Totally Stockholm 1
There has been quite a few museums of women’s his
tory of late, Umeå and New York for example and in Washington DC, the National Museum of Women’s History is ‘homeless’ too, but has a stated aim of finding an appropriate building. Would you ever look into the idea of having a permanent location, or are you perfectly happy with being mobile and having events all across the city? Only the future can tell! Right now this makes us both flexible and fast, and that is brilliant in 2019. Tradition and expertise is at the core of our organisation through our members, networks and advisory boards but in order to also be progressive and innovative, NOT having a huge, permanent and expensive building gives us a lot of strength and inspiration which has led to new opportunities. I know there are numerous events but could you tell me a bit about the programme for the opening month? Trying to fit half of humanity’s history within four walls is impossible. Launching a new women’s history museum in one single day is equally unimaginable. This is why the opening of our museum is taking place over a whole month. At Hökens gata, we are distilling our city scope of 187,160,000 square metres’ worth of knowledge into a room of 28 square metres, with events hosted by our network of organisations, where hidden and half-forgotten history will be presented by experts from near and far. The calendar for the opening month is being updated continuously. You will be able to listen to experts in the field of women’s history, take part in workshops and discussions, enjoy artwork by Petra Bauer and Makda Embaie, and join our Women’s History Association (Kvinnohistoriska Sällskapet). Even looking at just this week, there are talks about Satan, liquor, cultural heritage, slavery and much more. I know your stated aim is to work with the whole city as your canvas, but it seems like almost everything is going on at your headquarters at Hökens gata 11. I assume 14 you have approached other venues and museums for collaborations, what has the reaction been like when approaching your long list of members? The response has been nothing but fabulous, and our long list of members are only the ones we have had the time to sit down with. More will follow! This opening month we are at Hökens gata everyday (even Mondays!) so people can come meet us, to shake hands and be able to ask questions, Those things are very important. But we also have stuff going on in other places, like our big collaboration Kvarterets Kvinnor - Women in the neighbourhood - at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern. It is on display at Kulturhuset until August. After our launch months, when it’s not as dark and cold, we will move outside - with city walks, talks, picnics, historical podcasts and much more. Plus, there’s all the fabulous things that are going on at our member’s institutions. And what’s the response been like, from visitors, the media and perhaps the city itself during these first two weeks? Absolutely fantastic. From 12-year-old trans girls who pop by just to say hi to 92-year-old ladies who say they’ve been waiting for this their whole lives. We have had a tough time fitting all the people in at our events but that’s great - for all the full ones we can replicate them in a few weeks in our members’ locations if they are up for it. This is like a month-long focus group where we learn more than we would normally do during a year. We just needed to get going, the rest will come along as we grow. If you look ahead, what’s your idea of how this project will evolve over the next couple of years, and is there any sort of dream project you would like to do? There are so many things to be done! We want to bring Kvarterets Kvinnor to other parts of the city, and also transform the whole subway map into a women’s history timeline. www.kvinnohistoriska.se