The Observatory. The installation that welcomes us after the ramp is the cone-shaped Observatory. It takes us from the light, from this day to the past, to the platform. With the shrinking walls it creates a feeling of loneliness and anguish: it resembles a memory of the psychological pressure that the victims experienced during the traumatic passage from the entrance hall to the railway track. The lens does not allow clear vision: the images are blurred, all that conveys a sense of puzzlement: the cone becomes a narrowing port into emptiness; a wound in space, at the end of which you only see the train track used in the deportations.
Testimonial Rooms. Going past the Observatory, on our right we find the Rooms of Testimony: five dark cubic structures, that have “cuts” in them, letting us create a connection between testimonies, interviews, contributions and the station structure, highlighting the essential dynamic between word and object, between memory and place. These steel volumes are shaped and positioned differently, giving life to similar but never identical stories, just like the victims of deportation. The stories are presented in a video format with English subtitles. You are welcome to watch the testimonies either now or once you have finished the tour.
