Design Experiences in Pandemic Times. Constructing and Enhancing the Memory of the Present in Museums

During the Coronavirus pandemic, museums were beset with serious difficulties. Forced to close for an indeterminate length of time, museum professionals and designers faced real challenges, which they addressed and used to seek to expand their offer, providing and implementing services to involve the public remotely. During the period under observation, museums, which have always guarded and enhanced the historicized heritage, extended to the present time their research into the tangible and intangible records of man and his environment and their acquisition, conservation, communication, and exhibition. Through the critical analysis of case studies, this paper intends to examine the museum’s role in constructing and enhancing memory tied to the present time – articulated in activities that refer to calls to action, curatorial projects, and the production of records – opening new scenarios for design. The configuration of a synthesis model made it possible to develop a matrix of elements that can be variably grouped to visualize the complexity and peculiarity of the actions undertaken by museums.