to provoke conceptual or philosophical debate and engage the spectator emotionally.17
commercializing sites in ways that would be counterproductive to their initial goals.
However, these efforts are not purely artistic, and they should not be left to artists. On the contrary, artists should be asked to provide their ideas at the behest of organizers and creators of public memorials. At the same time victims’ associations and human rights groups should overcome their reticence to involve artists in memory projects and open them to competition by artists and designers. The question of who has the final say in deciding on the aesthetics of public memorials is not obvious—it may or may not be artists, depending on the processes that are put in place. The equally important question is how the process of design has been constituted to include multiple voices and constituents.
Exchanges and Practical Workshops for Practitioners
Tourism Attracting foreign visitors to memory sites has already become an important source of funding in some countries. In principle, sites should be open to all, and background information and explanations given in terms understandable to an international public. Memorials can help inspire a new commitment to human rights in foreign tourists, and they can take it back to their countries of origin. As one participant noted, some of the most important events, such as the Letelier trial or the arrest of Pinochet in London, took place abroad. Tourism, however, needs to be regulated to preserve the integrity of memory sites and not to detract from or trivialize their message. The specter of “disneyfication” of sites haunted some participants; even more people worried about
Participants called for more models, lessons, manuals or practical guides, and opportunities for workshops and exchanges on the practical questions involved in developing memorials that promote cultures of democracy. Topics of such resources could include designing education programs, tourism management, managing stakeholder collaboration, and evaluating impact.
Research Finally, the conference showed the wealth of diverse experience that should be taken into account; we need to do much more comparative research. We have a great deal to learn from and about these remarkable places. People have invested so much in them—whether because they are directly affected by the violence, or because they seek to create a better world through creative forms of public education. The truth is that there is much we do not know. The direct relationship between public memorialization about past atrocity, on the one hand, and the creation of peaceful, stable, meaningful democracies, on the other, is far from clear. The conference made only a small step toward understanding the complicated causal linkages. In addition to more theoretical and conceptual research, we also need more practical and applied research. A great deal more remains to be learned about comparative experiences in design, creation, construction, and programming of these sites and projects.
17 See Ksenija Bilbija, Jo Ellen Fair, Cynthia E. Milton, and Leigh A. Payne, eds., The Art of Truth-Telling about Authoritarian Rule (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005).
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Memorialization and Democracy: State Policy and Civic Action