Work

Work is the innovative multimedia section of the Fiorano Modenese Ceramics Museum: a visitor experience to listen to the voices of the people involved in the ceramics industry and travel through from the 19th century to the present, discovering machinery and meeting its operators. To find out about their lives, duties, stories, hard work and successes.

Occupying an area of 300 m2 in the basement of Spezzano Castle, the 4 rooms of the Work section tell visitors about “the men and women who shaped the history of industrial ceramics” in the Modena-Reggio ceramics district.

They trace the evolution in technologies and products through videos and images, personal testimonies and life stories. A journey that starts with the earth. An exciting story of personal tales, matter and colour, videos and tools. The blazing sun and dust of the quarries. To tell everyone, but especially the youngest visitors, about the amazing story that continues to have this District at its heart.

A company secretary from the Sixties acts as virtual guide, introducing visitors to an individual experience of working in the various departments of the factory. Time boards and speaking tiles show us men and women who may only be “virtual” but can still talk directly to us. Personal testimonies to be viewed and chosen via a remote device sensitive to body movements. The social aspects of labour, immigration, workers’ rights, environmental factors. The success of local ceramic tiles worldwide, their distribution channels, their spokesmen and women, their style.