memorial for its own sake , but the living opportunity for a conscious experience of the presence . What does it mean to really be “ present ”? It is the result of an alchemy that allows you to undertake a non-rhetorical coexistence of present and memory , to be held in measure , as a fundamental act of culture . The Latin praesum indicates , in the first place , the ability and the act of to stand in the presence of . Being in front of something , or someone , literally implies a stance : standing in front of , implies a relationship of reciprocity . What lies before us , literally , concerns us - and therefore inevitably transforms us .
Giving life to a place of presence is equivalent to defining a non-random choice : a space of awareness , and of radical questioning about what really concerns us , as men and women and as a community . In this sense , inevitably , and in the highest sense , a fact and a political act .
In this case , due to the strong and immanent presence of a memory of confinement and pain , remembrance also implied a confrontation with a possible solution to the heaviness of this memory . Not so much in the sense of its “ redemption ”, but rather of its solution : the possibility of dissolving the horror that led to the abandonment of this place , making it somehow compatible with the present and with the future .
This principle has therefore determined some fundamental choices : the overall experience that is intended to favor with the visit , the quality and limit of the renovation and refurbishment interventions , the nature of the museum and service structures , the usability of the panoptic and the possibility of inserting in it the work of one or more great contemporary artists , the re-connection of the cultural capital represented by the panoptic and its history with the natural capital of the island .
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