The Museum Keeper

When the Nobel Museum in Stockholm,Sweden,asked their laureates permission to display something that was creatively meaningful for them,a lot of interesting objects began lining the shelves.

Nobel Museum educator Tobias Degsell was in the city for the fifth Sweden-India Nobel Memorial Week

When the Nobel Museum in Stockholm,Sweden,asked their laureates permission to display something that was creatively meaningful for them,a lot of interesting objects began lining the shelves. Nobel Laureate for Literature Wole Soyinka’s famous hat,Medicine Laureate Barry Marshall’s beaker and a hippopotamus figurine given by the Literature Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa were among them.

“This essentially sums up the spirit of the Nobel prize,” says museum educator Tobias Degsell,who was in Pune for the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial Week,which is a multi-city annual event organised by the Embassy of Sweden in India. “When we asked Soyinka why the hat,he said that in 1994,when he was fleeing from the Nigerian regime,he hid his famous hair under it to escape detection. Every object has a meaning and these objects retell the stories of the laureates,” he says.

Degsell’s career began as a copywriter and he later moved over to teaching,but found it “over-structured”. ” It was then that I got this chance to be with the Nobel Museum,where I work to spread the message of Alfred Nobel,” he said at his workshop titled,’The Spark of Creativity’,held at the Marriott Convention Centre on Wednesday. The theme for the fifth edition of the memorial week is ‘innovation and creativity for development’ and will take place across New Delhi,Bengaluru,Chennai and Mumbai till October 23.

Degsell has a lofty goal to achieve. “I want people to understand that the Nobel prize is more about improving people’s lives than anything else.” The workshop,attended by 30 corporate professionals,was an attempt to steer everyday life in a creative direction. A typical day at the Nobel Museum for Degsell starts with tours and workshops that he organises and plans for children who may be as small as five years old. ” We take children through the museum,try and make them see that great ideas can come from anywhere. I think at that age you need to understand the importance of new ideas. The Nobel Museum attempts to say that it is not odd to find ideas. And its not too tough to implement them as well,” he says.

Degsell emphasises why museums matter. “Museums need to talk to their visitors and curators can tell a tale. When that happens,ideas spring to life. For instance,at the Nobel Museum we have short texts by literature laureates on display. When children read them,they can relate to them. It is in their zone then,not placed on pedestals too high.”

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