who we are

why memento mari?

the Latin word memento (literally 'remember ') brings to mind the famous saying 'memento mori ' (remember you have to die) whispered to the Roman generals in their moment of glory to remind them, precisely in that moment, of the transitory quality of life and good luck.

memento mari works on the assonance with that saying but conjures up the sea, declined to clash, on purpose. which sea? the Mediterranean, of course... the mare nostrum that in the south is called 'the sea in the middle’. precisely so. in the middle. an obstacle.

in january 2014, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released its latest report: some 45,000 migrants braved the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe in 2013. [...] in total, some 700 migrants perished last year while attempting the sea crossing, while over the past two following decades, some 20,000 people are thought to have died.  "There are probably many more who are dead and about whom we know nothing, and never will." - noted IOM spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume  - "behind these cold, impersonal figures there are women, men and children who flee violence and are seeking a better life. It's urgent to prevent people dying and to make migration a matter of choice and not of desperation." - she added.

memento mari is a manifesto for action addressed, in particular, to artists and all those who believe that it is possible, useful and necessary to use culture as a key to open minds and hearts. to give back identity and dignity, whenever possible, to some of the thousands of migrants who have simply disappeared. to tell their hopes, their wishes, and their dreams through stories from survivors, their SMSs, photos, videos...


memento mari is a cry that joins other cries, so far unheard: we will therefore say over and over again and in our own way, through improvised music, readings, multimedia installations and all the art forms that will become available, that this shameful silence, the unconcern regarding all these events is a scandal 

memento mari intends to translate, today (the time belonging to survivors, artists, emotions, music, poetry…), the 'background noise' of the media on the massacres along the EU borders. in doing so, we will try to shape and give future to the hopes of those dead, those who loved them, of those of us who remain; for, at least, they did not die completely in vain... vita brevis, ars longa (life is short, art is long).

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