The article constitutes an interdisciplinary study of the comic play På Gröna Lund (1856) by Hedvig von Numers, viewed as a significant contribution to the cultural memory of Sweden’s Gustavian era (1772–1809). Building on recent theoretical perspectives, the workings of cultural memory are investigated in sev-eral dimensions. To begin with, by studying the conditions of its staging and its reception by an audience, we investigate how an experience of historical authen-ticity was created. In the next step, the historical content of the play is interpreted and contextualised by relating it to popular and scholarly historiography of the period, and by studying its use of comic conventions in the service of historical representation. Taken together, these approaches show the complexity of nine-teenth century memory culture when confronted with the recent Gustavian past.

Artistic practices are increasingly used by and integrated into the management of cultural heritage. In the chapter the author explores the associations made between mental health and artistic creativity, as well as the inclusion of contemporary art and artistic practices in sites with a complex history, such as former psychiatric hospitals. The article is based on a research project about the redevelopment of Ulleråker, a former psychiatric hospital in Sweden. Photographic practices in abandoned sites, patients’ art, artistic interventions in the Museum of Medical History, as well as the pre-study work by artist Camille Norment and the public artwork by Lies-Marie Hoffman, are discussed in relation to heritage management and the concept of third-time. The article shows how artistic practices in Ulleråker and similar sites, such as Beckomberga and Lillhagen, have in different ways helped to negotiate time as well as complex histories, when the sites are deinstitutionalised and turned into offices and housing.

Efter psykiatrireformen i början av 1990-talet har många av psykiatrins vårdmiljöer blivit övertaliga. Kvar står före detta institutionsbyggnader, ofta placerade i en grön och lummig natur. Miljön uppfattas i många fall som idyllisk, lugn och redo för en ny tid. Men vad händer med platsens historia och vilka spår finns kvar av de människor vars hem det en gång var när det skapas bostäder och nya verksamheter i området? Hur hanterar nya ägare, fastighetsförädlare och kulturmiljövården platsernas komplexa historia och kulturarv? Kan konst och konstnärlig praktik hjälpa till att skapa en dialog mellan då och nu?

There are several professional competences involved in the creation of a museum exhibition. This article investigates the collaboration between the artist/scenographer and the museum. Further, it seeks to contribute to a historical understanding of such collaborations by exploring the work created by the Swedish artist/scenographer Lennart Mörk in the 1960s and 1970s. It analyses the arguments used to justify the involvement of an artist/scenographer, and looks more closely at the nature of the collaborative work that ensued when the two exhibitions Oskuld – Arsenik (1966/67) at Nordiska museet and Gustaf III (1972/73) at Nationalmuseum were created. The article argues that the recruitment of a theatre decorator/stage artist, as this group of professionals were referred to at the time, was part of a strategy that allowed the museum to realize complex exhibition concepts, while also making the display more emotionally engaging and accessible, something that was increasingly demanded of the museums at the time. Moreover, it challenged a traditional museum exhibition format, placing less focus on the authentic museum objects and more focus on sensory experience and aesthetics.

Recension av Elin Nystrand von Unges avhandling ‘Samla samtid’ Insamlingspraktiker och temporalitet på kulturhistoriska museer i Sverige, 2019.

The three silent films Gustaf III och Bellman (1908), En afton hos Gustaf III på Stockholms slottandTvå konungar(1925) are illuminating examples of how the Gustavian period was reinvented, negotiated and visualized at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the article, object-based and visual analysis of the films, together with reception studies, are used to explore the production of period film and the strategies film directors developed in order to mediate a feeling of au-thenticity on screen. These strategies, based on a performative approach to au-thenticity, shared a number of similarities with professional art-historical practice at the turn of the twentieth century. The three case studies reveal not only how the Gustavian period was staged, but also the overlapping professional structures where filmmakers relied on specialists in the organization of material things, for example museum curators and art historians. Through their authority as experts they were able to help authenticate film productions and facilitate access for the film crew to historic sites. Likewise, the production of period films helped shape public history and influenced the management of heritage sites and museums, initiating reconstruction projects, for example.

Hur kan kulturmiljövården, själva men också i samarbete med andra aktörer, arbeta för att på olika sätt uppmärksamma, förvalta och förmedla kulturarv som kan upplevas som svåra eller mörka? Ett nystartat projekt vid Uppsala universitet finansierat av Riksantikvarieämbetet undersöker kulturarvsarbetets förutsättningar och hur värdering och urval sker vid omvandlingen av äldre psykiatriska sjukhus. Projektet syftar till att på sikt utveckla metoderna för inkludering av komplexa kulturarv i kulturarvsprocesser kopplade till stadsomvandling. Fokus för studien är Ulleråkersområdet strax söder om Uppsala, ett område som efter drygt 200 år som vårdinstitution i skrivande stund genomgår en snabb omvandling till bostadsområde.

 Swedish home interiors in the 1930s and 40s were shaped by a powerful nostalgia as well as modernist ideals of efficiency. This was a contradiction that generated controversies as well as creativity. This paper focuses on debates and negotiations about ideals concerning period furniture, especially relating to production and the concept of authenticity. Further, it explores how these ideals were mediated among professionals and to the individual customer. There were many different types of period furniture available to the customer; antiques, high-class copies, updated and simplified furniture, and industrially produced furniture of varying quality, also flat-pack versions. The specific example discussed in this paper is Gustavian style period furniture. The paper argues that this sometimes-controversial type of furniture was an important component in debates about design at the time, focusing on notions such as taste, honesty, and authenticity. By studying the debates about this alternative category of production, period furniture, this paper wishes to contribute with a complementary approach, which acknowledges a complexity found in the material from the 1930s and 40s.

Scenographic and artistic interventions and interactions have gained in significance within the fields of exhibition and museum design since the 1990s. This article specifically focuses on historic house museums, and how they use their theatrical and scenographic assets in order to recharge and reinvent themselves. The author discusses the different aims and tasks these interventions and interactions take on, and the attitudes that make them happen. Further, the author argues that the field of art history should address these changes in museological practice, and should investigate new possible readings of the historic house, the objects within, and artistic interventions. This would also show the relevance of art history to the field of critical heritage studies in a period that is characterized by the heritage boom and the new experience industry.