Recycling Memory
Genesys
The Project comes from the five years’ experience of Voices in the Desert, a theatre movement born in Italy,
focused on the idea of “recycling memory cc” by giving voice to the authors and speakers of the past who said
what perfectly fits the present. Using theater as a medium, old – but still true – quotes are read giving evidence
to their topicality, with the goal of regaining our past to better understand the present. The research of
“fragments of memory” to be recycled is a work in progress, as from the past we can always learn to gain a
better future.
The Project
The concept of “recycling memorycc” is much more important to those countries where year after year the
collective memory has been systematically cancelled. From this thinking, we came to the conclusion that our
experience, already shared with many different audiences in Italy (adults from different social classes and
young adults in high schools), is mature for a wider growth and can be usefully be brought to those European
countries whose memory of the past can be an important warning for the future. Countries where actual facts
have been intentionally denied, and now extreme and dramatic moments of history are at risk of being
repeated again. That brings us to select our partners among the countries where Nazism and Fascism were
generated and accepted in the past century, such as Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Spain and obviously
Italy. It is there, in fact, that right-wing extremism is gaining high numbers of followers again nowadays, as
people seem to have forgotten one of the darkest period of their recent past.
Venice, October 12, 2013 (TMNews) - "In Europe we are witnessing the resurgence of fascist parties and Nazis
and racists movements who want to undermine our values. Every citizen must mobilize against neo-Nazis and
racist movements in Europe". European Parliament President Martin Schulz.
The Goals
The main goal is to stimulate people’s criticism and to put the basis for a further process of recycling memory
in each one of the partners’ country. It will be achieved in a two years’ working process. The first step will be to
stimulate the research among each country’s authors, to give a new voice to those that are particularly
revealing with reference to democracy, freedom of thought, racism and so on. Second step will be an
educational meeting in each involved country, open to adults and students and focused on the denied memory
and its recycling. The result is a live show based on the “fragments of memory”, an important moment of the
meeting as it plays an emotional role in understanding and learning. A common virtual archive of the recycled
memory will also be produced as a result of the Project, and keep updated by each partner from then on.
In synthesis, the two years’ “Recycling Memory” Project will result in:
- 6 Partners involved (Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Spain)
- 6 Educational Meeting (12 days equally spread in each one of the partners’ country), focused on
research, thematic archive building, recycling, theater show
- 1 Multilingual web archive shared by all partners
- 1 Video archive (clips of actors from different countries reading their own fragments) shared by all
partners
- Publishing
- Create new independent groups that continue over time this “work in progress” on the “Recycling
Memory”
We are finding partners from Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Spain to join us to apply for a
Grundtvig Project on 2014
More informations:
Tomaso Thellung
[email protected]
tel. +39.339.1402845
www.internationaltheatre.org