There are busy days before the inauguration at the Röhsska. Brick house from 1916 is one of Gothenburg’s old signaturbyggnader, but the only specialmuseum for design, crafts and fashion has kept them closed in two years. When the DN reaches the director of the museum Nina Due, she has shown around the staff from the municipal marketing company Göteborg & Co., but finally had time to sit down with the e-mails in the afternoon.
– There are many details and much must fall into place at the last second, but it’s fun that it finally gets the results of all the work, ” says Nina Due.
Nina Due, took office as director of the Röhsska museum in Gothenburg in september 2017. The museum will open again on 23 February after having been closed for two years because of staff conflict. Photo: Hendrik Zeitler
also had a photography. ”Now is the museum accessible to all,” it says in the subject line when the press release with the pictures sent a few days after. There is presented a new entrance with the elevator right next to the stairs to the main entrance – which is still flanked by two lejonhundar from the Ming dynasty. In the basement there is a brand new floor for the visitors, with space for a wardrobe and toilets.
Nina Due is born in Norway but has mostly been employed in the Uk, most recently as director of exhibitions and curator at the Design museum in London. She took up the position of museum curator at the Röhsska on 1 september 2017, barely a year after the cultural board’s decision to close the museum because of serious problems of health and safety. Nina Due is the fifth director in the museum during the 10th century.
” I was neither involved in the decision to close the museum or the most intense phase afterwards, but when I took over as museum director, I was not only the mission to reopen the museum, but also to develop the working environment. The staff that chose to remain have been very motivated and, therefore, it has been a grateful task for me, ” says Nina Due.
Around eight people, but it is difficult to say exactly because the culture of management has undergone a reorganisation during the period. We have recruited about as many.
– It is difficult for me to comment on. They were offered severance pay to which they chose to accept.
– We have followed the action plan were worked out with the union on behalf of the Swedish work environment authority. The staff has done a great job and are positive to the change. We have already come a long way, we can notice in our employee survey.
Röhsska museum in Gothenburg opened in 1916. This image on the façade of the stockholm central station was taken in 1923. Photo: the Röhsska museum.
in november 2016 took stängningsbeslutet had it only been two months since the Röhsska museum celebrated 100 years. During the autumn had the majority of trade unions issued skyddsstopp and notified the city of Gothenburg to the Swedish work environment authority. It was the culmination of the protracted and widely publicized conflict between the museum’s staff and management. In the spring of 2015, the museum had also lost the national nätverksuppdraget for art and design.
Read more: Conflict, forcing the museum to close
the Problems at the Röhsska museum has not just been about the psychosocial work environment, but also limited resources. The east asian collection, for example, has been closed for several years, on the advice of the museum’s insurance company. Now security has improved and during its opening weekend presented a completely new design, with several objects that are displayed for the first time.
After the reorganisation, we have a much better overview of the economy, but we have not received increased resources. A part of the strategic work forward is to seek external funding of various kinds, and find opportunities for sponsorship.
” Yes.” At the Design museum represented the entrance fees and sponsorships, the bulk of the revenue. We had many sponsors, ranging from the automotive industry and the chairman, to Swarovski, depending on the variety of themes in our exhibitions.
” I know it is a sensitive issue with sponsorship and I will not say that it would be easy, but I believe that business is sufficiently sophisticated to understand that cooperation should be visible in a tasteful way. In Sweden you can learn to think broader about the positive effects. It need not be just about the exhibition but about to fund international collaborations, both in terms of fees and travel.
– In the new policy for the greatest habitat lifted the Röhsska museum forward as a possible meeting place for design and arts and crafts. We take this seriously and it is in line with our vision to be a place for broad designdebatt.
” Yes.”
After many years of conflict and behind closed doors at the Röhsska stresses Nina Due issues of accessibility, both regarding the museum and the designbegreppet. The museum’s campaign for the re-opening called ”Design is everywhere”, to pay attention to how the designs constantly interacts with other social issues.
– the Röhsska museum’s collection is unique, but we also want to communicate that design is a part of everyday life, from our cell phones to how we, as individuals, dress on us in the morning.
the New entrance Photo: the Röhsska museum
the designer Fredrik Paulsen received the task to interpret the concept of democratic design. But it is not only about broadening the understanding of the design, but also to broaden the museum’s audience, says the director of the museum.
” We are of course aware that we not only can attract a younger audience through a campaign, it is also about to leave our house and establish relationships in other places.
During the closure, the museum has had a partnership with Sjumilaskolan in the bishop’s palace. Nina Due hope that the students can become ambassadors for Sweden and to feel a belonging to the museum.
” We have a political mission to reach children and young people, at the same time as the average age of our visitors is 50 years. We cherish our loyal audience but also see it as our task to attract young people who want to become tomorrow’s designers and creators, ” says Nina Due.
