It was originally established to remember the Shoah, over its meaning has expanded to celebrate the value of historical memory for democracy and the rejection of all forms Fascism.
With over 143.000 desaparecidos (without taking into account the lost, that is abducted, children), Spain is, after Cambodia under the Pol Pot regime, the country with the highest number of disappeared people. There have been more desaparecidos in Spain than in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Guatemala combined.
Spain is maybe the only democracy that has never conducted any thorough investigation on state terrorism after the collapse of the dictatorship.
The UN has repeatedly urged Spanish governments to investigate the crimes committed under Fascism, and has insisted that an investigative commission on should be established. Yet, there are still numerous burial sites that have not been investigated and victims are still waiting to be exhumed, especially in Catalunya.
In the context of their activist and intellectual project, artists Laura Pinta Cazzaniga and Giacomo Nicola Manenti seek to lend visibility to all unknown victims of Francoist, to all those lie buried by oblivion, negligence, and indifference. Moreover, they hope to stimulate a critical appraisal of Francoism and its reppressive nature, which has yet to be fully addressed in its true nature; so much so that it has become a nebulous period in most people's memories, most notably for the younger generations.
The project "Desaparecidos. Another Memory: Francois burial sites" is articulated in two parts.
The first one is constituted by two site-specific artistic interventions at La Fatarella (Tarragona) where the Republican front-line used to be. It will be open to the public on January 30 and 31, starting from 12am.
The second part will be a public event at Arts Santa Monica, in Barcelona, on January 27 at 6pm, with the participation of associations and individuals that in a variety of ways have been involved in the struggle for justice, dignity and the historical memory of the victims of the Francois regime.
There will be debates and the screening of two videos: one documenting the artistic intervention at La Fatarella and a documentary by Iñaki Alforja, "The Bottles' Graveyard", which narrates the exhumation conducted by Dr. Francisco Etxeberria on behalf of the association Aranzadi, in the graveyard of Fort San Cristobal (mount Ezkaba, Pamplona).
Organised.- Laura Pinta Cazzaniga and Giacomo Nicola Manenti (gruppo Koiné); Associació per a la recuperació de la memòria històrica de Catalunya; Lo Riu, Associació per l'Estudi del Patrimoni Arqueológic i Històric de les Terres de l'Ebre; Escuela Moderna.
Collaborators.- Arts Santa Mònica; Asociació Altra Italia; Associació Pro–Memòria als immolats per la Llibertat a Catalunya.
Project.- "Desaparecidos. Another Memory: Francois burial sites"
Venue.- Arts Santa Mònica, Les Rambles 7 Barcelona, Spain.
Dates.- Wednesday, January 27, h. 18:00-21:00
