Nordic Fragments is connected to other projects aiming at emphasising the importance of university collections in teaching, research and public engagement. You can read more about past and future projects below. Like the rest of the online exhibition, details of projects are updated regularly so keep checking for further information on future events and publications!

What we know about Scandinavia (2016)

The first items relating to Scandinavia (some of which now feature in this exhibition) were at the centre of a Scandinavian Studies teaching project. Following a series of joint language classes at UCL Art Museum, Scandinavian Studies students curated a pop-up exhibition called What we know about Scandinavia as part of the UCL Festival of Culture 2016. You can read a short description of this teaching project in Dilly Fung’s A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education (2017), p. 129.

Languages and Cultures Show and Tell (2020)

Launched in early 2021, the Languages and Cultures Show and Tell is a free self-directed online course made up of a series of short taster videos and related activities showcasing some of the languages and cultures we teach at the School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS). Each session is designed around an item from UCL Art Museum as a starting point. The videos can be used by individuals and/or schools. While each one showcases a specific aspect or theme, the sessions are connected with each other in different ways, offering a range of different pathways. All the Scandinavian languages we teach at UCL feature here so have a go at learning some Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish while finding out more about some of the objects featuring in the exhibition. To find our how to access this course and read more about its content, please visit our dedicated SELCS Outreach and WP page.

UK-Nordic Mobility: Tracing Flows and Building Networks (2021)

A two-day online conference bringing together researchers from several disciplines (such as Area Studies, Linguistics, Sociology and Visual Culture) in order to explore how mobility has affected the identities of the UK and the Nordic region from the nineteenth century onwards. Rooted in the belief (supported by recent trends in Migration Studies) that all types of migration should be examined, including those between what today might be regarded as ‘privileged’ regions, the project aims to focus on the migrant communities (particularly as represented by local multicultural heritage groups and institutions), the movement of objects, texts, ideas and images and the multilingual environment triggered by these flows. By studying these movements both from a historical and contemporary perspective, we hope to contribute to the understanding of migration, integration and heritage, ultimately favouring the creation of plural societies at a time when mobility is challenged. 

The aim of this online event (18-19 March 2021) was that of encouraging collaboration and discussion between the academy, heritage communities and non-academic audiences (both the migrant communities at the centre of the project and the wider societies of which they are part). For more details on this event, please check our SELCS Events Page.

Scandinavian Fragments (2022)

Scandinavian Fragments is a forthcoming book project by Dr Elettra Carbone (Lecturer in Norwegian Studies, UCL), which explores the cultural contacts between the United Kingdom and Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) taking as its starting point a selection of items from UCL Collections. Divided into three sections just like this exhibition (landscapes and communities, translation and remediation, research and teaching), it maps Anglo-Scandinavian relations and considers shifting power dynamics between these regions. With its focus on material fragments, this volume also aims to give a methodological contribution to the study (and use) of archival material in university collections. Several of the items featured in this exhibition will be further contextualized in this forthcoming publication.