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The Century of Communication after 1920


The yellow post-Nimbus revolves slowly at the end of the long transport axis. The third exhibition room depicts the 20th century. Under the protective wings of the State, the Danes became heavy users of various means of communication, a phenomenon that made its mark on our countryside and towns, our homes, jobs, and everyday lives.


Film clips from Danish documentaries and entertainment films refresh our memories. A number of small tableaux focus on the home with the art and design of different eras. Tele-phone sets and stamps have changed through the century just as much as the furniture in our living rooms and the paintings on our walls.

Technical progress is illustrated by examples of the new types of furniture in the living room and instruments in the workplace, symbols of a progress that induced new patterns of behaviour in the private sphere as well as new working conditions.

We start with the years between the two world wars. In 1927, the State Telegraph was subsumed into the Post Office which became known as the Post & Telegraph Service, P & T. Hand in hand with the regional, concessionary telephone companies the Danes were heading towards a new, technical El Dorado. The new means of communication, telephone and radio, became increasingly important parts of everyday life. The Second World War caused a delay in the modernisation of the telephony: the automation. But Marshall Aid and the post-war economic boom soon mad an impact on communi-cations, too. Progress was rapid now, masts were removed, and society’s new nervous system, the telephone wires, was buried under the ground. The cold war, the space race and arms races, as well as rebellion against authoritarian systems set the agenda. Teenagers were given tape recorders as confirmation presents – if they bothered getting confirmed at all. Their parents bought colour TV’s for the living room. Welfare and experiments were reflected in furniture and gadgets in our living rooms.

The price of the progress, the phaseout, is also portrayed in the museum. Behind the fine interiors and tableaux are storage shelves and containers featuring examples of all the things that have been fasted out in the name of progress. The last post-Nimbus, which rounds off the "Long Journey’s" transport axis is a symbol of progress in the 1920’s and of phaseout in the 1970’s. The last analogue telephone exchange has also found a home in the museum where it connects the telephone boxes in the gallery.

The last decades of the 20th century are known as the Information Society. The Berlin Wall is gone, the cold war finished, and free market forces have commenced their campaign against venerable old phenomena such as the State’s monopoly of the means of communication. Government services have been transformed into state-owned companies, then into limited companies. Employees have been replaced – or required to dress differently. "Corporate Image" and "Corporate" Identity have become Danish concepts, illustrated in this exhibition by uniforms, dress codes, and poster art. We have placed our epitaph to the civil servant represented here by the telephone operator, the linesman, and the director general, in lockers.

Dial the entire world with or without wire – or on the Internet! The world is waiting on the desk …


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