Exhibitions

Exhibitions 2021

The museum's task is to take care of the Norwegian cultural heritage in technology, science, industry and medicine, and to convey the development of the subject areas with emphasis on the last 200 years. There are permanent exhibitions with objects from the collections and temporary exhibitions where the museum invites you to new, exciting and interactive encounters in the past and present.

Åpningen av den nye helse- og medisinhistoriske utstillingen Liv og død – mennesket i forandring har i 2021 bidratt til en viktig fornyelse av museet. Samtidig har det blitt arbeidet intensivt med den nye IKT-utstillingen I/O som åpner i 2022, og en ny energiutstilling som er planlagt å følge i 2023.

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and the National Museum began a collaboration when the National Museum's art was in demand in the media due to delays in the construction project on the Vestbanen. It has been a goal that the museums' collections should complement each other, and that together we should reach new audience groups. The exhibitions Gerhard Munthe – adventuresome interiors and Sand in the machinery stem from this collaboration.

Life and death – man in change

Image of many small skeletons belonging to children.

Photo: Håkon Bergseth

The exhibition Life and Death officially opened on 24 August 2021. It explores key themes around birth and death, diagnoses and treatments through knowledge and expertise in various fields such as medicine, health and natural sciences. The exhibition is both contemporary and historical. The stories are often told based on the experiences of individuals, whether these are patients, therapists, relatives or others. It contains unique items from Rikshospitalet's collections and other donors. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the dead human body called Maren, which was probably found in one of Oslo's cholera cemeteries at the turn of the last century.

The exhibition contains two commissioned works. One is the sensory tunnel with sound art by Ulver by Tore Ylvisaker. The other is Goblet by Ane Graff. The exhibition also contains a teaching room with a kitchen for activities at weekends and holidays and with school classes.

The exhibition designer for the exhibition is Anne Schnettler. The interactive installations have been developed in collaboration with Logic Interactive.

Klima2+

Little boy in the middle of many cardboard tubes hanging from the ceiling.

Photo: Lars Opstad

The aim of the Klima2+ exhibition was to strengthen our visitors' involvement in perhaps the most important topic of our time, the climate crisis. Three central objects from the museum's collection were shown and put into context to bring out relevant knowledge: a machine loom, a supercomputer and a group of objects that shed light on the disease malaria. The exhibition space also included a conservation workshop with access to put the museum activities into a climate context. The exhibition also contained a section for art by Ulla Schildt, Ingrunn Myrland, Julie Henning, Lila Zotou, Bianca Hlywa and Antipodes café. The collaboration with artists, who are engaged in the environment and climate, opened the way to explore how artistic perspectives and sensitivity can mobilize our visitors in empathetic and unexpected ways. In addition, there has been a separate area for public activities.

The exhibition's architect has been Karin Knott. Klima2+ opened on 24 June 2020, and ran until 19 December 2021. The art intervention Mattering Oil was held in autumn 2021.

Gerhard Munthe – adventurous interiors

Exhibition room with many colorful pictures

Photo: Thomas B. Fjørtoft

Nasjonalmuseets vandreutstilling Gerhard Munthe – eventyrlige interiører sto på The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology i perioden 28. mai til 29. august. Munthe regnes som vår tidligste industridesigner, og skapte noen av sine mest betydningsfulle arbeider innen områdene interiør og design. Den fargerike utstillingen inneholdt både originalverker og reproduksjoner, og en vevstol ga de besøkende anledning til selv å prøve seg på veving.

Sand in the machinery

Car that is almost completely crushed by a huge boulder

Photo: Håkon Berseth

Kunstutstillingen Sand i maskineriet ble laget i nært samarbeid mellom Nasjonalmuseet og The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology. Den åpnet 30. september og består av totalt 27 verk fra kjente samtidskunstnere, spredd rundt i museet som intervensjoner i utstillingene. På den måten skapes det uventede møter mellom kunst og teknologi, og verkene blir kommentarer til de temaene som utstillingene tar opp. Jimmie Durhams verk Stone Top, en bil med en stor steinblokk på det flate taket, innleder utstillingen og møter de besøkende allerede i foajeen. Det er laget en egen rebusløype som de besøkende kan følge i jakten på kunstverkene. Utstillingen står til 24. april 2022.

The government quarter - a photo exhibition about an important quarter

Exhibition room with pictures of the government building

Photo: Håkon Bergseth

Etter terrorangrepet mot regjeringskvartalet har diskusjonen om både bevaring av det gamle og bygging av det nye regjeringskvartalet rast. I den sammenhengen ble det laget en fotoutstilling med museets materiale fra området. Utstillingen tok utgangspunkt i fotografiene etter Teigens fotoatelier, sannsynligvis det viktigste arkitekturfotofirmaet i Norge etter krigen. Truls Teigen, som var hovedfotograf i firmaet fra femtitallet, tok bilder for Erling Viksjøs arkitektkontor, som tegnet både H- og Y-blokka i regjeringskvartalet, i alle tre byggetrinn. Utstillingen omfattet museets fotografier fra kvartalet, Teigens kameraer og en film fra støpingen av H-blokka. Utstillingen ble åpnet i februar 2020, av Oslos ordfører Marianne Borgen, og ble tatt ned i april 2021.

NEW IN OUR EXHIBITIONS

The industrial model

Siden The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology åpnet på Helsfyr i 1959 har Industrimodellen vært en viktig del i utstillingen. Den viser et ideelt norsk industrilandskap med fabrikker, kraftverk, samferdsel og naturressurser fra 1950-tallet. Publikum kan selv sette i gang toget og skru på lyset i fabrikkbygningene. Modellen har de siste to årene gjennomgått en omfattende restaurering med rengjøring, nytt styresystem og ikke minst nytt kunstig vannspeil i modellen. Restaureringen er gjort etter konserveringsfaglige standarder, og er utført og finansiert av museets Venneforening.

Photo: Håkon Berseth

Oda

Photo: Lars Opstad

Like før sommerferien rullet den selvkjørende bussen Oda inn i kommunikasjonshallen på Kjelsås. Bussen ble fra 2019 brukt av Ruter på strekningen mellom Rådhusplassen og Vippetangen. Det er sjelden museet har tatt inn såpass nye kjøretøy. Oda peker mot fremtidens muligheter for kollektivtransport, samtidig som bussen kan knyttes til aktuelle temaer som klimautfordringer og kunstig intelligens. Bussen er utlånt av Ruter i fem år.

Sign outside The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

Photo: Lars Opstad

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EXHIBITIONS AT OTHER MUSEUMS

Museet har flere gjenstander som er utlånt til andre museer for lengre perioder, slik som Norges første fly (Start) ved Forsvarets Flysamling Gardermoen, Ekebergbanens
første rutebil ved Sporveismuseet og flere biler ved Norsk Vegmuseum. Til Nasjonalmuseet har museet blant annet lånt ut et Hasselblad kamera og materiale etter Grete Prytz Kittelsen som skal stilles ut i det nye museet når det åpner. I 2021 har museet også bidratt til utstillinger ved andre museer for kortere perioder. Utstillingen Hjemme hos – personer med langvarig psykisk lidelse, som ble laget av Nasjonalt medisinsk museum, ble vist ved Randsfjordmuseet. Det ble blant annet lånt ut gjenstander fra norsk gummiindustri til utstillingen Industri fra november 2020 til februar 2021 på Trafo Kunsthall i Asker, et unikt interferensielt fargenegativ laget med fysikeren Gabriel Lippmanns metode er utlånt til utstillingen Sakte Fargefotografi ved Preus museum og en Edison filmfremviser til utstillingen Filmbyen Haugesund ved Karmsund Folkemuseum ved Haugalandmuseene.

PLANNED EXHIBITIONS 2022-2023

I/O

With the exhibition I/O The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology will develop the country's most important arena for information and communication technology past and present. It will be a historical exhibition and a dynamic arena for discussing and developing new knowledge and insight about the present and future of the ICT field. The exhibition is being developed in collaboration with the architectural firm Snøhetta and is scheduled to open in April 2022.

The exhibition will be dynamic and programmable, and give visitors the opportunity to react to and participate in stories told through the museum's collections from the history of telecommunications and computers. It ranges from telegraphs to artificial intelligence, with everything in between, such as radio, television, telephones, computers, robots and smart watches and much more. The technical development in this area affects physical and cultural infrastructure in fundamental ways. The exhibition's underlying and major question is what this means for individuals, society and culture. We want to discuss and explore this with the visitors through the exhibition, and concretely in a permanent discussion arena.

I/O deals with the history, present and future of the ICT field from a number of different angles. It is arranged so that the content is influenced through the users' feedback and reactions, input and new knowledge in the field. A comprehensive computer system uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to connect objects and stories with users' reactions and experiences. The title I/O signals that it is about input/output or one/zero, but also man/machine, freedom/coercion, individual/society, and more. In this sense, the exhibition directs attention to the slash that means or, but also and, and that it is the discussions rather than final truths about technology that are essential. Technology is neither good nor evil, but also never neutral.

Fundamental to I/O is that all objects can tell many stories. The objects are like things. And, what characterizes things is that they are unclear and that there can be different opinions about what they mean. A heavy calculator can make advanced calculations, but whether it is used to calculate oil extraction or climate forecasts, it gives very different stories. By giving the objects such degrees of freedom to tell, the exhibition can develop an infinite number of stories in the form of different themed tracks. Examples of themed tracks can be the internet, social media, climate, industry and much more.

This innovative concept allows for dynamism and for visitors and external professional communities and others to help influence the exhibition's content over time. Since all texts are digital and the entire exhibition is interconnected, others can be invited to create their own trails in the exhibition by linking objects together in a theme. In this way, I/O will take account of the rapid development in this field of technology and be a place for ongoing knowledge development. I/O will function as a form of forum where people are invited to discuss and influence the meaning of things. School classes, individuals, groups and researchers will all be welcome to shape and develop I/O.

The exhibition is 1,000 m2 and covers the entire fourth floor of the museum. This is the largest exhibition project since the museum opened in Kjelsås in 1986. The exhibition contains around 250 objects spread over over 60 showcases and podiums. Eight interactive installations are planned, an AI-generated dynamic "artwork" produced by I/O and one to two ambulatory borrowed or produced artworks. The exhibition has received support from Norid and Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.

Energy exhibition

Work on the new energy exhibition has started in 2021 and will continue for the next three years. Opening is set for November 2023. The aim of the project is to equip and renew the museum's and the science centre's exhibitions and installations within the theme of energy. Today's energy exhibitions and installations consist of two main parts: the Science Center's Energitivoli and the museum's classic Energy Exhibition which has been standing since 1989. The ambition is to unite these two in "the integrated model" where we place interactive installations into wider historical and social contexts in addition to the natural sciences. We want to create a new type of museum experience where the science centre's focus on interactivity and specialized installations is combined with the spatial and conceptual expressions of the classic museum exhibition. In our opinion, the topic of energy is a rare good opportunity to try out and further develop this method.

The energy theme is broad. Energy can be described in technical and scientific terms, but can also be related to a wider societal context. Turnover and use of energy must be understood in the light of political, social, economic and cultural conditions in the past and present. At the same time, it will be important to introduce perspectives that point towards the development of new energy sources in the future. Sustainable use and management of energy will be central. By virtue of its collection of objects, the museum has a particularly good starting point for describing the development and use of different forms of energy in Norway and the electrification of society both within industry and households up to the present day. This energy use from around the 19th century until today can be said to have followed two main tracks - one renewable and one fossil.

The exhibition is supported by Equinor. The research project Sustainable energy narratives, which is a collaboration between the museum and other museums and institutions in the Network for industrial and technological history, is supported by the Norwegian Cultural Council.