nordic insights news, nordic insights resources, Stiri
This knowledge transfer conversation, within the project ”Nordic Insights: addressing cancel culture in public spaces through artistic dialogue and cultural innovation”, features Lisa Rosendahl, Associate Professor of Exhibition Studies at Oslo National Academy of the...
nordic insights news, nordic insights resources
Context This conversation features Robert Nilsson Mohammadi, Associate Senior Lecturer at Malmö University and theme leader for Urban Humanities at the Institute for Urban Research, in dialogue with Oana Nasui, a cultural researcher. Their discussion explores...
nordic insights resources, Stiri
In the volatile summer of 2020, something unprecedented happened across the Western world. Within weeks of Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck on a Minneapolis street, hundreds of monuments and memorials fell — pulled down by protesters,...
nordic insights news, nordic insights resources, Resurse, Stiri
Managing Contested Public Art: From Conflict to Conversation is a practical toolkit developed through the Nordic Insights project, designed for cultural operators, historians, artists, educators, local authorities and community activists working with contested...
nordic insights news, nordic insights resources
Whose Monument? Memory Ownership, Contested Heritage and Cancel Culture in Northern and Eastern Europe (Oana Nasui, ed., PostModernism Museum Publishing House, 2026, ISBN 978-630-95002-3-6) is a collaborative study book bringing together researchers, cultural...
nordic insights resources
This article introduces the concept of the post-monument as a way to understand how contemporary societies are rethinking public monuments and memory. Unlike traditional monuments, which often celebrate heroic figures or offer a sense of closure, post-monuments...
nordic insights resources
This publication explores how societies in the former Soviet space are rethinking history, memory, and cultural heritage in the aftermath of imperial and totalitarian rule. It argues that decolonizing memory means reclaiming the right to tell one’s own history, rather...
nordic insights resources
This research project was commissioned by the Public Art Agency Sweden and carried out by the Art History department at Södertörn University. It looks at how public art works in everyday life, focusing on both permanent and temporary artworks, whether they are...
nordic insights resources
Historical context: the fighting around Salonta, late September – early October 1944 The Soviet monuments in Salonta have a verifiable historical anchor. According to the Romanian military historian Col. (r) Prof. univ. dr. Alesandru Duțu — former researcher at the...
nordic insights resources
Heritage, Democracy and the Public examines the relationship between heritage, democracy, and the public in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), focusing on how cultural heritage is managed and negotiated within contemporary democratic...
nordic insights resources
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvia announced the dismantling of up to 300 Soviet-era monuments, a decision that intensified regional tensions and further strained relations with Russia. These monuments evoke deeply conflicting meanings: for parts...
nordic insights resources
The Monumental Challenges Toolkit is an educational resource created to help teachers explore contested histories through the study of monuments and public space. It shows why monuments become controversial, how historical narratives evolve, and how students can...
nordic insights resources
The “Woman With the Handbag” is an iconic 1985 photograph by Hans Runesson showing 38-year-old Danuta Danielsson, a Swedish woman of Polish-Jewish descent, swinging her handbag at a neo-Nazi demonstrator during a far-right march in Växjö, Sweden. The image instantly...
nordic insights resources
The Norwegian government has officially decided to abandon the controversial monument project titled “Memory Wound,” designed by Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg to commemorate the victims of the 2011 Utøya massacre. The original proposal called for a dramatic...
nordic insights resources
In 2023, a memorial to Queen Victoria in Melbourne was vandalised with red paint on the same night King Charles III was crowned. The timing of the act immediately drew attention and raised questions about whether it was intended as a political statement connected to...
nordic insights resources
This publication examines how history textbooks in the Republic of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine present national identity, neighboring countries, and shared historical experiences. By comparing curriculum frameworks, narratives, and teaching approaches, the study...
nordic insights resources
In 2015, the world watched in shock as members of the Islamic State (IS) destroyed ancient Assyrian statues and artefacts inside the Mosul Museum in Iraq.Video footage released by the group showed fighters using sledgehammers, drills, and other tools to smash...
nordic insights resources
A new exhibition in Los Angeles explores the complex legacy of Confederate monuments in the United States. One of its central pieces is the melted remains of the bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee, which once stood in Charlottesville, Virginia, and became a focal...
nordic insights resources
Vilnius has decided to delay the removal of a Soviet-era monument at Antakalnis Cemetery after the United Nations Human Rights Committee intervened with interim measures. The monument, which honors Soviet soldiers, was scheduled for dismantling by November 1 following...
nordic insights resources
In 2021, the statue of Samuel von Brukenthal in Sibiu’s main square was vandalized with paint — an act that quickly sparked public debate about memory, identity, and contested heritage in Romania. The perpetrator, a 37-year-old local resident, was later identified and...
nordic insights resources
The Riga City Council has approved the removal of three public monuments associated with Russian imperial and Soviet history: the statue of General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, and the monuments dedicated to writers Andrejs Upīts and Sudrabu Edžus. This decision...
nordic insights resources
This study presents how a parametric digital twin was developed for Löfstad Castle in Sweden to support heritage preservation. Researchers installed 13 sensor boxes with 84 sensors throughout the building to monitor indoor climate conditions continuously. Using the...
nordic insights resources
The last public statue of Vladimir Lenin in Finland has been removed by city authorities, marking a symbolic end to the country’s visible Soviet-era legacy. The monument, which had stood for decades, became increasingly controversial in recent years, especially after...
nordic insights resources
This report explores how public art is researched and practiced in the Nordic countries and around the world. It was commissioned by the Public Art Agency Sweden and prepared by Södertörn University and Valand Academy to identify what we know, what we don’t, and where...
nordic insights resources
This thesis looks at what “participation” really means in museums—not just as a project outcome, but as everyday work carried out by museum professionals. Based on ethnographic research at Fisksätra Museum (Sweden) and the Museum Europäischer Kulturen (Germany), the...
nordic insights resources
This article looks at how Norwegian museums are adapting to a society shaped by migration and greater cultural diversity. It shows how museums try to include the voices and stories of immigrants in their exhibitions and collections, moving from older ideas of national...
nordic insights resources
In 19th-century Scandinavia, museums were closely tied to the changing idea of what a “nation” meant. At first, “nation” was understood as a cultural community that could stretch across borders, which inspired the creation of Scandinavian ethnographic collections....
nordic insights resources
Heritage—whether monuments, archives, artifacts, or traditions—shapes how societies see themselves. It passes down stories and values, often celebrating ideals like democracy or heroism while pushing painful histories, such as oppression or violence, into the margins....
nordic insights resources
This article looks at how cultural heritage became a public human rights issue after the 2011 terrorist attack in Oslo, Norway, which damaged the Y-Block government building. The Y-Block became a symbol of public space and cultural expression, but a government...
nordic insights resources
This article explores the construction of Finland’s national narrative following its independence in 1917, focusing on how the country has remembered and represented its traumatic civil war of 1918. Finnish historical memory has long struggled to integrate this...
