Populistic Exhibitions or Dedicated to a New Elite of Consumers?

Abstract

Søren Sindbæk has written a thorough and thought-provoking review of the Viking Age exhibitions at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm and the National Museum in Copenhagen. Of course, a review like this is a personal interpretation. Still, I think that Sindbæk has outlined some important challenges for those involved in the creation of large culturalhistorical museum exhibitions in our time. For me, his keynote is particularly interesting, as the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo is currently planning exhibitions for the new Museum of the Viking Age in Oslo. How to deal with the challenges Sindbæk identifies in Copenhagen and Stockholm? Sindbæk (2022) sums up his critical review under two banners – consumerism and populism – two concepts that are not held in high regard in academia. I will primarily add some comments to those two subjects from my point of view. Over the last few decades, archaeology and the cultural heritage sector have been heavily influenced by globalism, identity thinking (in particular, individualism) and capitalism/market ideology. The interplay and inertia of these forces are of course multi-faceted and complex, but they have all weakened the strong connection between nationalism and heritage/archaeology that was once very evident in Scandinavia. Nationalism therefore stands out as a troublesome relic that cannot be taken for granted anymore, nei-