Diversifying a Museum Collection and the Politics of Representation : A Mixed-Methods Approach to the Acquisition Policies and Implementation of Diversity Strategies at Stockholm's Moderna Museet in the 21st Century

Since 1958, Moderna Museet has housed Sweden’s largest collection of Swedish and international modern and contemporary art. This thesis examines the 21st-century collecting strategies and policy development of Moderna Museet, with a focus on diversity and representation, using intersectional theory and queer studies. Through both quantitative and qualitative methods, including statistics, archival research, discourse analysis, institutional ethnography and interviews with five curators, this study reveals how acquisition policies align with the museum’s aim to diversify its Eurocentric and North American-oriented collection. Fisher’s exact (statistical) test shows differences between the Swedish and international collections, as well as significant gender disparities between donated and purchased artists, indicating a structural unequal pattern regarding donations. Gender and nationality emerge as disciplinary parameters and social constructions for artist registration within the museum database. The findings underscore the slow, systemic change in Moderna Museet, influenced by power structures, external factors, and the museum’s institutional history. In contrast to the 1990s, diversity in the 21st century is continually negotiated and pursued performatively and discursively, rather than implemented through a goal-oriented policy.