Stockholm

When people think of Sweden, they often think of wilderness, water, and Vikings—or of high-quality design, the welfare state, Nordic crime thrillers, and Greta Thunberg. Thus, Stockholm is a place where many ideas and expectations come together in a concentrated space, captured in representative images of itself and the images it evokes in others—but also at the same time mocked by realities that continually push their way to the fore. Museums have always negotiated between self-perceptions and perceptions of others. In Scandinavia, museums are committed to them because the research-based content of museums leads a double life as ultimately identity-creating cultural assets and exports: Design and nature here are always Scandinavian design and Nordic nature, and historical and cultural exhibitions on the country are always image campaigns and statements of identity. How Stockholm’s museums deal with this dichotomy is one of the fundamental questions of the excursion which will take us, among others, to the Forum for Living History, Tensta Konsthall, Hallywl Museum, the Maritime Museum, and the Museum of Ethnography. Together with local experts, we will discuss not only the images of Sweden presented there but also get an idea of the range of contemporary exhibition practice: We will look at the strategies that museums without physical locations develop, how collecting and archiving can become a practice-based method of research, where the attraction of artistic interventions lies, and how a constantly changing understanding of participants’ roles as well as the inclusion of new disciplines and capabilities diversifies the medium of exhibition.