The aim of this thesis is to study the Swedish art field during the 1980s, from the perspective of the artistic production of Lars Nilsson. During this decade he became one of the most well known young artists associated with postmodernism.The thesis is divided into three parts, where the first part examines different influences and aspects of the art of Lars Nilsson, as well as the contexts he was a part of. This is performed through a chronological as well as a categorizing presentation, based upon different exhibitions where Nilsson participated during the 1980s.In the second part the subject is the Swedish art field, and how Lars Nilsson came to be part of a a new established category of a young generation of artists, mostly born in the 1950s, who were associated with youth, postmodernism and contemporaneousness. This part also puts attention to the importance of Lars Nittve, then art critic and curator, in introducing postmodernism, as well as establishing this new categorization of artists in Sweden.The last part of the thesis studies four different group exhibitions, and how they all exemplify how "a younger generation of artists" were to be connected with notions of postmodernism and contemporaneousness through curatorial practice. Lars Nilsson participated at the thirst three of these exhibitions.

Studiens övergripande syfte är att fördjupa kunskaper om och söka nya perspektiv på estetiska lärprocesser i relation till demokrati- och värdegrundsfrågor. Den teoretiska ansatsen hämtas från poststrukturalistisk teoribildning med förgreningar inom genusteori. Studien är strukturerad i tre delar inom vilken den första utgörs av en samläsning mellan kunskapsområdet scenkonstnärlig teori/praktik och pedagogisk teori/praktik. Dessa diskurser karaktäriseras av ifrågasättanden av konsten som ?god? respektive antaganden om värdeneutrala pedagogiska modeller och det ?goda? samhället som automatisk följd av bildning och fostran.