Italian museums as drivers for social wellbeing: MNEMONIC the Italian digital hub of cultural resilience

The paper discusses the results of the MNEMONIC project, launched in 2020 by the Polytechnic of Turin to critically collect, analyse and network the cultural production developed by Italian museums and cultural organizations during the COVID 19 pandemic. It deals with the emergence of digital projects as a response to the crisis through collective cultural actions. Italy was the first European country to implement a national lockdown, leading to the closure of museums and cultural heritage sites. Although digitisation wasn't well developed yet, various digital, collaborative, and creative cultural initiatives emerged to address the lack of cultural and social life during the pandemic. These initiatives and their impact on citizens highlighted the contribution of culture and heritage to mental health and well-being. The MNEMONIC digital atlas of Cultural Resilience documents and preserves the plurality of this fragile production by providing a platform for networking among cultural and heritage organizations and all interested stakeholders. Based on a Web Geographic Information System (GIS) and interactive modes, it highlights the adaptive properties of Italian museums and cultural institutions and provides a space-time framework for understanding the development of digital cultural offerings. It reveals the extraordinary resilience, responsiveness, and creativity of Italian cultural institutions in their digital efforts, demonstrating the intrinsic relationship between culture and societal wellbeing.