A high-sounding omnipresence of the remembrance, along with a growing genericity and weakness of real content, is leading to a disgraceful banalisation of the Holocaust memory, even amplified by the production of iconic must-have places responding to a contemporary trend. This proposal aims to resignify the intransitive Memorial embodying what Todorov calls exemplar memory: a tool to intervene on present. The uniqueness of the past event isn’t denied, rather reinforced by the actualization of its meaning. This temporal osmosis is relevant in Jewish tradition: past events are experienced every year as current (i.e. Exodus during the reading of Pesach Aggadah); coeval are enlightened by past events.
The intervention is based on the multiplication of a triangular fragment configuring a regular pattern substituting current cladding on all plot surfaces. The fragment is a colored concrete tile. Simple, durable, affordable in compliance with budget limits. The pattern of identical elements is broken by their aggregation in wider triangles, direct reference to the identification emblems in Nazi camps.
This Shoah Memorial refers to all Nazi persecution victims: it is the very place where every discrimination is abolished although every persecution had a singular character. The pattern combines yellow stars and triangles of seven colors plus one. The latter has been added to commemorate contemporary Bologna victims of xenophobic acts, establishing an intertemporal relation.
Here lies the potential extensibility both in space and time of the centripetal Memorial. Wherever a racist act occurs a fragment can be placed: a possible move istitutionally or grassroot driven. The diffusion could also be implemented indicating sites connected to deportations, annihilation of Jewish life or execution of political opponents (i.e. Caserme Rosse, San Giovanni in Monte, Piazza Nettuno, the Synagogue, the house of Franco Cesana).
Moreover, a linear element is placed along the plot’s west edge. It includes a metal item composed of a text, a triangular mold to publicly cast artisanal fragments, a small fountain providing a basic component of concrete. Water presence and several seats foster the everyday use of a public space whose actual relative detachment risks generating a periferic condition. Everyday livableness of the Memorial and its colorful character establishes a nonhierachical relation with the context. Practice is preferred to sacredness.
The pattern establishes a direct iconographic connection. The mold site discloses reasons and potential of a clear, engaging Memorial. In Jewish tradition mourning stimulates community cohesion which is, on urban scale, civic engagement. Eulogy (hesped) spurs living to do good deeds to help the dead (ilui neshama), while fostering enhancement for the living community.
The intervention positions the Jewish Community of Bologna as a dynamic actor of civic engagement, propelling remembrance as catalyst for social awareness in an active fight against indifference. In turn, the contemporary involvement establishes a strong relation with a past eventually interiorised through an assumption of responsibility for present and future.