The UAB leads a project to fight against the exclusion of refugees

The main aim of SO-CLOSE is to combat the exclusion that refugees may suffer by promoting mutual understanding and knowledge between these people and their host communities. Using co-creative design methodologies and innovative digital and artistic tools, the vital experiences of refugees will be shared with the memories of survivors of European conflicts, preserved in the centers of historical memory.

Apart from universities and the international network of refugee support entities (RISE), there is the participation of technology development companies to provide the project with a set of interactive tools that collect exchanges of experiences between refugees and victims of historical conflicts.

The final result will be the implementation of a platform, called the Memory Nodes Center, which will contain a selection of audiovisual content for its future musealization, offering an innovative cultural experience that can generate social awareness. The co-creation and prototyping processes (pilots) will be carried out in four historical and cultural heritage facilities: La Jonquera Exile Memorial Museum, Trikeri Island Concentration Camp (Greece), Villa Decius Association (Poland) and the headquarters of the Monte Sole Peace School (Italy).

This European project is coordinated by the UAB departments of Modern and Contemporary History, Sociology and Translation and Interpretation and Studies of East Asia, and has the support of the UAB Research Park. The Swedish University of Lund, the Greek research and technology center CERTH, the Greek Refugee Forum as a node of RISE and the new technology companies Tempesta Media and Engineering also participate.