Oskar von Miller and the Art of the Electrical Exhibition: Staging Modernity in Weimar Germany1

Within the larger framework of understanding how modernity was framed within and through the domestic sphere, this article considers the efforts of Bavarian electrical engineer Oskar von Miller to electrify and modernize Germany against the backdrop of Weimar reform movements. Unlike modernist reformers associated with such projects as the Bauhaus or the Werkbund, Miller was a practical systems-builder who sought to encourage consumption within traditional frameworks of home and Heimat . For Miller, exhibiting the benefits of technology was a key element in securing its success, and his reliance on consumers rested on a corporatist ideal that would create a new kind of community centred on technology. Whereas in the Imperial era Miller focused on Handwerker and small machines as the guarantors of both progress and social stability, in the Weimar era he turned to housewives and housework. Through his involvement in electrification schemes as well as in his work in founding the Deutsches Museum, one of the first museums of science and technology in Europe, Miller created a powerful narrative of technological progress that was both traditional and modern. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]