Mattias Bäckström

About

Mattias Bäckström is Professor of Cultural Heritage Management, specializing in exhibition studies, heritage studies and museology. He has a PhD and holds the title of Reader of History of Ideas and Science at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Mattias has extensive professional experience from the museum sector and heritage sector. For example, he has worked as a curator and exhibition producer at the Västernorrland County Museum, but also as head of activities for its open-air museum.

For more than 30 years, Mattias has held curatorial or scholarly positions and conducted research and teaching in and about the museum sector and heritage sector in Scandinavian and North European countries.

Mattias is coordinator of the interdisciplinary and intersectorial research group Museology and Museum Research at NTNU. He is also associate editor of the Norwegian Museum Journal, which publishes peer-reviewed, scholarly articles on topics relevant to the museum sector.

New scholarly monograph

In September 2024, the scholarly monograph Det femte Sahlgrenska som medicinskt mediesystem. Mediebruk i den göteborgska sjukhusstadens förvaltande, kliniska och museala verksamheter 1933–1959 (The Fifth Sahlgrenska as a medical media system. Uses of media in the clinical, management and museal activities of the hospital city in Gothenburg 1933–1959) was published by Makadam förlag.

Mattias Bäckström is the lead author. Robert Wallsson and Lisa Sputnes Mouwitz at the Medical History Museum in Gothenburg are co-authors. Through their cross-sectoral cooperation, they show how the uses of media looked like at the Sahlgrenska Hospital, including at the surgery clinic and the hospital museum. How did key actors produce and use exhibitions, films, photographs, sciopticon images, wire recordings and x-ray images in their clinical, management and museum activities? The book presents new knowledge at the intersection of media history, medicine history and museum history.

University and higher education sector

In his scholarly and educational work, Mattias focuses on the history, theory and practice of heritage and museums, exhibitions and collections, as well as on the history of science, history of media, and history of architecture and the built environment.

Between 2015 and 2018, Mattias was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Heritage and the History of Knowledge at the Centre for Museum Studies at the University of Oslo in Norway. Mattias has also studied at Uppsala University in Sweden, where he wrote his Bachelor’s thesis and Master’s thesis in Art History with emphasis on the History of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Cultural Heritage Management (Professor, NTNU in Trondheim)
- Exhibition Studies
- Heritage Studies
- Museology
History of Ideas and Science (Reader, PhD, University of Gothenburg)
Heritage and the History of Knowledge (Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oslo)
History of Architecture and the Built Environment (Master’s Thesis, Uppsala University)

The scholarly monograph Att bygga innehåll med utställningar. Utställningsproduktion som forskningsprocess (To build content with exhibitions. Exhibition production as research process) has been reissued in a new edition (2021). The book is published by Nordic Academic Press (print book in 2016 and 2021, e-book in 2017) and by MTM Swedish Agency for Accessible Media (audio book in 2018).

The point of departure of this monograph is Mattias’s own experiences from university research and exhibition productions. In the book, he studies exhibiting as idea and process through historical, theoretical and practical perspectives, and discusses thoroughly a new kind of essayistic research activity that takes place in and by means of exhibition productions: exhibition-specific research in and by means of the exhibition as essay.

To read more, please see the English summary on Academia.

In 2012, Mattias successfully defended his PhD thesis in History of Ideas and Science, which was undertaken at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion at the University of Gothenburg: Hjärtats härdar. Folkliv, folkmuseer och minnesmärken i Skandinavien, 1808–1907 (Hearths of the heart. Folk life, folk museums and historical memorials in Scandinavia, 1808–1907), published by Gidlunds förlag in 2012.

The doctoral thesis deals with, among other things, how museums of cultural history joined together ideas and conceptions about art, morality and science with historical remains and reconstructions when creating their exhibitions, museal dioramas and other museal stagings.

To read more, please see the English summary on Academia.

Mattias is a member of the following research networks in exhibition studies, museology, history of knowledge and history of universities:

FOMU – Research at museums
Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial
The Nordic Nineteenth-Century Research Network
Forum for the history of NTNU

Museum and heritage sector

Mattias has a professional background in the museum sector and heritage sector in Sweden, first and foremost at the Västernorrland County Museum in Härnösand. He has worked as a museum curator and project leader of exhibitions, festivals, seminar series and concert series, but also as a researcher and investigator in exhibition, heritage and museum projects.

Researcher in exhibition productions (projects, Gothenburg, Oslo and Trondheim)
Researcher in the heritage sector (projects, Sundsvall and Stockholm)
Exhibition curator and exhibition producer (permanent position, Härnösand)
Programme curator and exhibition producer (temporary positions, Härnösand)
Head of activites and hosts at open-air museum (temporary positions, Härnösand)
Museum host and museum guide (temporary positions, Härnösand and Uppsala)

He is currently supervisor of an exhibition-as-research project at the National Museum in Oslo. Moreover, he cooperates in research and exhibitions projects at the Medical History Museum in Gothenburg and the Stjørdal Museum Værnes. Recently, he has been member of two other expert groups in Gothenburg. The first expert group focused on the new permanent exhibition at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft, the second group on research in collection management at the Department of Cultural Affairs in the City of Gothenburg.

In exhibition productions and heritage projects, from the mid-1990s and up until today, Mattias has cooperated extensively with institutions, for example with the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Swedish Exhibition Agency, the County Administrative Boards of Sweden, the Museum of Gothenburg, the Sundsvall Museum, and the Regional State Archives in Gothenburg and Härnösand. He has also collaborated with individual artists, musicians and researchers as well as with local and regional institutions, organisations and societies.

To see a selection of the curatorial and conservation projects, please visit Mattias Bäckström’s webpage on Academia.

Ongoing research

In his ongoing research work, Making things matter. Meaning and materiality in museum displays, Mattias examines how museums in Berlin, Copenhagen, London and Stockholm (from c.1880 to c.1920) used and reshaped concepts of knowledge in and by means of exhibited collections and permanent exhibitions. How did these museums shape art history, cultural history and prehistory?

The other ongoing research project, Mediating medicine, is a co-operation between the Department of Cultural Sciences at the University of Gothenburg and the Medical History Museum in Gothenburg. Writing together with the museum director and the museum pedagogue, as a way of practicing a museum-specific approach in research, the contribution of Mattias (lead author) and his museum colleagues (co-authors) is a scholarly monograph about the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg at the intersection of medical history, media history and museum history.

Academic interests

History, theory and practice of heritage and museums, exhibitions and collections.
History and theory of the material turn, the spatial turn and the practical turn.
Heritage, history and memory.
Views of history, ideals of society, and production of knowledge in and by means of museum, exhibition and heritage practices.
Exhibition production as research process.

Teaching

Mattias is lecturer and supervisor in cultural heritage management, for example in museology, heritage studies and exhibition studies (at NTNU in Trondheim since 2019, at the University of Gothenburg 2005–2021, and at the University of Oslo 2015–2018).

PhD course. The exhibition as research. Histories, theories, methods, UiO and NTNU (13–15 June 2024).
KULMI2400. Period of practical training and project work in cultural heritage, NTNU (2020–2021).
KA1120. Politics and ideology of cultural heritage, UGOT (2010–2021).
PhD course. The materiality of knowledge. Nordic history of museums and collections, UiO (14–15 May 2018).

Research

Museum, samfunn, deltakelse – grunnutdanning for noen, etter- og videreutdanning for andre

Prosjektet MuSaDel studerer og utvikler et aktuelt og relevant undervisningstilbud i dialog mellom utdanningssektoren og museumssektoren. Fokuset er på grunnutdanning for universitetsstudenter samt etter- og videreutdanning for museumsansatte.

Kontoret – idémiljø og minneteater

Pilotprosjektet «Kontoret – idémiljø og minneteater» utvikler strategier og metoder for å dokumentere og studere betydningen av kontor for forskning og undervisning. Det er også et faglig utviklingsprosjekt for forvaltningen av NTNUs akademiske kulturarv.

Medisinsk mediering

Prosjektet «Medisinsk mediering» forsker i grenselandet mellom medisin-, medie- og museumshistorie samt digitiserer medisin- og pleiehistoriske filmer og lydbånd. I samvirke med Medisinhistoriske museet i Gøteborg og GPS400 ved Gøteborg universitet.

Publications

Det femte Sahlgrenska som medicinskt mediesystem. Mediebruk i den göteborgska sjukhusstadens förvaltande, kliniska och museala verksamheter 1933–1959

Makadam förlag (2024). Vitenskapelig monografi i grenselandet mellom medie-, medisin- og museumshistorie. Mattias Bäckström (hovedforfatter), Robert Wallsson og Lisa Sputnes Mouwitz (medforfattere).

Att bygga innehåll med utställningar. Utställnings-produktion som forskningsprocess

Nordic Academic Press (2016, ny utgave 2021). Vitenskapelig monografi om utstillingens idéhistorie fra 1750- til 2010-tallet samt utstillingsspesifikk forskning i og gjennom utstillingen som essay.

Hjärtats härdar. Folkliv, folkmuseer och minnesmärken i Skandinavien, 1808–1907

Gidlunds förlag (2012). Doktoravhandling i idé- og lærdomshistorie ved Gøteborg universitet. En komparativ studie om ideer og praksis ved Nordiske museet, Dansk Folkemuseum og Norsk Folkemuseum.

2024

Bäckström, Mattias; Wallsson, Robert; Sputnes Mouwitz, Lisa. (2024) The Fifth Sahlgrenska as a medical media system. Uses of media in the clinical, management and museal activities of the hospital city in Gothenburg 1933–1959. Makadam Förlag Makadam Förlag
Academic monograph

2023

Bäckström, Mattias. (2023) The Exhibition as Essay. Exhibition Production as Research Process. Museumsforlaget AS
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Brandt, Thomas; Lykknes, Annette; Bäckström, Mattias; Rabben, Magne Brekke; Grav, Ellen J. . (2023) The Academic Office as Workspace, Knowledge Site, and Theatre of Memory. Roll up presentation. The 9th Norwegian Conference on the History of Science
Other presentation
Brandt, Thomas; Bäckström, Mattias; Rabben, Magne Brekke; Lykknes, Annette; Grav, Ellen J. . (2023) The Academic Office as Workspace, Knowledge Site and Theatre of Memory. Roll Up presentation. Sluttkonferanse Fremtidens Campus
Other presentation

2022

Bäckström, Mattias. (2022) Friluftsmuseets tidiga idéhistoria. Västergötlands fornminnesförenings tidskrift
Academic article
Bäckström, Mattias. (2022) Robert Thavenius (2021): Nationalmuseum som konsekrerande institution 1890–1920 (licentiatavhandling). Nordisk Museologi
Book review
Bäckström, Mattias; Eriksen, Anne; Jensen, Bernard Eric. (2022) En läsvärd och gedigen avhandling i gränslandet mellan historiedidaktik och museihistoria. Nordisk Museologi
Book review

2021

Bäckström, Mattias. (2021) Att bygga innehåll med utställningar: Utställningsproduktion som forskningsprocess (2. utgave). Nordic Academic Press Nordic Academic Press
Academic monograph

2020

Bäckström, Mattias. (2020) The Dragvoll University Campus – the first 50 years. Universitetsavisa
Feature article
Pierroux, Palmyre; Bäckström, Mattias; Brenna, Brita ; Gowlland, Geoffrey; Ween, Gro Birgit. (2020) Museums as Sites of Participatory Democracy and Design. Routledge
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Bäckström, Mattias; Tretvik, Aud Mikkelsen; Hove, Jon Olav; Müller, Insa. (2020) Innspill til Høringsutkast til etiske retningslinjer for norske museer, Norsk ICOM og Norges museumsforbund (ePhorte saksnummer 2020/16248). Program for kulturminneforvaltning, IHK, NTNU
Report

Part of book/report

Bäckström, Mattias. (2023) The Exhibition as Essay. Exhibition Production as Research Process. Museumsforlaget AS
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Pierroux, Palmyre; Bäckström, Mattias; Brenna, Brita ; Gowlland, Geoffrey; Ween, Gro Birgit. (2020) Museums as Sites of Participatory Democracy and Design. Routledge
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

Report

Bäckström, Mattias; Tretvik, Aud Mikkelsen; Hove, Jon Olav; Müller, Insa. (2020) Innspill til Høringsutkast til etiske retningslinjer for norske museer, Norsk ICOM og Norges museumsforbund (ePhorte saksnummer 2020/16248). Program for kulturminneforvaltning, IHK, NTNU
Report
Bäckström, Mattias. (2012) Hearths of the heart. Folk life, folk museums and historical memorials in Scandinavia, 1808–1907 . Gidlunds förlag Gidlunds förlag
Doctoral dissertation

UTSTILLING

Brandt, Thomas; Lykknes, Annette; Bäckström, Mattias; Rabben, Magne Brekke; Grav, Ellen J. . (2023) The Academic Office as Workspace, Knowledge Site, and Theatre of Memory. Roll up presentation. The 9th Norwegian Conference on the History of Science
Other presentation
Brandt, Thomas; Bäckström, Mattias; Rabben, Magne Brekke; Lykknes, Annette; Grav, Ellen J. . (2023) The Academic Office as Workspace, Knowledge Site and Theatre of Memory. Roll Up presentation. Sluttkonferanse Fremtidens Campus
Other presentation

Teaching

Courses

Previous courses (a selection)

PhD Course - The Exhibition as Research. Histories, Theories, Methods (UiO and NTNU, 13–15 June 2024)
PhD Course - The Materiality of Knowledge. Nordic History of Museums and Collections (UiO, 14–15 May 2018)
PhD Course - Nordic Museum Histories (University of Southern Denmark and Our Museum, 30 January 2018)
KA1120 - Politics and Ideology of Cultural Heritage (UGOT, 2010–2021)
KLS404 - Exhibition Production (UGOT, 2014–2017)
FKGCES - Critical Exhibition Studies (UGOT and Swedish Exhibition Agency, 2013–2015)
MU2501 - Master's Dissertation in International Museum Studies (UGOT, 2012)
MUSKUL4000 - Museum and Cultural Heritage. Context and Communication (UiO, 2016–2018)
MUSKUL4210 - Methods in Museum Studies (UiO, 2016–2017)

Course coordinator, teacher and supervisor in cultural heritage management, for example in exhibition studies, heritage studies and museology (at NTNU in Trondheim since 2019, at the University of Gothenburg 2005–2021, and at the University of Oslo 2015–2018).

Supervision

Hildegunn Maria Haanes Ruset, PhD Candidate in Cultural Heritage Management (co-supervisor). NTNU PROFILE PAGE

Outreach