TURIN – REMEMBR-HOUSE, students’ projects on display

Hundreds of students from across Italy responded to the call for applications by REMEMBR-HOUSE, a project promoted by the Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura della Compagnia di San Paolo and the Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (MEIS) in Ferrara. The challenge was to reflect on the theme of home “as an inalienable human right,” drawing inspiration from documents in the EGELI Fund, which detail the confiscation of Jewish property in the Piedmont and Liguria regions following the enactment of racial laws in 1938.
Among the many submissions, the jury selected five outstanding projects to be showcased in an exhibition running until October 6 at the National Museum of the Risorgimento in Turin.
Designed by Giulia Gallerani and curated by Sharon Reichel, the exhibit is arranged like a house of four rooms —three of which each display one project, while the fourth features two. The schools represented in the exhibition include “G. Soleri – A. Bertoni” high school in Saluzzo (Cuneo, Piedmont), “A. Gallotta” high school in Eboli (Salerno, Campania), “P. Sraffa” high school (Brescia, Lombardy), “D. Modugno” high school in Polignano a Mare (Bari, Apulia) and the professional institute “D. Modugno” in Conversano (Bari, Apulia).

The project
The winning project, created by the students of Saluzzo, is titled “A European education” and draws inspiration from the experiences of Benvenuto Lattes and Giulio Segre, one an adult, the other a child, both persecuted by Nazi fascism. The project aims to “raise awareness about past and present dynamics leading to rights violation and the subsequent search for a new refuge.” Other selected projects explore similar themes, with works reflecting on the value of remembrance “as unchanging emotion,” the home as “memory of who we are,” poetry as a medium for “uncontainable emotions that define life,” and videos documenting the “dramatic escalation” of crimes against individuals from 1938. Attending the inauguration with representatives of the other organizing institutions, Dario Disegni, former president of the MEIS, congratulated the students.

The exhibition
“This exhibition is the first step of a project started with educational workshops and teacher training,” Reichel explained to Pagine Ebraiche. Following its display in Turin, the exhibition will travel to Madrid, where it will be hosted by the Jewish school Centro de Estudios Ibn Gabirol Colegio Estrella Toledano. The final stop will be in Ferrara, at Palazzo Turchi di Bagno, in collaboration with the University. “The setting is made of cardboard, which is lightweight, easy to transport and partially eco-friendly,” Reichel noted. “It is an interactive setting that above all proves one thing: students should be trusted. Despite what is often said about this generation, young people are eager to express themselves and their opinions.”