Cultural and commercial exchange is something inherent
in art history research as well as in the trade of art and antiquities. Any
nation’s cultural heritage exists only in comparison with the heritage of
another nation, so the identification and care of the specific national
qualities are of great importance. Thus cultural heritage has great political
ramifications. Historically as well as in present time artefacts cross nation
state borders through conflict, diplomacy or legal trade. For the future
development of a rich national cultural heritage, it is also important to
maintain exchange within and beyond national borders. At the same time, the protection of national cultural heritage calls for restrictions on trade and
property legislation. The central question of the research is the present
consequences of cultural heritage policies that affect Swedish markets in
antiquities as well as art historical value.

The project will look at issues of creating cultural value and cultural heritage from different themes such as Globalisation, Canonization, and Administration of Knowledge. Case studies are selected from the Stockholm Auktionverk archive of trade dating back to 1674.

The research is a joint project between Södertörn University and Stockholm Auktionsverk and is funded by KK-stiftelsen, Stockholm Auktionsverk and Södertörn Högskola and runs between 2011-2014. The project is led by Charlotte Bydler and involves Katarina Wadstein MacLeod at Södertörn University and Lena Ryden and Ulla-Karin Warberg at Stockholm Auktionsverk.