REcall
the marinaretti story workshop Venice 9-13 September 2012 edited by Sara Borges, Birgitte Fjørtoft, Esben C. Nørgaard, Francisco J. Rodríguez
The Marinaretti Story
REcall Docs
REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7) focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it).
The views expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
REcall Consortium POLIMI-Politecnico di Milano - Coordinator - (Italy) AAU-Aalborg University (Denmark) NTUN-Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) UNEW-Newcastle University (United Kingdom) Fasltad Museum, Falstad (Norway) Museo della Resistenza, Turin (Italy) Associated Partners Ergan Foundation Romsdal museet Routes Agency Snark Issued in November 2012 under Creative Commons: license CC BY SA 3.0
The Marinaretti Story
edited by Sara Borges, Birgitte Fjørtoft, Esben C. Nørgaard, Francisco J. Rodríguez
REcall Docs
THE STORY
Since the annexation of Venice to the Kingdom of Italy, the former convent space adjacent to major shipyards of the Arsenale housed the school for non- commissioned mechanical officers, managed by officers and staff of the Navy. Many teenagers from all over Italy attended the school, hosted in the former convent of Celestia and in the training ship “Scilla” anchored at Sant’Elena. The first German occupants in Venice, in the Autumn 1943, considered the ‘sailor’ students as soldiers because of their uniform, and decided to deport them as IMI (Italian Military Internees). But during the walk from the Arsenale to the station, many Venetians reacted, urging the boys to escape. Arrived at Holy Apostles Church, some indicated safety ‘Calli’ where to slip out of lane. At the Ponte delle Guglie, women in the market began to scream urging them to escape, many children ran to the Ghetto or along the foundation of Cannaregio, taking off their uniform and throwing it into the canal. Eleven entered an open gate and were saved, hidden by the inhabitants of the house. An unregistered number of children was finally deported by train from the Santa Lucia station. Venice, September 1943 Provided material: http://www.recall-project.polimi.it/wp-content/ uploads/1_marinaretti.zip
THE ROUTE
The ‘Marinaretti‘ school was located on one of the sides of Campo della Celestia, on the Eastern part of Venice. The approximate distance from there to the Santa Lucia station was 2.5km through a complex route through winding streets in which getting lost is easy. Before the impossibility of driving the children to the station, through a city full of canals, the soldiers were forced to accompany them through those streets. See the presentation video: http://vimeo.com/50003317
METHODOLOGY
The methodology used during the research process consisted on experiencing the route itself by walking through the same streets the children walked on 1943. No major archive research was conducted due to the lack of numerous written testimonies. However, brief interviews with locals gave the team the possibility of hearing first hand stories from people that survived the World War II. The team noticed the fragility of the stories, mostly conserved through oral testimonies, but discovered the importance on their sense of hope that inevitably belong to the history of the city and its citizens.
Mechanical school, Campo della Celestia, Venice
STRATEGY
The proposed strategy consists on inviting the visitors to experience the ‘Marinaretti‘ story through a marked path that represents the path supposedly taken by the children in 1943. With a number of stops on the way, each point giving the opportunity to discover oral testimonies, archive images or sounds, that bring our memories back to the events in the exact places where they occurred. The proposed strategy is intended to use a combination of signage showing visitors part of the story and QR-codes that allow users to deepen into the story through multimedia contents.
Campo SS. Apostoli, Venice
INTENTIONS
The purpose of the group work was to provide a flexible proposal able to echo the memories from past times right on the place in which they took place, enabling visitors to experience some city stories that otherwise may fall into oblivion. The group believes that this focus is not limited to this story and that it could be used as a suggestive strategy for other forgoten stories in cities dealing with a delicate past.
Fruit market close to Ponte delle Guglie, Venice
OUTCOME
The outcome of the three-day workshop was presented in Venice at the Biennale di Venezia in September 2012 to a panel of professors and critics using a video in which the route was recreated with a series of stop-motion images recreating the route the marinaretti might have walked.
Bridge in Canareggio, Venice
REcall docs – the marinaretti story Published by Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Progettazione dell’Architettura © May 2013, The Authors
the marinaretti story REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it). editors Sara Borges was born in Lisbon, graduated in Painting-Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon. Sara concluded recently the MFA - Master of Fine Art, at Newcastle University. Birgitte M. Fjortoft studied History at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) based in Trondheim before starting a bachelor in Archaeology. Esben C. Nørgaard growing interest and passion is digital architecture, and how digital tools can facilitate the process and outcome of architectural projects. Francisco J. Rodríguez Pérez was born in Madrid in 1986, received the BSc. Arch. at the ETSAG Alcalá de Henares after studying four years, and the MSc. Arch. at Politecnico di Milano.
REcall is a research project funded by EC Cluture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7)
REcall