The War Up Close team continues their European tour. On April 1–2, we held an immersive exhibition at the Rome Exhibition Centre on Via Nazionale.
Over the course of 2 days, the event was attended by many guests from the United Kingdom, Poland, Ukraine and Italy, including representatives of local administrations, officials from Italian ministries and Giovanni Baiocchi, the head of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Senate of the Italian Republic. The latter expressed his admiration for the courage of the Ukrainian people in resisting Russia’s aggression, the solidarity and support of Ukraine by progressive political forces in Italy, and his confidence in a common European future with Ukraine. In addition, Giovanni Baiocchi promised to promote the distribution of the materials of the War UP Close virtual museum in Italian schools in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine in Italy.
Italians wept from what they saw. They could not understand why this was happening now, in the 21st century, in Europe, where there should be a memory of the horrors and consequences of previous wars, where everyone seemed to have learned their lessons.
“We learned here, with the Europeans, to call things by their proper names. Call War a war, instead a conflict, call Russia an enemy, and call Ukrainians heroes. I am sure that there will be a part of what we have now conveyed with the War Up Close exhibition in the future assistance Italy will provide to Ukraine, and in the results of local elections, and in the perception by Italians of both Ukrainians and themselves”, – commented the Team’s representative Oleksii Syvak.
We are grateful to all our guests and partners: USAID, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in Belgium, United Help Ukraine, CFC Big Ideas, and Funberry. Together, we have already held immersive exhibitions in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, and Washington and are planning new events in Finland.
