| 1. |
- Bergström, Eva-Lena, 1961-
(författare)
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Nationalmuseum i offentlighetens ljus : framväxten av tillfälliga utställningar 1866-1966
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to investigate the emergence of temporary exhibitions at the Nationalmuseum of Sweden 1866–1966. My aim is to discuss and place the exhibitions in the complex ongoing tension between the role of the museum as a scientific and an educative public institution, and in relation to the permanent collection. This I have called the museum dilemma. The dissertation is divided in three main chapters put in a chronological order 1866–1913, 1914–1939 and 1940–1966. I have found that during the 1866–1913 period many minor temporary exhibitions were arranged. It seems to have been a practice of coincidences rather than strategic art historical considerations. There were not many exhibitions focusing on art historical narratives. This situation reflects that the main reasons for arranging temporary exhibitions were to complement the museum collection or to present interesting art objects normally hidden from the public view.When the term “temporary exhibition” was established in the late 19th century a tension between the exhibitions and the permanent collection was established. The temporary exhibitions were associated with variety and flexibility while the permanent collection indicated a static art historical narrative.The 1914–1939 period was very socially inclined. There are many examples of exhibitions that openly supported national values and the ongoing democracy development and the exhibition practice developed in dialog with the museum´s collection. The concept “bringing art alive” was frequently used. The museum collections were talked about as dead material, the museum was called a morgue. During the Second World War, the collections were evacuated from the museum building and an innovative period began. A focus on art history dominates the more elaborated exhibition practice during 1939–1966 period, so called “epoch exhibitions”. They invited to innovative actions, technologies as reconstructions of historical exhibitions, mixed materials and rehanging during the exhibition period. Principles as flexibility and variation were prominent. Another common denominator was the scientific focus and the idea that the exhibition is both an experience and a source of knowledge. Even though half a century has passed I argue that the results I have found can be related to the museum practice of today. The tendency today is that temporary exhibitions functions as role models for museums, when re-organizing the permanent collections. The effect of this development is that the categories temporary exhibitions and permanent collection melt together. In that sense, I would also suggest that the term temporary exhibition should be replaced. Special exhibition seems to be a more appropriate term for the museums of today.
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| 2. |
- Björkroth, Maria
(författare)
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Hembygd i samtid och framtid 1890-1930 : en museologisk studie av att bevara och förnya
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with renewal on the foundation of the past, as this idea was elaborated in the establishment of community museums and care of the environmental landscape from the late 19th century to the 1930s. During that period the movement of taking care of nature, culture, and mankind increased and dispersed into national, regional and local organisations. This phenomenon is, in Sweden, called the hembygdsrörelse (hembygdis a place with special values, and rörelse means movement). The new organisations were mostly established along with existing regional museums, but at the time toward the end of this study many of the museums and new organisations merged together. These changes indicated that the position of the past in present society had altered.The thesis consists of a main analysis of this movement (chapters 1, 2 and 8) interwoven with five different studies of the significance of preservation and renewal of the past (chapters 3—7). The first of these studies deals with different representations of history and artefacts, that were present at the turn of the century. Next the youth movement in Norway and the rise of a Swedish youth movement and their ideas of the creation of a better future are focused. The initiatives to establish popular education, Swedish Folk High Schools, that arose in the youth movement is the third subject interleaved, and similar initiative in Finland are also regarded. Then follows a presentation of the international discourse that not only takes the preservation of cultural but also natural heritage into consideration. This is also an overview of the European situation with special regard to German speaking areas. The fifth study (chapter 7) focuses on different ways to exhibit, and to relate to what is exhibited.An important change in the purpose of a museum was the discovery of folk culture at the end of the 19th century. In the process of changing Sweden from a country of peasants to a nation of industrialised workers, an important part was to define a common understanding of the past. This is also a way to understand the notion of something as new. In the final chapter (9) the discussions during the 1930s are mirrored. At this time the meaning of the past in the present, and the idea of the past in future society altered. In the rising welfare society the present new past had to support the development in another way than before. The idea of renewal on the foundations of the past had lost its importance.
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| 3. |
- Björkroth, Maria
(författare)
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Hembygd i samtid och framtid 1890—1930. En museologisk studie av att bevara och förnya. (Past, present and future : A museological study of museums and the preservation of environment in Sweden c. 1890—1930.) : [Swedish with English summary.]
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with renewal on the foundation of the past, as this idea was elaborated in the establishment of community museums and car of the environmental landscape from the late 19th century to the 1930s. During that period the movement of taking care of nature, culture, and mankind increased and dispersed into national, regional and local organisations. This phenomenon is, in Sweden, called the hembygdsrörelse (hembygd is a place with special values, and rörelse means movement). The new organisations were mostly established along with existing regional museums, bat at the time toward the end of this study many of the museums and new organisations merged together. These changes indicated that the position of the past in present society had altered. The thesis consists of a main analysis of this movement (chapters 1, 2 and 8) interwoven with five different studies of the significance of preservation and renewal of the past (chapters 3—7). The first of these studies deals with different representations of history and artefacts, that was present at the turn of the century. Next the youth movement in Norway and the rise of a Swedish youth movement and their ideas of the creation of a better future are focused. The initiatives to establish popular education, Swedish Folk High Schools, that arose in the youth movement is the third subject interleaved, and similar initiative in Finland are also regarded. Then follows a presentation of the international discourse that not only takes the preservation of cultural but also natural heritage into consideration. This is also an overview of the European situation with special regard to German speaking areas. The fifth study (chapter 7) focuses on different was to exhibit, and to relate to what is exhibited. An important change in the purpose of a museum was the discovery of folk culture at the end of the 19th century. In the process of changing Sweden from a country of peasants to a nation of industrialised workers, an important part was to define a common understanding of the past. This is also a way to understand the notion of something as new. In the final chapter (9) the discussions during the 1930s are mirrored. At this time the meaning of the past in the present, and the idea of the past in future society altered. In the rising welfare society the present new past had to support the development in another way than before. The idea of renewal on the foundations of the past had lost its importance.
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| 4. |
- Fosmo Talleraas, Lise Emilie, 1958-
(författare)
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Et uregjerlig mangfold? : Lokale og regionale museer som saksfelt i norsk kulturpolitikk 1900 - cirka 1970.
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to give a historical view upon and examine the development of local and regional cultural history museums in Norway as a topic in Norwegian cultural policy 1900 – circa 1970. The present thesis is divided into four main parts: In part one data sources and theoretical perspectives are presented. The thesis is written in museology and this is the background for a perspective where of local and regional museums arose as a subject requiring development of public politics. The theoretical perspective is how development of politics frequently appears as a choice between various alternatives based on available contemporary material and ideological suppositions. Local and regional museums appear in this perspective as a cultural phenomenon in their own age, a phenomenon to which Stortinget, the Ministry and the museum profession attached both interpretations and conceptions. In part two, entitled “Concern over a group of museums” the parallelism between museum growth and policymaking from 1900 – 1920 is analyzed. Development of politics in these years can be considered as a process where the formation of clearly defined guiding principles for practice by the authorities took place. In the centre of this development of politics was the regulation on governmental subsidy based on a political framework the need to conform to norms related to calculability and equal treatment. At the same time it does appeared the legitimacy to carry out disciplinary measures was nourished by a conception of local and regional museums as unruly and an image of them as a type of “freely growing” institution. In part three, “A formative recognition”, deals with the growing cooperation between The Norwegian Museums Assosiation and the Ministry in the field of local and regional museum and how it influenced the work in this museum. Cooperation with the museum society ensured that a competent apparatus was available to the Ministry. This led gradually to development of a new administrative regime, more specifically a move toward something which can be described as a professional administration. Part four “Consolidation of the politics” examines the development 1945 – circa 1970. The new tendencies would turn out to reflect an increasing awareness of the educational opportunities for future museum personnel, different solutions for establishing good professional guidance for the unmanned museums and, in parallel within the professional museum milieu, an emerging debate on the museums’ role in society. Common for all these initiatives is that they demonstrate what one could characterise as an increasing degree of professionalism. Part four end with the Proposal from the Museum Committee of 1967. This white paper was presented by the Ministry of Churches and Education in 1972. The document was the first of its kind and was intended to be recognised as a comprehensive plan. The most tangible result of the white paper was the arrangement for subsidies to semi-public museums which was introduced in 1975.
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| 5. |
- Hedqvist, Eric, 1937-
(författare)
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Varats och utvecklingens kedja : en naturhistorisk museiutställning i Göteborg 1923-1968
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation is a museological study of the coming into being of a natural history museum, its building and its adherent zoological exhibition during the years around the First World War. The main problem of the dissertation is the opposition between the curator´s program 1903 for the exhibit and its realization twenty years later. The theoretical perspective is that in its synchronic aspect science, in accordance with the views of swedish sociologist, Thomas Brante, is divided into three levels interdependent upon one another in varying degrees – theoretical, sociological and psychological level. In the present study, the main issue is the weighing of the relative significance of each of these levels. The exhibit was structured as along a scale, or chain, from lesser to greater animals. In this and in other respects it belonged to the legacy of Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnæus. Interest in maintaining this tradition was powerful in the Swedish society during the years before the First World War. Not until around 1950 was the modern theory of evolution explicitly announced to the visitor of the exhibit, still however without the representation of the forces behind it By an investigation of the milieu to which the museum belonged is shed light upon the scientific and other ideals which are represented in its exhibit. The result of an assess of the significance of the theoretical, the sociological ant the psychological level is that contemporay theory does not stand out as a driving force behind the creation of the exhibit in 1923. Nor does the curator of the exhibition emerge as an innovator. Most dominant is however the sociological level.
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| 6. |
- Näsman, Olof, 1943-
(författare)
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Samhällsmuseum efterlyses : Svensk museiutveckling och museidebatt 1965–1990
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A new cultural policy developed in Sweden in the 1960’s in order to renew the activities of mseums in a more socially relevant direction. The dissertation examines whether the museums adopted the new policy and to what extent the objectives were achieved. The thesis analyses three main areas: the new cultural policy and the attempts to implement it; activities in selected museums along with different intellectual trends that shaped their activities; and the debate between different “thought collectives” (L. Fleck) regarding museums’ missions and objectives as well as expectations within the museum sector. How did the various “actors” relate to the objectives of the new cultural policy? The thesis confirms the potential of the museums as generators for renewal and innovation in terms of democracy and development of the society. There was a clear shift in attitudes from values associated with the “Cultural heritage museum” towards the in this thesis introduced idea of the “Community museum”. The study shows how museums tried to introduce activities relating to current political and social issues, which supports the principal hypothesis in the study, that the museums became more socially relevant during the investigated period. However, during the 1980s, there could be seen a clear recurrence back to the idea of “Cultural heritage museum”. The movement in opposite directions illustrates the museums’ strong ties to the earlier traditional ”styles of thought” (Fleck) and their role as cultural guardians, which severely restricted their capacity for innovation and new ways of thinking.Nevertheless, the Swedish Exhibition Agency (Riksutställningar) performed a role as a searhead for the new cultural policy, corresponding with the heterodoxy and new style of thinking represented by the “Community museum”. A number of persons dominating the debate within the museum sector had a crucial importance in the shift towards the concept of “Community museums”. A revitalisation of the exhibitions, pedagogy and content was accomplished, often as a result of the Swedish Exhibition Agency’s efforts to develop the medium. During the period 1965–1990 Swedish museum exhibitions moved towards a temporary and more socially oriented content. According to Steven Conn’s principal thesis “Do museums still need objects?” the importance of objects gradually declined during the last century. In line with this development, the new Museum of Work had no objects/collections of its own. Furthermore, the arrival of new technology in the late 1980’s gave preconditions for reshaping knowledge and contributed to new attitudes towards communication. Museums were now seen as centres for social contact and communication.The role of museology as an academic discipline in the reprogramming of the museums towards a more socially oriented approach is another important issue. Museology has been criticized by those who – int the debate – questioned the entire idea of “Community museum”.
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| 7. |
- Simonsson, Märit, 1981-
(författare)
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Displaying Spaces : Spatial Design, Experience, and Authenticity in Museums
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation aims to analyse how spatial design affects experiences and meaning making in museums. The overarching question is what the spatial elements and forms within museums communicate to those who visit them. This is specifically explored in five museums in Rome: Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Centrale Montemartini, and MAXXI. The method used for analysing the museum spaces was based on observations that followed a method plan consisting of visiting the spaces on several occasions and describing the spaces and my own experiences of them with a focus on spatial aspects such as layout, disposition of exhibitions, material, volume, light, and colours. This also included conversations with first-time visitors, one in each of the five museums, about their experiences of the visit. My own experiences and the five visitors’ descriptions are analysed in dialogue with theoretical perspectives. The theoretical framework consists of perspectives from diverse academic disciplines. The most essential of these are museological aspects on museum experiences, authenticity, and spatial matters. Multimodality, semiotics, hermeneutics, and art-architecture theory are applied in relation to analysis of spatial factors and symbolic meanings as well as to authentic experiences and understanding of history. Phenomenological approaches to the body as the medium through which we perceive the world is central in this study. The five museums are treated and analysed individually in each of their chapters and the results reveal that although they are radically different from each other in terms of their contents and display concepts, they have corresponding factors in common. In the final chapter, the museums are discussed in relation to perspectives on spatial design in museums in a broader sense and the conclusions are drawn on a more general level. The discussions include aspects of authentic experiences of both historical and contemporary factors as well as on the issue of balance and imbalance in relation to museum spaces.Museum spaces are inseparable from their contents. Space and exhibition elements influence each other and meaning is formed in their relationship. When imbalanced, museum spaces might evoke sensations of confusion and frustration. When balanced, on the other hand, they can create atmospheres that evoke sensations of excitement, comfort, and curiosity. Museum spaces can stimulate the motivation to understand the exhibition context or encourage visitors to imagine themselves situated in another time and place. Different kinds of experiences occur when we are present in a museum, but it is not always obvious to us that spatial design is a contributing factor. The impact that spatial design has on our experiences and meaning making is considerable and as this study argues, there is reason to further acknowledge space as an essential element in museums.
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| 8. |
- Wittgren, Bengt, 1960-
(författare)
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Katalogen – nyckeln till museernas kunskap? : Om dokumentation och kunskapskultur i museer
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the 1990s, the MLA sector – archives, libraries, museums – was defined as a comprehensive sector. One of the reasons for this was the belief that the digitizing of institutional collections and catalogues would provide a seamless access to the cultural heritage for the general public. No one would any longer need to know in which institution a certain object was kept; everything would be available on the Internet.The questions in this dissertation depart from the expectations in the late 1900s aimed at the available systems in the MLA sector for the management and storage of information and at knowledge maintained in such systems. My point of departure is the idea that access to collections in the MLA sector – real or digital – is made possible through the catalogues. It is in the catalogues that the sector orders data and preserves knowledge collected about the objects. My most important conclusions deal with the management and production of knowledge in the sector. The data systems generally used in the MLA sector lack the indulgence needed to accommodate inherent variability of information. Systems must be based on exact sorting, uniform terminology and classification without deviations in spelling or interpretation.Furthermore, international projects and systems presuppose distinct translations between national terminologies and international classification systems to work for information retrievals.This is not the case with the museum systems here investigated, in opposition to, primarily, the libraries. The museum systems are characterised as distinctive instead of following uniformity principles and national or international taxonomies.An important conclusion about knowledge processing and knowledge production in the MLA sector is that the value of compiling digitalised data from many museums is limited. It is not possible to realize the political goal other than at a superficial level.The conclusions in a comparison between the three professional groups are that in the beginning of the 21th century an extensive part of the antiquarians confirm a thought style, according to Ludwik Fleck, which has another direction than that of archivists and librarians. Throughout the 20th century or in the last decades of the 20th century the two latter groups professionalised their roles both through changes in education and through new professional requirements which led to positions and attitudes in their work other than what happened in the museum sector. Museums are mainly research institutions with members of staff who in many respects lack a focus on increased accessibility of collections. Challenges formulated for museums of cultural history by the cultural politics of the 1970s have not been answered with great flexibility.The investigation in this dissertation demonstrates that archives, libraries and museums in many respects continue to pursue activities according to a thought style which was formed during the first half of the 20th century. Their positions in society, their administrational practice and expectations from the general public constitute stabilising and preserving factors. The MLA sector is not as comprehensive as the policy makers want to believe.
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