Democratic Memory

Institute of Present Pasts

The Institute of Present Pasts (IPP), which was established by Mayoral Decree, is a research, ideas and experiences laboratory on social processes where images of the past and the polices that manage them are shaped, represented and conveyed.

Having a laboratory of ideas and experiences is a formula used by many institutions for the purposes of proposing appropriate and efficient presentation contents and formats and guaranteeing ongoing assessments of programmes, in this case, at the Commissioner’s Office and facilities linked to it.

That is why the IPP’s disciplinary scope is cross-cutting, has no chronological limits and its goal is to combine studies, research, training and analyses of models; one of the main aims is to observe national and international production, reflect on it and work to create new cultural initiatives and above all new suitable and efficient formats for the programmes of the Commissioner’s Office for Memory Programmes and its tools. As a result, the Institute is designed to propose and encourage research projects, programme proposals, courses, seminars, conferences and debates, while generating a permanent forum for dialogue and exchange.

It is with this goal that the meaning and mandate of the Institute of Present Pasts are to manage information from experiences and ideas that enable knowledge of changes and cultural memorial macro-trends, so dynamics can be created to promote research, innovation and exchanges among the groups and collectives concerned, whether veterans and newcomers, and to help to transform their projects and results into an effective programme.

The Institute of Present Pasts is directly answerable to the Commissioner for Memory Programmes, although it covers and links all the other facilities that comprise the tools of the Commissioner’s Office through the Department of History and Memory (ICUB). The research and training programme at the Commissioner’s Office, where appropriate, will be presented under the auspices of the IPP, thereby constituting its public expression in the field of research, training and debate.