Julie van Loon was already staying at the KNIR from 29 March to 3 May 2024 for a KNIR Scholarship for RMA students to do research on The meaning of a Russian cultural site in Italy before and after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022: the San Nicola statue in Bari. In 2003, Putin has gifted a statue of San Nicola to the city of Bari. The San Nicola statue has become a contested site since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. There have been protests at the site and there has even been a petition about its survival. The contestation makes for an interesting case study to position within larger trends like Russian and Italian cultural diplomacy and Putin’s use of the Orthodox faith as soft power.
Julie van Loon, BA
MA student in Art History
Borse di studio: for (R)MA students
Titolo ricerca: The narrative power of objects in the museum space: The Liberation Museum in Rome and Italian post war memory narratives.
My thesis will be about the narrative power of the objects displayed in the Museum of Liberation in Rome. This museum is placed within a former prison used during the German occupation and is highly emotionally impactful. I want to examine the way objects in this museum space are used to create a specific narrative of the Italian Liberation, by using object-based research and placing this within the framework of post-war Italian memory.
Lavora presso il KNIR: 3 March - 7 April 2025
Indirizzo mail: j.c.van.loon@student.rug.nl
Università: University of Groningen
