Performancekonst är en konstform där konstnärer använder sina kroppar som uttrycksmedel för att skapa en fysisk och omedelbar närvaro i direkt kontakt med publiken. Framträdandena drivs av en strävan efter att skapa något som överskrider vedertagna föreställningar om vad som är konst; performancekonstens raison d’être är nyhet och förändring. Att skapa ny performancekonst är därför svårt och det görs sällan.I detta kapitel undersöker vi hur denna sällsynta och nya performancekonst uppstår. Vi fokuserar vår studie på en liten och tätt sammanhållen grupp av performancekonstnärer som framför sina verk vid olika festivaler. Vi analyserar processerna bakom både lyckade och misslyckade framträdanden, på grundval av fältanteckningar från observationer samt genomförda intervjuer. I analysen nyttjar vi särskilt begreppen inramning (framing), ambiguitet och delad kunskap (cf. Goffman 1974) för att förstå hur ny konst erkänns och legitimeras som ett lyckat framträdande i detta festivalsammanhang. [...]

Recent geopolitical developments have placed Nordic cooperation on the agenda. As an important institution of Nordic cooperation, the Nordic Council has historically been outperformed by the EU and NATO in matters of hard power (e.g. economic and military cooperation), and has instead prioritized influence through soft power (e.g. cultural diplomacy). The article demonstrates how the Nordic Council, through what we call regional soft power, promotes cohesion through the awarding of prizes. The power, legitimacy, and reach of the organization reside in its ability to engage new recipients and connect the prizes to ideas about Nordicness. Analyzing transcribed speeches from prize-givers and recipients from fifty years of award ceremonies (1962–2012), our findings highlight history, language, and nature as important reference points for the idea of Nordicness. Over time, the award ceremony as a space for deeper political discourse diminishes in favor of ceremonial and performative expressions of unity. We argue that the use of culture for political purposes, through the repeated acts of giving and accepting prizes, functions as a mechanism of soft power. This exchange represents a symbolic unity within the Nordic region, which is intended to facilitate further cooperation and international influence.

Projects have become the naturalized form for organizing teamwork within several sectors in society, including the arts. However, the unintended consequences of the inherent logic of projects, specifically their reliance on small, goal-oriented teams working together for short periods to reach unique, specific results, are often overlooked. This study explores the impact of Nordic cultural funding’s reliance on the project form, focusing on its effects on collaboration, creativity, and the sustainability of the resulting work. Projects supported by the Nordic Culture Point and the Nordic Culture Fund must meet specific criteria, including cross-border collaboration and the expression of a “Nordic dimension.” Drawing on 18 interviews with grant recipients across the Nordic countries and autonomous regions, the research addresses key challenges: the necessity of “becoming” a project manager; the “greediness” of projects, which take over other parts of life; “project sickness,” where socially engaged initiatives abandon participants once funding ends; and the “rifting” of creative work where material cannot be reused due to the pressure to create unique content for the next project cycle. The study raises critical questions about the sustainability of project-based funding models, both within the Nordic context and as a broader framework for cultural funding.

Book reviews are instrumental in assessing the public value of literary works. However, the path to literary recognition, considering the factors influencing why certain books are reviewed, earn acclaim, or face criticism, remains unclear. Amid ongoing discussions around the “crisis of criticism,” the study scrutinizes this discourse and employs two regression analyses to examine the occurrence and sentiment of reviews for 9814 fiction books originally in Swedish and 8340 reviews from major Swedish newspapers (2001–2018). The sentiment of book reviews is determined through a novel approach with an automated pipeline incorporating state-of-the-art natural language processing models. The article reveals enduring institutional, cultural, and demographic hierarchies that shape literary recognition through the occurrence of reviews. Key factors include literary prestige and author youth, alongside ties to elite literary networks, publication by major houses, and focus on literary fiction or poetry. Conversely, older authors with numerous books, bestsellers, or a focus on children’s literature exhibit reduced review probabilities. While review occurrence is highly predictable, sentiment proves less so. Moreover, reviews generally express positivity despite frequent reviewer discord. Our findings suggest that books are selected for review based on external factors such as reputation and credentials, thereby reflecting persistent patterns of cultural consecration. This resonates with the idea of a “conservative revolution”, where established hierarchies maintain their influence, rather than indicating a “crisis in criticism”. Nevertheless, the unpredictability of review sentiment and the lack of consistent consensus on quality underscore a deeper evaluative uncertainty that transcends the more stable hierarchies governing review selection.

The concept of talent captivates both academics and practitioners in sports. Coaches, scouts, and other stakeholders evaluate players, aiming to identify and develop talent. Academic research is particularly drawn to it due to the challenges in defining it clearly. Yet, talent remains one of the greatest mysteries in both sports and sports science. A fuller understanding of talent, which this thesis aims to advance, comes with an implicit promise to address practical issues in talent identification and development and possibly clarifying its true nature. ...

Since 2013, the Nordic Council prizes have been awarded at live broadcast ceremonies in the Nordic countries. The Nordic Council Prize in Literature is the most prestigious, but like the other prizes, it is also part of a regional political project by the Nordic Council based on a culture of prize-giving. Rather than focusing on book content or the literary award alone, this article investigates the prize-giving ceremony. It examines how the idea of the Nordic is expressed in the prize-giving culture of broadcasted ceremonies from 2013 to 2023. It explores how organizers use narratives, audio, text, and visuals in the ceremonies to convey the prizes' meaning through an arrangement merging culture, politics, and media. The article shows the prizes are tied to the broader regional political project—the promotion of a Nordic “imagined community.” The ceremony must navigate the paradox of being both a competition between Nordic countries and an expression of Nordic cooperation. National characteristics are downplayed by avoiding national symbols, shifting focus to Nordic identity. This article contributes to the study of (literary) prize culture by showing how such prizes can be vehicles for a broader political project.

Att på frivillig basis ta sig an en eftergymnasial musikutbildning förknippas ofta med en lång rad osäkerheter. För den som ämnar livnära sig som musiker i framtiden är arbetsmarknaden kantad av prekära anställningsförhållanden, och konkurrensen för att lyckas etablera sig som självständig artist eller yrkesmusiker är hård. Urvalet till ledande utbildningsinstitutioner i Sverige är därtill reglerat av höga prestationskrav, och den stränga selektionen till de få lärosäten som räknas till de mer betydande bland yrkesmusiker förutsätter ofta en tidig start på musicerandet, fördjupad specialisering via etablerade musikgymnasier i de större städerna eller flera år av förberedande musikutbildningar (Nylander 2014). För svenskt vidkommande finns flera folkhögskolor som agerar som viktiga instanser för återskapandet av olika musikfält. För folk- och världsmusik återkommer till exempel ofta folkmusikkurser på Malungs folkhögskola i biografierna över namnkunniga folkmusiker från Marianne Maans till Sara Parkman. De allra flesta som söker till folkmusikutbildningen vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan har historiskt sett sedan början av 2000-talet gått på en förutbildning och då framför allt på en folkhögskola (Rosenberg 2009). För jazzens del har folkhögskolor som Skurup och Fridhem visat sig särskilt betydelsefulla (Nylander 2014).

Men långt ifrån alla deltagare söker sig till musikutbildningar i förhoppning att bli uppburna yrkesmusiker, framgångsrika frilansartister eller Sveriges nästa stora exportsuccéer. Musikutbildningar kommer i många skepnader och attraherar också individer som vill lära sig bemästra ett instrument, ta ett sabbatsår från nuvarande sysselsättning, återhämta sig eller ha en rolig och meningsfull aktivitet för en kortare period (Fürst, Levelius & Nylander 2018; Fürst & Nylander 2020, 2023). Osäkerheten i utbildningsval för dessa individer handlar mindre om de objektiva (o)möjligheterna att livnära sig som musiker eller erkännas på ett konstnärligt yrkesfält, och mer om att bejaka ett musikaliskt intresse eller passa in i en studiegemenskap i ljuset av mer nedtonade karriärambitioner. 

Mångfalden av engagemangsformer och sätt att förhålla sig till musikens mening i utbildningssfären gör dem till ett intressant kultursociologiskt forskningsobjekt (Fürst & Nylander 2023). I denna artikel ska vi med utgångspunkt i intervjuer med studerande och lärare på musikprofiler vid svenska folkhögskolor resonera om vad det är för typer av engagemang som tillerkänns betydelse i folkhögskolevärlden och därigenom vilka värden musiken får i unga människors liv.

Inspirerade av pragmatisk sociologi visar vi att folkhögskolans musikprofiler befolkas av deltagare med olika sätt att orientera och engagera sig i musiken. Innan vi exemplifierar hur dessa sätt att orientera sig till folkhögskolornas musikutbildningar går att förstå genom fyra format, som 1) drivhus, 2) hem, 3) upplevelseplats eller 4) kurort, presenteras en kort kontextuell inramning av de folkbildningsinstitutioner som hjälper till att bära upp och utveckla det folkliga musikintresset i Sverige. Kapitlet avslutas med en kritisk diskussion om hur utbildningsformen folkhögskola hotas av en reduktionistisk tolkningsram där dess värde helt vilar på en objektivering av deltagandet i form av standardiserade mått på deltagarnas arbetsmarknadsintegration.

I rapporten Kultursamarbeten och nordisk bidragsgivning studeras fördelning av de två stora kulturstöden hos Nordisk kulturfond och Nordisk kulturkontakt – ”Projektstöd till tvärgående samarbeten” respektive ”Kultur- och konstprogrammet”. Rapporten sammanställer en analys av samarbeten inom konst och kultur, och hur den nordiska bidragsgivningen möjliggör för gemensamma projekt. Fokus läggs på utformning av tvärgående samarbeten mellan kulturskapare och genomförande av projekt. En viktig utgångspunkt för studerad bidragsgivning är att den ska bidra till utbyten mellan de nordiska länderna och skapa nordiskt mervärde.  Baserat på intervjuer med bidragsmottagare framkommer erfarenheter av hur det är att söka kulturstöd från Nordisk kulturfond och Nordisk kulturkontakt samt bygga upp nätverk. 

En återkommande problematik inom nordiskt samarbete kretsar kring geografiska, miljömässiga och ekonomiska hinder som påverkar projekten från planering till genomförande. Geografiska avstånd skapar ojämlika förutsättningar för samarbete, där centrala områden gynnas av goda kommunikationer och stora kulturbudgetar, medan perifera områden står inför svårigheter att inkluderas på grund av bristande resurser. Samtidigt utgör de nordiska kulturstöden ett viktigt komplement till den nationella bidragsgivningen, inte minst för de mindre länderna som på så sätt får möjlighet att skala upp projekt och därmed får del av en större publik och arbetsmarknad.  

Rapporten är framtagen av Kulturanalys Norden. Kulturanalys Norden är ett nordiskt kunskapscentrum för kulturpolitik som etablerats på uppdrag av Nordiska ministerrådet.

Rapporten är skriven på svenska med en sammanfattning på engelska.

This study constitutes an in-depth analysis of cultural collaborations and focuseson funding from the Nordic Culture Fund and Nordic Culture Point. The in-depthanalysis aims to examine the conditions for Nordic cooperation and exchanges inthe cultural sector. The report presents systematic knowledge about the nature ofNordic cultural cooperation based on funding. The study is based on interviews withgrant recipients and representatives of the joint Nordic cultural institutions NordicCulture Fund and Nordic Culture Point. More specifically, the following question isexamined: What obstacles and opportunities can be identified for Nordic culturalcooperation and exchange in the cultural sector, focusing on funding from theNordic Culture Fund and Nordic Culture Point?

A recurring issue in Nordic cooperation revolves around geographical, ecological,and economic barriers that affect projects from planning to implementation.Geographical distances create unequal conditions for cooperation, where centralareas benefit from good communications and large cultural budgets, whileperipheral areas face difficulties in inclusion due to a lack of resources. Travel, inparticular, appears to be costly and unsustainable, affecting the possibility ofcooperation and the need for funds.

Managing projects with participants from several different countries appears to bea challenge, especially for smaller organisations and unestablished actors.Nevertheless, many projects involve more than three Nordic countries. Therelationship with "the Nordic Region" varies between projects, where Nordicrelevance may be a starting point or a consequence of available funding. Differentart forms have different conditions for Nordic cooperation, with alreadyestablished networks and collaborations making some art forms more likely toapply for Nordic funding.

Difficulties arise for unestablished cultural practitioners, both in the applicationprocess and regarding concerns about reporting. Moreover, budgeting becomescomplex with different currencies and tax rules between countries. In addition, insome projects it is perceived as difficult to pay reasonable salaries to participants.The short lifespan of projects is also sometimes seen as a problem.During the covid-19-pandemic, planned projects were disrupted, but the flexibilityof donors was highlighted as positive. Physical meetings were emphasized asimportant for cultural creation, while awareness of the environmental impact oftravel within projects increased.

Despite the challenges, the participants express predominantly positive experiencesof Nordic support, but areas of development are identified to create economically,environmentally, socially and creatively sustainable projects.In summary, the following areas for further discussion and developmental work areproposed:

Art forms' connection to Nordic cooperation: How can it become easier forthose art forms that are not usually involved in Nordic cooperation to applyfor and benefit from grants?

Established and unestablished cultural practitioners: What measures can betaken to reduce the gap between established and unestablished culturalpractitioners' opportunities to apply for and receive Nordic grant funding?

Centre and periphery in Nordic cooperation: How can the differencesbetween central and peripheral areas be bridged to increase theopportunities for peripheral countries and areas to participate in Nordiccooperation and apply for grants?

Accessibility of culture in the Nordic region: How can similar conditions becreated for culture to be accessible in different places in the Nordic region,especially with regard to uniform pricing for the performance andpresentation of works?

Activities for Nordic information: There are needs for continuous informationactivities to provide information on various laws and tax rules in connectionwith the budgeting and payment of Nordic grant funds.

While many public performances of culture were shut down during much of the pandemic, the homes of many artists became prominent places for making culture. In particular, the pandemic created a rift in the temporal and spatial organization of work and leisure, affecting time management. This article turns to the creative lives of 32 novelists in Sweden who were interviewed online over video in 2020 and 2021. Using the example of these authors, the article investigates the impact of the pandemic on actors in culture who, to a large degree, already work creatively in physical isolation. The pandemic became an external shock affecting the temporal organization among authors and their ability to juggle commitments in life. For some, the pandemic situation appeared to create a rare slowdown of their relationships to their creative lives as well as a synchronization of spheres of life, feelings of resonance, and time for writing. As their regular activities disappeared and commitments weakened, others felt a non-resonant slowdown in their creative capacities. Those whose lives were intensified by new or additional work to make ends meet lost time for creative work, with writing becoming a guilty pleasure in response to the pandemic as a trauma. The research results emphasize the temporal conditions for making culture at home during the pandemic and argue for the general importance of studying temporal organizations of careers and art-making.