Making beyond the norm

Purpose and goal

Making beyond the norm challenges through craft a normative Swedishness. This is a norm that prevents culture heritage institutions from thinking beyond the common and limits the craft that can take place. We identify a strong relation between then and now as a condition for an innovative norm critical thinking. By widening what is seen as Swedish in cultural heritage a potential for innovation is created as it opens up for other participants.

Results and expected effects

The result of our workshops confirmed the necessity of innovation earlier identified in the application. The report Museums and Diversity published by the Swedish Exhibition Agency support our notion. The alteration is complicated due to the nonexistence of non-normative bodies within the collections. It has to be done in several ways. First, by describing the excluding structures. Normcritical texts have therefore been formulated. And by creating alternatives. In the project work began on creating a method that emanated from the knowledge by norm creative crafters and designers.

Approach and implementation

Important in the project was the implementation of two workshops. We gathered representatives from cultural heritage institutions at Konstfack. Here, it became clear that it is in relation to the museums´ collections that a further innovation work needs to be done. At the second workshop at Multicultural Centre crafters and designers were invited to discuss how their knowledge could create or expand collections items to include other bodies. Norm critical texts about art, history and swedishness was formulated. They will be published in the autumn of 2015.