Accademia di Reggio Calabria Wins Competition for Foibe Memorial Installation

For the 20th anniversary of Italy's 'Giorno del Ricordo' (Day of Remembrance), commemorated on February 10, the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) launched a competition for a temporary installation. The first prize was awarded to the concept by the Accademia di Belle Arti di Reggio Calabria (ABARC). The installation is a monumental cylinder 3 meters in diameter and 6 meters high, built with transparent plexiglass slabs. Inside, life-sized resin figures are embedded, suspended as if in perpetual fall, symbolizing the foibe—the deep pits where Italian civilians and military personnel from Venezia Giulia, Quarnaro, and Dalmatia were massacred during and after World War II. ABARC director Pietro Sacchetti emphasized the collaborative effort of professors and students in creating a contemporary vision that transforms death into living memory. The work is designed not as a celebratory monument but as an interrogative, transparent form that calls for collective responsibility and serves as an apotropaic force against future evil.