Backstage Diorama is a series of photographs from Biologiska museet in Stockholm. Here we view the diorama from the back and the images show the practical anatomy that Gustav Kolthoff used in 1900 when the dioramas were created, with a view to maintaining an illusion of an Arctic biotope. The museum was the first of its type when it opened in 1893. It represented the multimedia tools of the day for presenting nature “as seen in reality” to visitors to Stockholm’s General Art and Industrial Exposition shortly thereafter. The stuffed polar bear that now lies with its snout pointing outwards towards Öresund, was shot by zoological conservator Gustaf Kolthoff on Svalbard in 1900. On one occasion when we visited the museum we discovered this dusty, forgotten animal behind the scenes where it had been used to support a member of staff’s winter tires. / Bigert & Bergström

"Backstage Diorama," 2008
Vinyl stickers on glass, photograph, 60 x 80 cm