“An unfinished place. Space of memory, monument Women’s Prison of Les Corts” (Publications of the University of Valencia, 2022) collects the open and collaborative process that, since 2006, has been weaving a network of activities to transmit and learn in depth about the history of the repression in the Les Corts Women’s Prison in Barcelona. The book will be presented by the three authors, Núria Ricart, Jordi Guixé and Fernando Hernández Holgado, and by representatives of the Platform Future Monument Women’s Prison of Les Corts, Anna Maria Batalla and Victoria Garcia, relatives of victims. The act will be moderated by Montse Torras, of the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Francoism in Catalonia. The entrance is free, but previous registration is recommended due to the limited capacity of the room.
Synopsis
The invisible memory of the retaliated women is a debt of the city of Barcelona with the recognition of its history. Civil society began an open and collaborative process that, since 2006, has been weaving a network of activities to transmit and learn in depth about the history of repression in the Les Corts Women’s Prison (Barcelona). The citizen actions that have made the process grow have deepened the repression, in prison from a territorial point of view, in the ways of fighting and self-organization of the prisoners and in the relationships with their children and relatives, in an exercise of practice and critical reflection on contemporary modes of memory transmission.
Starting in 2011, the construction of a monument in homage to the women imprisoned in Les Corts during the dictatorship was claimed, understanding the concept of ‘monument’ from the perspective of public art and its contemporary languages. Getting it built is one more step on the path of claiming an unfinished site, with a mobilizing vocation, within a living and open process of memory transmission.
About the authors
Nuria Ricart Ulldemolins is an associate professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, a PhD in Public Space and Urban Regeneration (2009), and principal investigator of the Public Art and Memory project. She collaborates with EUROM in the development of public art and memory projects. Her research focuses on monumentality, public art, public space and memory. Her main projects, exhibitions and her academic publications are accessible from her institutional web profile.
Jordi Guixé i Coromines is director of the European Observatory of Memories of the UB Solidarity Foundation and associate professor at the University of Barcelona. PhD from the UB and the Sorbonne University, his field of work is the debates and conflicts between memory and heritage in Spain and Europe.
Fernando Hernández Holgado is an associate professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. He has published, among other works, Imprisoned Women. The Ventas prison: from the republic to Francoism (1931-1941) (2003), and he has edited, together with Tomás Montero Aparicio, Dying in Madrid (1939-1944). The mass executions of Francoism in the capital” (2020). He has coordinated the web portals Memoria. Women’s Prison of Les Corts. Barcelona 1936-1955 and Cárcel de Ventas. Madrid 1931-1969.