Cultural resilience during the Corona pandemic

The MNEMONIC project was conceived in June 2020, in the aftermath of the first lockdown, as an observation of the unprecedented response of Italy’s cultural and heritage sector to the pandemic. This volume presents the outcomes of that research, which set out to investigate the forms of creativity, adaptation and resilience that emerged during the emergency, while also collecting insights into cultural responses beyond Italy. Developed by a multidisciplinary team within the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning of the Politecnico and University of Turin, the project collaborated with cultural institutions and foundations in Turin, such as Polo del ’900, Fondazione Torino Musei, the Museo Egizio and the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. The survey mapped a wide and varied production of cultural initiatives, digital and non-digital, revealing the vitality of a sector that reacted to isolation by opening new ways of participation. The MNEMONIC Atlas, accessible through an open digital platform, gathers these experiences as a collective memory of a fragile time, and as a reflection on the role of culture in facing crises, between urban history and Disaster Risk Management.

Cover image courtesy of Municipality of Milan.