European Commission - 7th Framework Programme European Museums and Libraries in/of the age of migrations last updated: February 2015


Migrating Objects: Dialogues on the Memory of the Journey

6 July 2013

Bergamo, Italy | GAMeC - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo

 

On the occasion of the exhibition "Memory of the Sea. Objects Migrating within the Mediterranean", curated by Anna Chiara Cimoli within the MeLa Research Field 05, GAMeC will also host a cultural event aimed to complement the exploration of the exhibited theme, focused on the memory of the journey, and the objects which represent this memory.


The exhibition describes, through the pictures by Alessandro Brasile and Mattia Insolera, the Sea Memory Museum in Zarzis, Tunisia, where Mohsen Lihidheb has been collecting for years everything the sea left on the shore: objects belonging to the natural world as well as traces of migration towards Europe. Mohsen has honoured these poor but precious objects by transforming them into installations, and having a ''dialogue'' with them throughout time.


The format of the event is borrowed, not without irony, from speed-dating: it is structured through brief but intense meetings, which allow everyone to talk to everyone else face to face. In fact, there is a lot of talk about migrations, but meeting people behind their roles is not so obvious.

The protagonists, here, are the migrants, who have travel stories to tell and who, by reading them again and again, update and transform them from an inert material, forever linked to the past, into a malleable substance that can be interpreted in the light of the present life and the projects for the future.

Yet everybody, migrant or not, is invited to take an active part: each participant will speak and listen in turn, always in a face to face dynamic. Everyone, in fact, has got a story to tell, as well as material or immaterial objects linked to a particular journey. It is neither about exoticism nor folklore , on the contrary we meet and let ourselves be met in an informal way around something that is shared by everybody.

All participants are invited to bring along an object evoking an important journey (be it a journey in space, as well as human, personal, affective or professional…). The objects will be displayed in the museum’s room just for the afternoon, therefore composing a sort of pop-up collection. Afterwards they will be given back to their owners.
 

The event will take place on Saturday 6th July at h. 15:00. Entrance and participation are free. All the participants will receive an attendance certificate.