Brasília, Federal District, Brazil, May 28, 2026 – The traveling exhibition “The Infinite Memory of the Pandemic: the story of COVID-19 by all of us Brazilians” opened this Tuesday (26), in Brasília, Federal District. Designed to expand public access to the collections of the Digital Memorial of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the exhibition presents an immersive multimedia experience built from testimonies, images, documents, and records produced during the pandemic in Brazil. The initiative is led by the Ministry of Health’s Cultural Center (CCMS), with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), through BIREME, and with the Center for Digital Humanities of the State University of Campinas (CHD/Unicamp).
The exhibition is installed at Shopping Conjunto Nacional and invites the public to reflect on the human, social, and public health impacts of the emergency that marked Brazil and the world. The exhibition route brings together artistic, audiovisual, and interactive content that allows visitors to revisit different dimensions of the pandemic and its consequences for Brazilian society, while also contributing to the collective elaboration of pandemic memories.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, the PAHO Representative in Brazil, Cristian Morales, as well as researchers, public health specialists, representatives of partner institutions, family members of COVID-19 victims, and members of the teams responsible for building the Digital Memorial and the exhibition. Minister Alexandre Padilha highlighted the importance of preserving collective memory as part of strengthening public health and preparing for future health emergencies. “Preserving the memory of the pandemic also means preserving the lessons learned, valuing the lives impacted, and strengthening the collective commitment to public health and to the SUS,” the minister said.
PAHO emphasized the role of international cooperation and digital transformation in building the Memorial and expanding public access to health information. “The Digital Memorial of the COVID-19 Pandemic represents an important collective effort to preserve memory, science, and the human experiences lived during the pandemic. By bringing together information, testimonies, and knowledge in an accessible digital environment, we strengthen society’s capacity to learn from this experience and build more resilient responses for the future,” said Cristian Morales, who also recognized the contribution of BIREME and PAHO to the development of the Digital Memorial of the Pandemic connected to the exhibition.
As part of the exhibition experience, visitors can also record their own memories and testimonies related to the pandemic. The collected content becomes part of the Memorial’s digital collection, contributing to the preservation of Brazil’s collective memory of COVID-19. The exhibition “The Infinite Memory of the Pandemic” will remain open at Conjunto Nacional in Brasília throughout June. It will then travel to all regions of Brazil, with stops in Manaus, Fortaleza, and Porto Alegre. The next stage of the exhibition is scheduled to take place in São Paulo on July 5, 2026.
Seminar discusses digital preservation of community archives
As a parallel activity, the seminar “The Infinite Memory of the Pandemic: Digital Preservation of Communities and Social Groups” promoted debates on digital preservation, community archives, collective memory, and shared infrastructure for pandemic-related digital collections. The program brought together researchers, specialists, representatives of community projects, and partner institutions of the Memorial.
On the first evening of the program, the panel “Preservation Policies and Shared Infrastructures” featured researchers Thiago Nicodemo, from Unicamp and the Digital Memorial of the Pandemic, Dalton Martins, from the University of Brasília (UnB), and Pedro Puntoni, from the University of São Paulo (USP). BIREME participated in the seminar’s solemn opening session, represented by Silvia de Valentin, BIREME Administrator, who highlighted the importance of technical cooperation, digital preservation, and open access to information for safeguarding social memory and strengthening public health.
On Wednesday (27), the panel “Digital Preservation of Communities and Social Groups” featured representatives from the memory collections “Fala, Parente,” represented by project coordinator Elissandra Barros and initiative participant Cleisy Narciso Silva; and “Maternity Narratives,” represented by its coordinators Ana Fiori and Camila Volker. Both collections originate from Brazil’s Northern Region and have their archives preserved in the Digital Memorial of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
About the Digital Memorial of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Digital Memorial of the COVID-19 Pandemic is an initiative of Brazil’s Ministry of Health, developed in partnership with PAHO/WHO through BIREME, and with the collaboration of the Center for Digital Humanities at Unicamp. The portal brings together digital collections related to pandemic experiences in Brazil, promoting digital preservation, public access to information, research, and educational initiatives focused on memory and public health.
