On Monday we took our exhibition Traces from Lesvos through Europe
to Pagani and turned the space where refugees and migrants have been detained and humiliated into a museum – a place that belongs to the past.
The first thing to do when we entered Pagani was to open up all gates and doors behind which people were forcibly kept from freedom. We built up the exhibition across the yard, put banners at the front side of the building and we hoisted our Welcome to Europe flag on the roof of Pagani.
However Pagani was already appropriated by the migrants and refugees, who had been detained there in the past – the walls inside the cells are telling stories of all the people who have passed through this prison since its existence and they document last years revolts inside and outside Pagani that led to its closure.
Screening pictures and videos made during last years no border at the walls of the building, was a magic moment: The overcrowded cells with all the faces at the gates demanding freedom projected just between the open doors from nowadays Pagani, void of people.
But it is just one battle won. We need to stay on track and find ways to foil the plans to legitimize the detention and deportation of refugees and migrants by modernizing the system. We don’t want better detention conditions, we demand nothing less than the freedom of movement!
