The memory of Milan has a new home. born memoMI, a virtual museum of the history of the twentieth century in Milan.
memoMI is an innovative project promoted by the Chiamale Storie Association, with the support of the Pasquinelli Foundation, the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, the Lombardy Region, the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists of the Province of Milan, developed by 3D Produzioni , which arises from a research work conducted in collaboration with public and private archives to collect knowledge and memories that otherwise would have been lost.
All video materials are hosted by a web tv on website to which users can access easily and free of charge and, in the near future, will be found in internet stations, installed in the points of the city most used by citizens, such as libraries, museums, info points.
You can thus visit the city accompanied by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alberto Savinio, Anna Maria Ortese, Giovanni Verga, reread the stories of those who wrote the great history of Milan, such as the mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi, the artists Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Francesco Hayez, Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, or the protagonist of the Italian Risorgimento, Cristina Trivulzio and the founder of the Italian Socialist Party, Anna Kuliscioff. There is no shortage of insights into twentieth-century personalities, such as the lady of high fashion, Jole Veneziani, the graphic designer Lora Lam; and again on architects and designers, such as Ettore Sottsass, Vico Magistretti, Gae Aulenti, Achille Castigioni, Vittorio Gregotti, Alessandro Mendini and others, whose style and innovative ideas have been ambassadors of the Milanese spirit throughout the world.
memoMI reconstructs the adventure of big industry - Alfa Romeo, Breda, Innocenti, Pirelli -, the episodes of crime that have marked the history of the city, of social phenomena such as the affirmation of the role of women, and also traces the evolution of the metropolis, from its most hidden places – the underground baths of piazza Oberdan, the Diana baths, the Casa del Sole, the orphanage, the Refuge 87 – to the moments that characterized its ancient history – Barbarossa, the Moor's Wedding, the Five Days - and more recently - the funeral of Verdi, the Exhibitions of 1881 and 1906, the birth of the Corriere della Sera.
memoMI is also a producer of events for the rediscovery of Milan's historical and cultural heritage. The first appointment is scheduled for Thursday 25 September, at 20.30 pm, at the Piccolo Teatro Grassi – Chiostro Nina Vinchi (via Rovello 2), with the evening dedicated to Dino Risi from Milan, during which the short films that the director of moving to Rome: 1848 (1948), Barboni (1946), Buio in sala (1950), Fabbrica del Duomo (1948), Verso la vita (1946) and the documentary about his life Una bella Vacanza (2006), made by 3D Productions. Maurizio Porro, Marco and Claudio Risi, Didi Gnocchi, Fabrizio Corallo will intervene.
"memoMI - underlines Filippo Del Corno, Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Milan - is a project that I have shared since the very first stages of its implementation, supporting it convincedly and trying to involve as much Milan as possible in the work of collecting and processing archive material , from area councils to associations, because I am certain of the importance of memory for the construction of a citizenry consciously participating in one's own time”.
"Navigating on the memoMI portal - continues Filippo Del Corno - is a fascinating way to rediscover the history of our city and our country, because it uses the most contemporary tool available, the video precisely, drawing on the heritage of memories, memories and documents that Milan itself has preserved from oblivion, recovering it for a new life and a new function”.
“The modern and very topical project of memoMI – declares Giuseppina Antognini, President of the Pasquinelli Foundation – will certainly be appreciated by all those who preserve the memory of the 'Milan that was', but which we hope will reach, through the schools, the world of kids who know very little about their beautiful city: an intelligent and exciting way to discover its secrets".
“If a man or a woman loses their memory – says Didi Gnocchi, memoMI Editorial Director -, the first consequence is loss: they no longer remember who they are, where they come from, they don't even know exactly where to go. And if it is a city that loses its memory, what happens to its social identity?
memoMi was born to prevent this from happening, to fill a void, creating a network of stories and narrative suggestions, from which to start to recapture the meaning of history. Because memory and history are not the same thing. History seeks explanations. Memory selects the topics closest to our sensitivity and current consciousness. Because memory gives us awareness by re-emerging forgotten episodes, places and people. And individual and collective awareness is a good baggage to set out and look into the future”. “memoMI – concludes Didi Gnocchi -, for this journey more than historical rigour, which is in any case respected, needs emotion, passion and… good writing. And above all to be in close contact with people, with neighborhoods and areas”.
The social fabric of Milan is in continuous and rapid evolution. Each area that makes up the city is the result of a dynamic of stories, people, traditions, jobs, lifestyles, many of which live only in the memory of a few. memoMI was born with the desire to preserve and produce a heritage of culture, experiences, history, news and customs that tell the life of the 'city that no longer exists' and on which to integrate the memories of the new people who populate Milan.
Among its main objectives, memoMI aims to become an important educational tool for school pupils, especially primary and secondary schools, which will make it possible to create, in symbiosis with the teacher, educational paths personalized to one's needs.
MemoMI's web TV is based on a wealth of videos collected in the public and private archives of Milan, both in the large and well-known ones, and in the small or even familiar ones. The materials found are often reworked and historically contextualized by the editorial staff of memoMI, enriched by texts and interviews.
The structure of memoMi is spread over three levels, accessible from the home page of the site, which will present a video chosen from those in the archive every day. The first offers thematic schedules on topics such as history, society, work, art, architecture, music, design, fashion, theatre, cinema, sport and more, with the intention of creating cores of films that can be linked with tags. For example, in the Architecture channel there is a video-story of the Castello Visconteo which connects to another that tells the story of the museums of the Castello Sforzesco and to a further one where an art critic reveals Leonardo's paintings in the Sala delle Assi. Or again, the history of the Central Station, from its foundation to the new restored spaces, is completed with the reading of an excerpt from 'Silence in Milan' by Anna Maria Ortese on the Central Station of the XNUMXs.
The second level has a more documentary approach. The stories are reconstructed by the voice of the protagonists or witnesses. Through a more discursive expressive formula, these videos focus on the events that have characterized the customs, social, political, artistic, cultural and sporting life of Milan.
Of great importance is the third level, dedicated to schools, where the teacher, through a thematic search for keywords, will be able to create personalized schedules to be projected in class.
