On December 9th, Unicamp's Dean of Extension and Culture (ProEC) will launch the Memorial Covid Unicamp project. The initiative aims to honor members of the university community who suffered the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and also those who played an important role in controlling the disease and in the University's activities. The event will take place on Rua Vital Brasil, in front of the main entrance of Hospital de Clínicas (HC), starting at 18:15 pm.
"We will pay tribute to the victims of Covid-19, including our employees and their families. We will offer our solidarity to them and, at the same time, we will propose a reflection on the importance of science and the damage of denialism. As a university, we want reaffirm our commitment to knowledge, making it clear that the tragedy caused by Covid-19 is, in large part, caused by denialism", explains professor Fernando Santos Coelho, vice-rector of Extension and Culture at Unicamp.
During the launch, a video will be projected on one of the surrounding buildings with photos and reports about the pandemic made by ordinary people. The material was collected by the #MemóriasCovid19 platform, a project designed and led by Ana Carolina Maciel, coordinator of Cocen (Coordination of Interdisciplinary Research Centers and Centers at Unicamp), which has a multidisciplinary curation team. "It is a work that mixes depth and lightness. There is enormous meaning in the tribute as it reflects the feelings of people who experienced the pandemic in various ways", assesses the dean. The video is around eight minutes long and will be shown over the course of an hour, giving everyone who passes by the place the opportunity to watch.
In addition to the video projection, there will be the launch of the Memorial Covid Unicamp portal and the announcement of activities scheduled for 2022. Fernando Coelho points out that these will be actions aimed at listening and welcoming people, facilitating the exchange of experiences, with activities such as conversation and others
Another highlight of the project is the installation of physical memorials on the University campuses. "The idea is to have, in the three cities where Unicamp is present, in Campinas, Limeira and Piracicaba, a physical work that pays homage to the victims of Covid-19, both those linked to Unicamp, our employees, students, teachers and outsourced workers, and their families, as well as the more than 600 lives lost in Brazil, largely due to denialism", explains the professor. The site will also receive a landscaping project and special lighting. On the Barão Geraldo campus, it will be installed in Praça da Paz, close to the Faculties of Food Engineering (FEA) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC).
At the beginning of 2022, a competition will be announced in which visual artists will be able to submit proposals for the creation of the work and the visual design of the memorial. "It will be a space for reflection and tranquility, so that people can think about the situation we are experiencing, in addition to being a reference place for the University. Therefore, it will also be installed on other campuses."
Service
Launch ceremony of the Memorial Covid Unicamp project
December 9th, from 18:15 pm
Rua Vital Brasil, in front of the main entrance of the Hospital de Clínicas