The Gernika Peace Museum Foundation, in partnership with European Observatory of Memories – EUROM, is hosting the International Seminar on Places of Memory and Tourism. This in-person event will take place on 9 and 10 October 2024 in Gernika.
Event Description
The heritage category understood as places of memory applies to a heterogeneous set of spaces, usually material, that are reminiscent of a past that refuses to remain in the sphere of the past. Frequently related to traumatic events, they are elements that interact with the present through the various mechanisms that memory activates, the main one being, perhaps, the direct relationship between place and visitor. It is through this confluence that the past becomes present in the consciousness of the people who interact with the place, just as they activate the meaning of the site itself.
The practice of tourism in places of memory emerges, therefore, as a dynamic that enhances the impact of the sites themselves. A greater number of visitors, and a greater diversity in their typology, increases the site’s own complexities and makes it difficult, in turn, for management to consider questions that escape its singular symbolic nature. How are these places presented? What mechanisms of mediation and interpretation are necessary? Who should be addressed? In what language? With what objectives?
The International Seminar Places of Memory and Tourism, co-organised by the Gernika Peace Museum Foundation and the European Observatory of Memories – EUROM, is consolidated every two years with this second edition, entitled ‘Touristic uses of Memory’. On 9 and 10th October, the conference will reflect on the relationship between memory and tourism through different presentations, round tables and debates. National and international representatives will share research and experiences that will enrich the debate on the issue and help to consolidate knowledge about a field that, although relatively emerging, has an increasingly consolidated analytical corpus.
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(Image source: Gernika Museum Peace Fundation, Permanent exhibition)
