BACKGROUND
The Nordic IK Foundation was founded on 1st January 1988 with its first official address in Kivik – an old and picturesque fishing village on the coast of Hanöbukten in the Southern Baltic Sea – to stimulate interdisciplinary research in the Nordic and eastern part of Skåne (Scania province) within natural and cultural history. In 1996, the Nordic IK Foundation became a global organisation – The IK Foundation – based in London, England.
However, the story behind IK began already in the early 1980s when a young man, Lars Hansen (now Head of The IK Foundation), started a number of research projects to try to understand the natural and cultural development of a landscape after the last Ice Age. Innovative substantial scientific work in the field on land and at sea, analyses, reviews of archives and collections were carried out in collaboration with leading universities and institutes in Northern Europe. The successful outcomes of these projects became the embryo of the Nordic IK Foundation.
Scientific results were presented both in journals, public events and exhibitions, but not least, they demonstrated a new form of mixed funding between private philanthropy and collaboration with research funds which over time gave an opportunity that established experience to build a completely new type of research institute. An independent NGO ”To Promote Natural & Cultural History”.
As a result of the extensive research material and organisational experience in the background, The Nordic IK Foundation was founded on the initiative of Lars Hansen (1960) together with two local and knowledgeable gentlemen; Sten Andersson (1931 - 1996), a folk school teacher and curator at the local Kivik’s Museum, and Hans Alebo (1927 - 1997), an archaeologist and owner of apple orchards.
Until 1996, when IK established itself as an international organisation based in London, the Nordic IK Foundation continued with extensive and long-term work mainly in the primary geographic area. In addition to continued field work, documentation projects came to be established as well as a publishing and exhibition department – the results of which to our great delight remain and thrive to the present-day. To name a few of the major innovative works. The historic renovation of the 18th-century CHRISTINEHOF manor house and its historical archives – which also became IK's Nordic headquarters and centre for exhibitions and seminars. The creation of ÄPPLETS HUS, an industrial museum about the history of apples and orchards in the area. HAVÄNGS UTEMUSEUM a local museum open 24/7, primarily based on many of the research results achieved by IK during the 1980s and 1990s in the area.
THE DONATION
KIVIK's MUSEUM is one of Skåne's oldest museums, founded back in 1890 to documenting and cultivating the area's history. In talks between Kivik's Museum and IK, a donation agreement has been developed so that parts of IK's early original research material and publicised projects can continue to be used to stimulate new research and new ideas.
During this month (February 2021) IK has delivered the donation in a secure AluBox used in The IK Foundation's many different fieldworks around the world. The box has been crowned with a sign briefly describing the donation. The donation will be stored in the box at Kivik's museum, which will also include a full archive catalogue of the content – research material, documentation, analyses and originals from several early enterprise projects (museums, exhibitions, knowledge projects, etc.) created by The IK Foundation.
These are truly the roots of The IK Foundation's story, but also a donation for inspiration to understand a landscape's Natural & Cultural History.
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