Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Scandinavian Culture – Sweden
Photo: KW Gullers, Nordiska museet.
500 years of enlightenment From design classics to lessons about life before electricity, Nordic light at the Nordic Museum explores life, love and rituals in the Nordic countries, past and present. By Linnea Dunne | Photos: Karolina Kristensson, Nordiska museet
The big, majestic building on the island of Djurgården, which houses the Nordic Museum, gives the impression of a typical old, conventional museum of historical artefacts and past splendour. But the Nordic Museum is anything but a traditional museum; in fact, it was always meant to be much more than that. Founded in 1873 by Artur Huzelius, it was built on a fascination with real stories of real people from all levels of society – a focus that has been respected and celebrated ever since. “We refer to our museum as the palace of everyday life, and what we mean by that is that we’re not so much interested in kings and royalties and the extraordinary. We’re all about ordinary people, 48 | Issue 98 | March 2017
how they live and have lived – about food, homes, fashion and traditions,” says Loredana Jelmini, head of communications at the museum. “And we insist on not being put in the historical box. Yes, we look at the past – but we’re also keen social commentators and deeply fascinated with the present and the future. We use the stories of the past to mirror and explain the present.” This spring, an after-work session in the name of creativity and curiosity is taking place every Wednesday, with regular knitting gatherings, gigs and talks. Super Sundays are for families and friends to play, explore and tickle the imagination. Behind the scenes, ethnological research is continuously being carried out,
among other things as part of the almost 100-year-old Hallwyl professorship, currently held by Lotten Gustafsson Reinius, who is working on the theme of Arctic. As associate professor of ethnology and in collaboration with Stockholm University, Gustafsson Reinius is exploring issues around indigenous peoples and repatriation in relation to the Arctic. It seems easier to describe the Nordic Museum by what it is not than by labelling what it is – neither a historical museum or a design museum – but a look at its publishing house provides a good snapshot. Active since 1873, it publishes books from the 1500s up until today, aiming to present a diversified version of truth. Lucia Revisited, for instance, looks at the Swedish tradition and its multifaceted past, including interpretations both humorous and serious, sacred and profane, popular and aristocratic. The thought-provoking book sheds light on the popular tradition