Exploring Urban Screens

There is a tautological tendency in the widespread claims that urban space is ’mediated’. Never before has the citizen, it is argued, been confronted with such an unprecedented array of signage. I depart from the rhetoric of ’biggest-ever-saturation’ a…

City of Epitaphs

The pavement lies like a ledger-stone on a tomb. Buried underneath are the remains of fertile landscapes and the life they once supported. Inscribed on its upper side are epitaphic writings. Whatever their ostensible purpose, memorial plaques and publi…

Disposable and Usable Pasts in Central European Cities

In Central European cities memories and material histories of socialist regimes remain particularly difficult to address and incorporate into the new democratic present. After 1989, city authorities in the region have chosen to emphasize some pasts and…

Svante Beckman and Sten Månsson (ed.)

According to recent European statistics, Swedish cultural policy has succeeded remarkably well in achieving its original objective: to promote popular interest in the Arts. Sweden (closely followed by our Nordic neighbors) tops the list when it comes t…

Cultural Research and Intangible Heritage

Intangible heritage deemed worthy of preservation is often regarded as traditional culture that reflects the identity of a particular nation or group. Traditional cultures are distinct from commercial forms, which are transmitted and promoted via busin…

What’s the Use of Culture?

Like it or not, cultural theorists are increasingly finding themselves challenged to answer a very short but profound question: What’s the use of cultural research? Within the academy the question of the usefulness of cultural research has provoked a w…

Ethnography in the Marketplace

What happens when cultural analysis enters the world of applied research and academics become consultants working with corporations and public institutions? The divide between academic research and commercial ethnography has often hampered communicatio…