create an exhibition that can play with the audience and change over time. The exhibition is programmable, using machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence.  

Anything other than a dynamic exhibition, which develops in step with the rapid changes in the ICT field, will quickly become outdated, says Treimo.

Young people explore the exhibition. Photo
The Sisyphus installation. photo

Art in the exhibition

How does technology affect our lives and the society we live in?

Art can trigger emotions and reactions that inspire, engage and provide new insights, which in turn can be used in discussions about society-changing technologies. In the exhibition, we will meet works of art that experiment with technology in various ways.

Sisyphus – the meeting between man and machine

An art installation where a steel ball moves in sand and creates fascinating patterns. The bullet's path is determined by the data visitors leave in the exhibition. The installation can be interpreted as a visual representation of the interaction between human and machine.  

Private Lives – new gatherings, new dividing lines

What are the conditions for belonging in digital everyday life? Can digital media create greater closeness? That is what the exhibition Private life's boundaries: New gatherings - new dividing lines asks. Developed in collaboration with The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and the Academy of Performing Arts at Østfold University College.

Read more about Private Lives

Previous exhibitions

Site Visits

Perspectives on ICT


ICT - information and communication technology - is an extensive field. As a collective term, ICT is quite new, and perhaps not apt. We are happy to talk about computer history, telecommunications history, broadcasting history. Or we can talk about information, control, digitalisation, programming, workplaces, the internet and social media – new realities that are constantly and rapidly changing and developing.  

Young people explore the exhibition. Photo. Photo.
Young people explore the exhibition. Photo

Concept collaboration with:

In collaboration with Snøhetta, both space and concept were designed to realize a programmable computer and telecommunications exhibition. This is the first exhibition of this kind in Norway, and the ambitions are great.  

- The collaboration with Snøhetta has been about finding a packaging for objects and stories that can together carry the exhibition and the ambitions for a programmable and dynamic exhibition. Robots, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are among the themes, and we also use such technologies actively in the exhibition - perhaps in some unexpected ways, says one of the two project managers, Dag Andreassen.

Andreassen har tidligere ledet arbeidet med utstillingene Klima X, Månelandingen 50 år og Olje og gass.

The atmosphere was electric when H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon opened the exhibition.

– Det (utstillingen) får meg til å tenke på både det at barna mine har ikke det minnet, fordi teknologien er blitt tatt for gitt hele deres liv, og at menneskeheten og verden drives framover av gode ideer. Det tror jeg vi vil se mange eksempler på når vi går gjennom her (utstillingen), sa H.K.H. Kronprins Haakon. 

Etter at han takket The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology og menneskene bak utstillingen startet han I/O med en ID-pinne han fikk fra robothunden Freke.

The Crown Prince starts the exhibition. photo
People during the opening of the exhibition. Photo
The robot dog Freke walks a lap in front of the stage. photo

- We have set ourselves the goal of developing an innovative exhibition concept with great transfer value to the entire museum landscape, nationally and internationally! Project manager Dag Andreassen

Our partners:

Logo Computas
Logo CISCO
60s telephone. Photo.

See which items we have selected!

På digitaltmuseum.no kan du se hele utvalget med gjenstander som du møter i utstillingen. 


Norway's National Museum of Technology, Industry, Science and Medicine. Here you will find exciting exhibitions and activities a short distance from central Oslo.

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