The lecture introduces the idea of self-branding and self-exotification to debates about identity politics and specifically formation of national identities. It investigates Nordic and Scandinavian representations of itself to the rest of the world, and what are prevailing ideas and discourses produced by others onto this region. The lecture examines how Scandinavia has branded itself since the Cold War, and how Scandinavian “specialness” and Nordic “exceptionalism” are challenged and altered since the post-Cold War period until now. A passepartout has two meanings, first as something that passes everywhere and second as a method of framing where a cutout cardboard is placed between the glass and the picture. The lecture asks how narrated histories and handling of historical documents determine the nation and its representation, and how points of comical tension and chance are strategies within an artistic research that can address issues of pertinence in our societies. Nordic Reputation in The World: A Passepartout is part of the collaborative project Everything for Everyone by artists Ewa Einhorn and Jeuno JE Kim.