Biografen som kulturarv : En studie av biografernas väg in i det svenska kulturarvet 1988–2006

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how cinemas came to be included in the Swedish cultural heritage between 1988 and 2006, arguing that this development was the result of an interaction between changing societal perceptions, perceived threats to early cinema buildings, institutional processes, and individual agency. The study is based on an analysis of heritage designation decisions, which reveal a heritage discourse that, despite incorporating elements of modernity, largely relied on traditional preservation criteria such as authenticity, originality, age, and architectural quality. It was primarily through these values – rather than through the cinemas social or cultural functions – that the buildings could be integrated into the established heritage framework. The thesis further demonstrates that these preservation decisions would not have been possible without the growing engagement that emerged as early cinema culture became increasingly threatened by decay and transformation. Exhibitions, new research, and inventory work conducted by the Swedish National Heritage Board contributed to making a previously marginalised field visible and legitimate. Central to this process was the agency of Kjell Furberg, whose combination of institutional position and personal commitment proved decisive in enabling cinemas to be recognised as a potential heritage category. The study thus shows that cultural heritage is not fixed or self-evident, but rather produced through contemporary interpretations, priorities, and actions. The inclusion of cinemas in the cultural heritage can be understood as a discursive shift that made a new category of heritage possible, while remaining largely within a fundamentally traditional understanding of heritage.