Annus horribilis, but many new possibilities

What a year! We are leaving a very challenging year behind us, but also a year of full speed and great determination

Frode Meinich, Director of The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology The past year has been a year of balancing act. We started the year with high speed, great planning and construction activity for several new exhibitions, visitor records and we were looking forward to a fantastic museum year with ever-new and satisfied visitors. As we all know, things went downhill quickly, with the closure of the museum in March, layoffs of many employees for six weeks, reopening in May and a demanding month of June. A massive effort was made by all employees to put infection control measures in place so that we could welcome the public safely and securely into our large museum building. It was a good summer in terms of visitors with many tourists on a trip to their own country, but with an increased infection trend and challenges in public transport throughout the autumn, visitors were absent to a greater and greater extent before we were ordered to close again in November due to the infection situation in Oslo.

In the time during the first closure, we really had a breakthrough for digital communication from the museum, and we started with digital science shows, tours, exhibition openings, activities, lectures, expert talks, conferences and concerts to name a few. It is difficult for me to thank my colleagues at the museum enough for the effort that was put in here. There has been effort across all departments, and many have taken on tasks to meet completely new needs this year. Information on our website and marketing of the museum have been more important than ever. We have kept our loyal visitors informed, we have continued to build on our good brand and we have drawn people into online museum experiences. Something that has flourished after the arrival of Covid-19.

Overall, the country saw the number of visitors at close to 43% of expected visits in 2020, which is of course low. There have really been many tough priorities with the financial challenges in this very different and crisis-like operating year, but with good support from the board, a revised national budget and additional compensation for the science centre, 2020 has not turned into a financial disaster. We are incredibly happy about that!

We introduced two new temporary exhibitions: Klima 2+, opened by Climate and Environment Minister Sveinung Rotevatn and Regjeringskvartalet, which was opened by Oslo's Mayor Marianne Borgen. The climate exhibition challenges our visitors to ask questions, and to see that everything that happens around us is connected to one of the biggest challenges of our time - the climate crisis. The photo exhibition Regjeringskvartalet shows photographs that document the history of one of the capital's most controversial quarters. It was all photographed in its time by Teigen's photo studio, and deposited with us as part of the Dextra collection financed by the Sparebankstiftelsen.  

Venneforening has also done a fantastic job for the museum this year. They have financed the refurbishment of Birkeland-Eyde's electric arc furnace outside the museum, the restoration of the museum's huge water wheel in the entrance area and the purchase of a new model railway. Through countless hours of hard work, the friends' association has also restored the large industrial model that represents Norwegian industrial society in the fifties.

Even though we have been on a financial saving flare, we have nevertheless worked hard on our two new permanent exhibitions. When we open the medical exhibition Life and Death at the beginning of 2021, we will renew large parts of the National Medical Museum's exhibition areas. An innovative and interactive ICT exhibition will open in November of the same year with Snøhetta as designers. We set the bar high, and our ambition is to become one of the country's most important arenas for putting ICT on the agenda.

We have also directed our energy inwards this year. It has been challenging to reassure our employees in relation to layoffs and what happened, and to talk about uncertainty and changes that we did not know the extent of. It has also been challenging with a home office and working in new ways, some also feel the isolation. We have worked with internal control and revised both the security plan and emergency plan and acquired a new energy monitoring system, so there has been no lack of high activity this year either.  

Naturally, there has been minimal rental throughout the year, and the same applies to other physical events. There has also been a high level of activity outside the museum building at Kjelsås this year, and we have communicated, taught and given experiences to around 3,000 pupils and teachers. The school program has largely gone as planned and Oslo Science Centre has taught micro:bit in the schools. In collaboration with Oslo municipality and the Norwegian Education Agency, separate Talent Centers for science were started for high-achieving students at Hellerud, Hersleb and Persbråten upper secondary schools, all financed by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. Kodekraft, a digital teaching program on programming and energy sources was established at Norwegian science centers in collaboration with Equinor.

Now we are looking forward to 2021 and hope it will be a more normal year!

Still good reading!

Greeting

Frode Meinich,
director at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology