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In the course of the year 2000 "Kineo" Association, an audio-visual communication study group, produces a video entitled
"Nel Filo della Memoria" for the Councillorship for Youth policy, Youth Project of Padua, within the contextual
framework of the project "Memoriali del XX secolo" (Memorials of the 20th Century). The idea behind this undertaking,
equally simple and ambitious, is that of collecting in a video recording, a number of interviews done with old people
who went through the experience of the Second World War. Whereas its objective lies is enabling the conservation of
these memories and in making them accessible to the youth of the city.
The idea of MEMORY is a direct consequence of the success achieved by this first video. It re-elaborates the idea of video interviewing eyewitnesses of the War; but this time in a Europe-wide dimension, and in the prospective of an even closer direct confrontation with the younger generations.
The idea of a project conceived by "Kineo" Association: how "MEMORIALI DEL XX SECOLO - VIVERE LA STORIA" was born.
Some years ago I was given the assignment to do a RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) reportage dealing with the problem of the old folk being stowed away in homes for the elderly. It was while I was in one of these homes that I happened to realise that these people I was seeing struggle from their private rooms into the common room where the TV set was positioned, were really all alive and kicking! As a matter of fact, I was continuously overwhelmed by the vivid sensation that there was something drifting in the air around me, something quite distinct from the smell of soup or the stench of ether emanating from the kitchen and the infirmary respectively.
Shortly before I could leave, after having completed my job, one of the old men of the home approached me, and, with a degree of shyness only typical of a child, said to me, 'I beg to be excused Sir, but perhaps I could really have lots of things to say, you know, because I took part in the war …!": the simple remembrance of someone talking to me in such an awfully respectful way, and with so profound a sense of inferiority complex, has continued to haunt me to this day!
As it were, most professional mass communicators, the so-called "artists", tend to give coverage to everything else, apart from what is really essential, of course. It is, in fact, part of our "art" being launched into a thousand spectacular projects without ever paying enough attention to basic details; which, in spite of this, however continue to remain the pillars of civil society.
I decided I would stay, quickly granted leave to my TV crew, which was already in a hurry to go, and settled to listen to my guest.
In the memory of this old man, there was a sort of part-taken evocation that transformed his testimonial into an epic account. It was a real restitution of the events that had truly taken place, done in an extra-ordinary way; evoked by a vital force that was still active and present!
It was then that I was struck by a brilliant idea. All of a sudden, I realised that the time to organise a thoroughgoing action to collect the testimonials of the old folk had come. I also knew that this would have to be done before the generation that was directly involved in the conflict could sink into oblivion and leave an abyss of silence behind them. If this should ever happen, then I, as a learnt citizen, would never forgive myself for not having done everything possible to store the living history of those who had come before me.
And so this is how it happened that, thanks to the help given to me by my travel companions of "Kineo" Association and the invaluable collaboration of the Youth Project of Padua, the Memorials came into existence. I am sure that this idea is bound to head towards an expansion, and not only as an archive but, above all, as the symbol of a tendency towards reacquiring the daily habit of being able to listen.
Rodolfo Bisati
Project Conceiver.
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