Exhibitions and museums about the Inquisition are usually focused on trial procedures, which involved torture. This form of violence is typically exhibited through recreated torture devices and repeats a narrative that leaves out the bodies and subjectivities of the prosecuted. In this paper, I argue that, by displaying prisoners’ graffiti and providing context, the Steri Palace in Palermo, Sicily, produces a form of collective knowledge about early modern confinement rooted in the captives’ experience and self-representation, instead of reproducing the power relation that inquisitorial sources tend to present. I also argue that the Steri exhibition responds to the ‘morality’ issue prevalent in dark tourism studies.
Though the Agony is Eternal: Voices from Below, from Anywhere. Exhibit of Dungeon Graffiti in Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri, Palermo
Anna Clara Basilicò
2023
Abstract
Exhibitions and museums about the Inquisition are usually focused on trial procedures, which involved torture. This form of violence is typically exhibited through recreated torture devices and repeats a narrative that leaves out the bodies and subjectivities of the prosecuted. In this paper, I argue that, by displaying prisoners’ graffiti and providing context, the Steri Palace in Palermo, Sicily, produces a form of collective knowledge about early modern confinement rooted in the captives’ experience and self-representation, instead of reproducing the power relation that inquisitorial sources tend to present. I also argue that the Steri exhibition responds to the ‘morality’ issue prevalent in dark tourism studies.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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