In the 21st century, public museums who are collecting contemporary art has simultaneously begun to reframe the role of museums in society. Two museums – the Moderna Museet of Stockholm and M+ of Hong Kong that have completely different historic and geographic backgrounds, as well as operating models are now working closely with their acquisitions and collections to draw audience of old and new closer to them. These two museums that are located in the center of two well-defined cultures – geographically representing the west and the east, play vital roles in their respected social and cultural spheres. In view of how these two museums are responding to the present time by deploying art that are seemingly different in terms of theme and discipline, the immediate distinction that this study aims to frame is how the Moderna Museet, established in the 20th century and still prevailing in the present differ from M+ that comes from a younger generation of museums who proclaims itself as a museum of visual culture, and not art. Instead of analyzing their exhibitions, this study focuses on their policies of acquisitions, thus offering a perspective including many varying actors and networks. Hence Bruno Latour’s actor-network theories have been introduced to unfold the highly entangled networks of these two museums. Two important actants, the so-called acquisition policy and the institutional curators are taken into consideration in order to outline what constitute as acquisition policies of these two museums and investigate if the benchmarking of contemporary art, and in addition, if the notion of contemporaneity can be identified from written documents. Furthermore, this study is based on interviews with curators employed at the two museums to find out how the professionals have understood these policies and used them accordingly to justify their practices while fulfilling the museums’ missions. This study has found out there are many crucial relationships between these actants and that they are constantly interacting with each other. The strength and interaction of these relationships fostered the positioning for these two museums today and also determined how the knowledge of art can be shaped and dispensed to the public. Looking from the point of view of the history of museums, practices of donation and acquisition, late- capitalism, cultural differences between the west and east, this study provides a pragmatic explanation of how collections may transform the landscape of a museum, and in turn how a museum may perhaps alter the meaning of art.

Les budgets d'équipement de défense en Europe connaissent depuis la fin de la guerre froide une baisse structurelle et régulière. Ce phénomène est aujourd'hui amplifié par la crise de la dette qui touche l'Europe. Une telle diminution porte un risque de perte de capacités (technologiques, industrielles, ... ) et, in fine, de déclassement stratégique pour les Etats européens et l'UE en tant que puissance potentielle ou en devenir. Face à cette menace, deux solutions complémentaires ont été identifiées de longue date l'ouverture des marchés publics à la concurrence européenne et la consolidation de la commande publique à un niveau européen définir. Longtemps ignoré pour organiser un marché européen des équipements de défense, le cadre politico-institutionnel de l'UE e désormais mis à contribution. En particulier, on observe depuis une dizaine d'année un recours au ordre juridique de celle-ci –cadre qui en fait sn spécificité en tant qu'organisation supranationale. Cette utilisation suit une voie classique (recours à la méthode communautaire dans le cadre de l'intégration des marchés publics d'armement dans le champ du marché intérieur) mais est également une voie plus originale avec l'apparition de mécanismes de récompense promouvoir la coopération dans l'acquisition et le développement d'armement. Grâce au concept de fonctions (répressive et promotionnelle) du droit, développés par le théoricien du droit italien Norberto Bobbie cette thèse propose un cadre théorique permettent d'étudier de manière unifiée et cohérente le recours nu droit dans sa conception traditionnelle (répression des comportements non-conformes) et dans ses développements les plus récents (promotion des comportements socialement désirables). / European defence equipment budgets have been decreasing steadily since the end of the Cold War and have been amplified by the recent public debt crisis. These budgetary cuts may (end to non-reversible tosses of capabilities (technological, industrial, etc.) an eventually render the EU and its Member States strategically irrelevant. Two main solutions were identified long ago: opening defence procurements to European competition and consolidating the armament demand to n supranational level (which remains to be defined). The EU institutions and legal framework, which have been considered as irrelevant in that respect for a long lime, are now being used. In particular, the recourse to the EU legal framework proved to be useful and follows two paths: a classical one, which entails the recourse to the community method and the integration of defend procurements within the internal market; and a more innovative one, based on the promotion of cooperation in developing an acquiring armaments. This thesis builds on Norberto Bobbie's concepts of repressive and promotional functions of law. Thus, it proposes a theoretical framework consistent enough to cover EU law in its traditional function (punishing non-compliant behaviours) and in its more react forms (rewarding behaviours that arc socially desirable). lt concludes that the recourse to EU law in the field of armament acquisition policies enlarges the classical understanding of European integration.

Since 1958, Moderna Museet has housed Sweden’s largest collection of Swedish and international modern and contemporary art. This thesis examines the 21st-century collecting strategies and policy development of Moderna Museet, with a focus on diversity and representation, using intersectional theory and queer studies. Through both quantitative and qualitative methods, including statistics, archival research, discourse analysis, institutional ethnography and interviews with five curators, this study reveals how acquisition policies align with the museum’s aim to diversify its Eurocentric and North American-oriented collection. Fisher’s exact (statistical) test shows differences between the Swedish and international collections, as well as significant gender disparities between donated and purchased artists, indicating a structural unequal pattern regarding donations. Gender and nationality emerge as disciplinary parameters and social constructions for artist registration within the museum database. The findings underscore the slow, systemic change in Moderna Museet, influenced by power structures, external factors, and the museum’s institutional history. In contrast to the 1990s, diversity in the 21st century is continually negotiated and pursued performatively and discursively, rather than implemented through a goal-oriented policy.