Att ställa ut kultur : om kulturhistoriska utställningar under 100 år

Sammanfattning: Studying a central museum’s exhibition forms and exhibition language for a century permits envestigation into how a museum can act independently of the surrounding society, or whether society, currents offashion and scientific theory, influence the development of the museum, of exhibition activity and of policy. It is of interest whether the protagonists in the museum, i.e.the supervisors, curators and other museum officials, are inspired by the spirit of their times and if so, to see how this has taken place. It is of importance to try to analyse the process of cultural dynamics apparent behind the formation of different exhibition structures, which in turn are logically the result of the ideas and values of the exhibition protagonists.The task is thus to place the Swedish cultural historical exhibition in a wider ideological, social and ethnological context: the exhibition is seen to be a product of its time, and in the communications interplay which an exhibition represents, the cultural meeting between the public and the museum becomes a central part of the analysis. This is namely where the museum’s cognitive structures of different kinds are confronted with the individual/visitor/perceiver’s experience. Exhibitions are things of fashion,influenced by the opinions and values of the day. This is why the exhibitions of the Nordic Museum change both in substance and in form and become a sort of reflection of the time in which they were produced.There is a look back at the growth of museum institutions in Europe, focusing ultimately on the birth of the Swedish museum institution and the related Homestead movement. Exhibitions, especially the large ones of the 20th century, are analysed, including comprehensive picture analysis. Several prominent museum officials have been interviewed about exhibitions at the museum. Articals written by critics for the daily newspapers have been researched and analysed, from the first decade of the century. The source material for the thesis emanates from ethnelogical, historical, art historical and literary spurces from both Swedish and foreign archives.