Stockholm, October 6-9, 2011

Redesign / Redefine?

Planning for major refurbishment

The location of the ICAMT Conference this year is Stockholm. Our Swedish ICAMT colleague Mårten Jansson prepared the programme. The theme of this year's Conference is 'Redefine/ Redesign: Planning for Major Refurbishment'.

The buildings in which a museum is housed can often be one of the institution's most important assets and in many cases justifiably need to be treated as a part of the collection. With the passage of time museum buildings frequently become historical monuments in their own right, becoming significant representatives of the architecture of their times. Finding the right balance continues to tax designers and museums and the theme of this conference is how do modern institutions cope with the need to renew their premises in such historic buildings whilst, taking issues such as conservation, financial constraints and the visitors' needs and expectations into account?

We will look at three of Stockholm's main museum institutions, housed in buildings from the 18th, 19th and 20th century, all facing the need for refurbishment in order to meet the contemporary challenges.

Draft Programme

Thursday 6th October: Vasa Museum
The Vasa Museum was constructed around one of the world's most precious museum objects: the intact hull of the 17th century warship Vasa, which sank in Stockholm harbour only a few hundred meters from the shore. This year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the spectacular raising of the ship from the sea floor. Having spent three decades in a temporary dock, the ship was floated into the present museum building, which opened to the public in 1990.

The building, designed by Swedish architects Marianne Dahlbäck and Göran Månsson, was originally planned for 600,000 visitors per year. The average number of yearly visitors is now more than a million. The construction of an annex, engaging the original architects as senior advisors, is scheduled to start later this year. The Vasa Museum is now one of the defining features of the Stockholm sea front and the annex project has caused some debate.

Programme

•  Registration
•  Welcome words by ICAMT President Stephen Cannon-Brookes
•  Vasa Museum Director Marika Hedin will present overview of the Vasa Museum, its history and plans for the new Annex as part of its strategy for the future
• Malin Fajersson, Head of Exhibitions at the Vasa Museum, will lead a guided tour through some of the exhibitions areas in the Museum.
• Lunch in the museum restaurant
• Vanja Knocke from the National Property Board of Sweden, who owns the building, introduces the annex project together with Torgny Nordin with architect Torgny Nordin who collaborates with Månsson and Dahlbäck Architects. Display of sketches and plans and an architectural tour of the museum.
• Feedback session to review the day's topics.

Friday 7th October: Nationalmuseum
In addition to being Stockholm and Sweden's principal gallery for classical art and craft the museum also houses a large collection of design from the 20th century through to the present day. It was originally opened in 1866 and the building's most prominent feature is the impressive entrance hall with murals by Swedish painter Carl Larsson.

Largely unaltered since its opening, the building has caused both staff and visitors a range of challenges over the years, related not just to climate, lighting and conservation, but also to the issues associated with catering for increasing numbers of visitors. A long planned closure is due to start in 2013 to enable a major refurbishment and modernisation to be undertaken. The programme for this includes plans to show the collection in other locations.

Programme

• Introduction and welcome by Solfrid Söderlind, General Director.
• Fredrik Eriksson, project manager of the refurbishment of the Nationalmuseum. Display of sketches and a presentation of the project.
• Helena Kåberg on how the museum will meet the audience in the 'new' Nationalmuseum, focus on lighting- and exhibition techniques.
• Lunch in the Atrium Restaurant
• Visit to 'Museum in New Light / Shimmering Silver'. This exhibition is a full scale test environment where the museum experiments with different ways of displaying their collections. The common thread running through the project 'Museum in New Light' is how different kinds of light affect the appreciation of art.
• Feedback session on the Nationalmuseum
• Lenastina Andersson, architect, gives an international overview of other refurbishing projects at major museum institutions, with a focus on Europe.
• ICAMT paper presentations

Saturday 8th October: Museum of Architecture
The 19th century military drill hall that house the Museum of Architecture was also the original premises of the Museum of Modern Art. The two museums are now adjacent to each other, with a shared entrance that leads to Rafael Moneo's building for the Museum of Modern Art on the left and the Museum of Architecture on the right.

In 2010 the Museum of Architecture was given an extended brief to function as the Swedish meeting place for design and this has generated the programme for a major refurbishment of the museum premises starting late in 2011. In the refurbished museum, architecture and design will be exhibited together with visualisations of the processes that shape the designed environment. ICAMT's visit will be an opportunity to learn more about this project and its integration with the building.

Programme

10.00 – 10.30    Registration
10.30 – 11.15   Anneli Strömberg, Head of Audiences, Museum of Architecture
11.15 – 12.00    Malin Zimm, coordinator, Museum of Architecture

• Guided tour of the Museum
• Lunch at Kantin Moneo, at the Museum of Modern Art
• ICAMT  AGM
• Visit the Museum of Architecture and adjacent Museum of Modern Art
• ICAMT Conference Dinner – location to be confirmed

Sunday 9th October: Optional tour to Uppsala and Museum Gustavianum
ICAMT member Isabel Mendoza has kindly agreed to act as guide to museums in Uppsala including her own institution, Museum Gustavianum.

The museum is housed in Uppsala University's oldest preserved building with the Anatomical Theatre on the roof. Exhibited at the museum are the Augsburg Art Cabinet, discoveries from the Viking period, the history of the University, mummies and much more.

It is envisaged that those participating will take the train to Uppsala and make an informal tour of the museums, returning to Stockholm the same day. This tour is not included in the registration fee for the conference.

Fee and Registration

The fee for the conference will be € 200 for ICAMT Members, and € 250 for non-members.

When you like to come to the ICAMT Conference in Stockholm write an e-mail to icamt@icamt.com. We will send you an e-mail back with the payment details. The lunches and the ICAMT conference dinner are included in the fee. Other lunches, dinners, travel and hotel-costs are not included.

Accommodation

ICAMT selected Hotel Columbus, with an excellent location in Stockholm's bohemian south-side, Södermalm, a 10 mins walk from underground station Medborgarplatsen. The rooms are clean and comfortable but showers and toilets are located in the corridor, which means comparably affordable tariffs.

Website: www.columbushotell.se/eng/info.htm
Telephone: +46-8-503 112 00

There are 20 single bedrooms available for the price of SEK 845, approximately EURO 84. Rooms are available from the 5th of October. Booking can be arranged via ICAMT.
Rooms are not included in the conference price and must be paid to ICAMT before 1st of August.

Call for Papers

ICAMT 2011 welcomes you to bring in a paper presentation. Given the focus of this year's conference, papers dealing with RE-define/design are especially welcomed.
icamt@icamt.com

• Vasa Museum, Jordanhill School D&T Dept
, Creative Commons license, dtsomp
• Nationalmuseum, Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum
• Museum of Architecture, Åke E:son Lindman