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The Museum for Franco Basaglia

by Stefano Graziani

TRENTO

M7

The Museum for Franco Basaglia visualizes the impact of Italy’s infamous Law 180 (1978), focusing on the psychiatric hospital in Trieste. Following Basaglia’s intuition, this law abolished the juridical rules concerning the management of psychiatric hospitals as enclosed and segregating institutions. Composed of only a few lines, the law added nothing; it was purely a negation of the existing psychiatric praxis. The aim of the museum is to narrate both actual results and possible outcomes of this revolution.
The museum is composed of two elements. The first is the archive, containing material available to visitors, who may photocopy and take what interests them. The archive includes visual and written documents from the hospital in Trieste as well as publications by and about Basaglia. Second, video interviews with experts who assess the impact of Basaglia’s ideas in their field. They also provided written statements for the archive.
Photographer Stefano Graziani teaches at the University of Trieste. He created this museum with Giovanni Damiani. Contributors include Stefano Boeri, Franco Rotelli, Pier Aldo Rovatti, Beppe Dall’Acqua, Markus Miessen, Michele Zanetti, Donatello de Mattia, and others


Location

TRENTO

ANSELM FRANKE/HILA PELEG: "THE SOUL (or, Much Trouble in the Transportation of Souls)"

PALAZZO DELLE POSTE, VIA S.S. TRINITA’ 27, I-38100 TRENTO, ITALY

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