Double Cup Headphones – Danish Welfare Museum

The Danish Welfare Museum is appropriately located in Svendborg’s old Poorhouse. For over a century this set of buildings held the homeless, poor and sick exiled from the rest of society. Cruelly, they were divided by their age and mental state into two camps, the ‘Worthy or Unworthy Poor’. Once intentionally hidden away by society, the Welfare Museum can now cast a light on this unfortunate piece of history.

One of the newest exhibits at the Danish Welfare Museum is “Seven poor children”. Here the stories of children from a drunken father (a veteran of the 1864 war) are used as a focal point to tell the wider history of the poor and socially disadvantaged in Denmark. The exhibition design combines film, authentic artefacts and graphic design into an impressive and emotionally touching experience for visitors.

The exhibition was designed by ‘Torden & Lynild’ while ‘Lystek Aps’ provided the various Lighting and Audio Visual elements. One exhibit utilises peepholes and video screens to create a sort of voyeuristic experience representative of the way the poor were treated at the time, as something that should be hidden away and not seen. Lystek Aps used our Double Cup Headphones here as the audio delivery devices that accompanies these videos which investiage themes of poverty, the orphanage, prostitution, work and punishment.

These video units create a very personal viewing experience while the headphones ensure audio bleed is kept to a minimum. Helping visitors better connect with the subject matter and highlight the way the less advantaged people of Denmark were treated in the past.

Photos captured by Jonas Legarth.