Research and development

The research project Museums' Knowledge Topography was led by The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and carried out in collaboration with Østfold Museums (2020-2023). The project, which also involved Malmö Museums, Gothenburg City Museum, Technical Museum and the National Board of Heritage, builds on the Things Method, which The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology led from 2015-2018. The goal has been to contribute to museum development by establishing a research-based language and practices for knowledge-generating processes in museums in connection with the establishment or renewal of basic exhibitions. The results of the project were published in the book Things Method – Museums' Knowledge Topography , and published by Museumsforlaget. The launch took place at the museum in June 2023, with a large attendance. Professor of Museology at UiO, Brita Brenna, presented a reading of the book in which she described it as a solid and important book for contemporary museum practical issues. The book is about working with things (objects) in museums, combined with being knowledge institutions and being open and inclusive places. It provides a theoretical framework for such work, and demonstrates this with a number of empirical examples from various museums in Norway and Sweden. The book has been well received in the museum community in Norway and Sweden and has received good reviews in both Forskerforum and Museum . The project has been supported by the Directorate of Culture as part of their research program.

Sustainable energy narratives (BEN) puts the museums' historical and contemporary mandate at the center and examines how this can be used critically to develop new narratives about energy and industry. The project's starting point is that the museums are not passive retellers of energy and industrial history, but are actively involved in creating it. The aim is to increase understanding of how energy and industry have been organised, communicated and made public knowledge through the museums' narratives. The project is supported by the Cultural Council's Community Role Program and is carried out in collaboration with the Aluminum Museum (Vestfold museums), the Arbeidermuseet (Oslo museum), the Norwegian Textile Museum (Museum Center in Hordaland), NVE and the Oil Museum.   

In the spring of 2023, the project launched the report “Climate at the Museum: Mapping the Place of Climate Change in the Museum Network for Technological and Industrial History” based on a survey conducted in the fall of 2022. The report points out that the museums focus on climate and sustainability in their planning. The topic is also included in the daily work of the museums. Most work on it in communication and activities, while the collections have so far been little explicitly linked to climate change.

In addition to the preparation of the report, the project has focused in 2023 on the various sub-projects for communication and participation at the museums, where the museum's work has been linked to the exhibition ENERGY in the time of the climate crisis. In addition, seminars have been arranged for the project group and for the network on, among other things, the Anthropocene in museums and how museums can bring different voices related to climate and sustainability into their communication.

The museum has been involved in the research project Privatlivets grenser: sociability and belonging in digital everyday life (2020-2024). The project has been led by Professor Marianne Lien, based at the Department of Social Anthropology at UiO, and took place in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research. During the year, the museum has contributed to the realization of the exhibition Privatlivets grenser: New socializing - new dividing lines, created five new thematic trails in the exhibition I/O, and assisted with the implementation of the project's international final conference Everyday Life in Digitalized Worlds. The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway and the SAMKUL program. The museum will continue its communication about digital everyday life together with the researchers in projects beyond spring 2024.

The project Norwegian fabrics – design and industrial history, deals with the large and nationwide textile industry that spanned more than a hundred years from its beginnings, around 1850, to its closures at the end of the 20th century. What was produced in the factories? Who were the designers, and how were the fabrics marketed and distributed? The book project is based on collections in museums and archives that have been little discussed, including a project about the designer Hjørdis Knutsen, who designed interior textiles for her husband, architect Knut Knutsen's building projects, in which the Norwegian embassy in Stockholm is included as particularly interesting. The project is led by the University of Oslo, IFIKK.

The book project Norwegian Photo History 1940 to 2011 is a collaboration with the Norwegian Folk Museum, Preus Museum and the National Library on a broad photo history book about the history of photography in the post-war period. The book is based on the research project Norwegian Photo History 1940 to 2011, which was supported by the Arts Council of Norway and was completed in 2021. The book highlights the role and function of photography in the post-war period, seen both from the photography industry and the field of photography itself, and from a usage perspective in the span between public administration and family albums in the home. The goal is to highlight photography's increasing presence in society and everyday life and how it has contributed to shaping the visual culture of the post-war period. The book will be richly illustrated, where the photographs will function as arguments and not just illustrations. The book project is supported by the Norwegian Photographers' Association and is planned to be published by Forlaget Press in 2024.

The museum is participating in the research project REDUCE – less plastic in everyday life. The interdisciplinary project aims to reduce plastic in daily life. Plastic is a widely used material that can be used for almost anything, but it creates major problems with littering and leakage of toxins into the environment. The project's three main areas; hygiene, leisure and childhood are fields with high consumption of plastic. The museum will look at how the role of plastic has developed historically and what it means for consumption today.

The museum has participated with the paper The devaluation of stockings at the conference PLATE Product Lifetimes and The Environment, Espoo, Finland, 31 May to 2 June in collaboration with OsloMet. The scientific article When clothes became plastic – the rise and fall of nylon stockings is written on the basis of the conference paper and is ready for publication in Arr, Idéhistorisk tidsskrift.

The project is led by the Norwegian Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO) at OsloMet and is financed by the Research Council. https://www.oslomet.no/forskning/forskningsprosjekter/reduce

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology participates as an associated partner in the European research project Museums and Industry. Long Histories of Collaboration (MaILHoC). The project aims to investigate the collaboration between technical museums and industry in a historical and contemporary perspective.

MaILHoC is led by the Science Museum Group London, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Aix-Marseille Université, with the think tank Demos and the University of London as other associated partners. The project has received €600,000 in funding for the period 2023-2025 through the call for proposals Cultural Heritage, Society and Ethics under the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage, managed by the French Research Council (ANR). At The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology MaILHoC is linked to the Sustainable Energy Narratives network project.