Kim West: THE MUSEUM AS A CATALYST SOCIAL CHANGE. ON THE ORIGINAL, UNREALIZED PLANS FOR KULTURHUSET IN STOCKHOLM, 1963–1970

As part of the exhibiton The Promise, Index presents a talk by critic and researcher Kim West about the the early history of Kulturhuset in Stockholm. Plans for Kulturhuset were first launched in 1963, in the context of the city’s vast urban renewal, outlining a new visionary cultural institution. Central models that informed the project ranged from a notion of the “house of all activities” (allaktivitetshuset) and the idea of the museum as a participatory media apparatus, to Tatlin’s Monument for the Third International. West will discuss the ideas informing Peter Celsing’s architectural proposal, and the original program for the institution, prepared by a group of curators and activists centered around Pontus Hultén and Pär Stolpe in 1969, as well as its role for the history of museum and exhibitions, and the modernization of Stockholm.

Kim West is a critic and researcher, based in Stockholm. He has published extensively, in Sweden and internationally. He recently defended his PhD in Aesthetics at Södertörn University, titled The Exhibitionary Complex: Exhibition, Apparatus, and Media from Kulturhuset to the Centre Pompidou, 1963–1977.