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Storia dello spettacolo e architettura. La restituzione virtuale della macchina del mare del teatro barocco
Get PDFThe aim of this article is to propose a hypothesis of virtual restitution of the “maritime machine” of Renaissance and Baroque theatre based on the specific case of the opening performance of the Farnese Theatre in Parma (1628). The celebrations of the wedding of Odoardo Farnese and Margherita de’ Medici culminate in the opera-tournament Mercurio e Marte, written by Claudio Achillini, set to music by Claudio Monteverdi, with scenes and machinery by Giovan Battista Aleotti and Francesco Guitti. It is a composite performance, with a strong symbolic value, conceived to celebrate the patrons and in which the main elements of the Renaissance “intermezzo” (music, dance, stage wonder) merge. The first part of the article – by Benedetta Colasanti – highlights the extent of the stage machinery, the phenomenon of technological precipitation from the construction site to the stage and the role of the state technician, tracing the story from a historical perspective and the analysis and intersection of sources (treatises, notebooks, correspondence, iconography), an operation aimed at providing the necessary data for the virtual restitution process. The second part – by Beatrice Cecchelli – describes the process of virtual restitution from a more technical point of view, illustrating the role of digital technologies and their application to the history of the performing arts.The aim of this article is to propose a hypothesis of virtual restitution of the “maritime machine” of Renaissance and Baroque theatre based on the specific case of the opening performance of the Farnese Theatre in Parma (1628). The celebrations of the wedding of Odoardo Farnese and Margherita de’ Medici culminate in the opera-tournament Mercurio e Marte, written by Claudio Achillini, set to music by Claudio Monteverdi, with scenes and machinery by Giovan Battista Aleotti and Francesco Guitti. It is a composite performance, with a strong symbolic value, conceived to celebrate the patrons and in which the main elements of the Renaissance “intermezzo” (music, dance, stage wonder) merge. The first part of the article – by Benedetta Colasanti – highlights the extent of the stage machinery, the phenomenon of technological precipitation from the construction site to the stage and the role of the state technician, tracing the story from a historical perspective and the analysis and intersection of sources (treatises, notebooks, correspondence, iconography), an operation aimed at providing the necessary data for the virtual restitution process. The second part – by Beatrice Cecchelli – describes the process of virtual restitution from a more technical point of view, illustrating the role of digital technologies and their application to the history of the performing arts
The Performative Power of Architecture. Anna’s Halprin’s Dance Deck as the Source of her “Transformational Dance”
Get PDFThis paper aims at investigating the intertwining between dance and architecture by taking as a case study the dance of Anna Halprin (1920-2021), whose character of rupture with modern dance contributes to the questioning of dance codes and conventions that essentially informs western contemporary dance. After a presentation of Anna’s intention to strengthen dance’s function of transforming people’s lives by restoring the original link between dance and nature, we will show how this intention leverages the ritual, essentially performative dimension of dancing. After underlining, with Alberto Pérez-Gómez, the original link between architecture and ritual understood as an action of displaying – rather than imposing – a pre-existing meaning and opening up to its unfolding, we will emphasise how the outdoor dance studio built for Anna by her husband, the urban architect and landscape planner Lawrence Halprin (1916-2009), invites to take up this action. The notion of lived corporeity developed by Hermann Schmitz in his “New Phenomenology” (1965), and that of “atmospheric affordances” (Griffero 2013), will allow us to show that dancing on this studio triggers an “exploratory” attitude of unprecedented ways of moving and interacting with one’s own surroundings by virtue of the everchanging interaction between architectural, meteorological and natural elements provided by this space. Finally, the conception of “material performativity” (Dalmasso 2020) will bring out that the transformative capacity of dance derives precisely from its ability to grasp and differentially decline the performative process of mutual constitution and influence between human and non-human entities.This paper aims at investigating the intertwining between dance and architecture by taking as a case study the dance of Anna Halprin (1920-2021), whose character of rupture with modern dance contributes to the questioning of dance codes and conventions that essentially informs western contemporary dance. After a presentation of Anna’s intention to strengthen dance’s function of transforming people’s lives by restoring the original link between dance and nature, we will show how this intention leverages the ritual, essentially performative dimension of dancing. After underlining, with Alberto Pérez-Gómez, the original link between architecture and ritual understood as an action of displaying – rather than imposing – a pre-existing meaning and opening up to its unfolding, we will emphasise how the outdoor dance studio built for Anna by her husband, the urban architect and landscape planner Lawrence Halprin (1916-2009), invites to take up this action. The notion of lived corporeity developed by Hermann Schmitz in his “New Phenomenology” (1965), and that of “atmospheric affordances” (Griffero 2013), will allow us to show that dancing on this studio triggers an “exploratory” attitude of unprecedented ways of moving and interacting with one’s own surroundings by virtue of the everchanging interaction between architectural, meteorological and natural elements provided by this space. Finally, the conception of “material performativity” (Dalmasso 2020) will bring out that the transformative capacity of dance derives precisely from its ability to grasp and differentially decline the performative process of mutual constitution and influence between human and non-human entities
Choreographic Architectures: When Dancing Designs the Urban Environment
Get PDFThis paper aims to draw attention to the relationship between dance and architecture. After a historical and conceptual contextualisation, it sheds light on how the term choreography evolved its meaning along the twentieth century, indicating a dispositif for building a new ecology of the participative performance experience. In these terms, choreographic architectures can be recognised when in real and metaphysic spaces, movement strategies are planned to activate processes through which human dancing engages with the surrounding environment. This phenomenon is studied by comparing William Forsythe’s theory of the “choreographic object” with some installations performed in urban environments. Finally, to provide an enlarged vision of how a choreographic strategy can cooperate in building a performative ecology to regenerate the inhabiting contexts with the acting presences of socially empowered citizens, my analysis ends with the description of Asingeline and Garden State, two emblematic works by MaMaZa, a Frankfurt-based group of artists.This paper aims to draw attention to the relationship between dance and architecture. After a historical and conceptual contextualisation, it sheds light on how the term choreography evolved its meaning along the twentieth century, indicating a dispositif for building a new ecology of the participative performance experience. In these terms, choreographic architectures can be recognised when in real and metaphysic spaces, movement strategies are planned to activate processes through which human dancing engages with the surrounding environment. This phenomenon is studied by comparing William Forsythe’s theory of the “choreographic object” with some installations performed in urban environments. Finally, to provide an enlarged vision of how a choreographic strategy can cooperate in building a performative ecology to regenerate the inhabiting contexts with the acting presences of socially empowered citizens, my analysis ends with the description of Asingeline and Garden State, two emblematic works by MaMaZa, a Frankfurt-based group of artists
A Matter of Relationships: Dramatising, Staging and Planning Ecological Performances
Get PDFThis article aims to explore patterns of the creative process in which performance faces ecological thought, placing about sustainability strategies. Many scholars have investigated the relationship between theatre and ecology since the end of the XXth century. Two positions have emerged strongly: ecology as a metaphor (Marranca) or as a performative tool (Chaudhuri). We will reflect on more recent points of view (Giannachi Stewart, Theresa J May, Baz Kershaw) and try to relate them to sustainability science (Bologna). Then, it will be important to focus on two phases of the creative process, dramatization, and staging, to understand the evolution of artistic practices about environmental issues. Finally, we are going to apply the methodological pattern outlined by the theoretical and practical analysis to two case studies: weLAND (2021), a contemporary circus show that staged climate migration, and La möa (2022), a choreographic work in nature that embodied the relationships in the river habitat.This article aims to explore patterns of the creative process in which performance faces ecological thought, placing about sustainability strategies. Many scholars have investigated the relationship between theatre and ecology since the end of the XXth century. Two positions have emerged strongly: ecology as a metaphor (Marranca) or as a performative tool (Chaudhuri). We will reflect on more recent points of view (Giannachi Stewart, Theresa J May, Baz Kershaw) and try to relate them to sustainability science (Bologna). Then, it will be important to focus on two phases of the creative process, dramatization, and staging, to understand the evolution of artistic practices about environmental issues. Finally, we are going to apply the methodological pattern outlined by the theoretical and practical analysis to two case studies: weLAND (2021), a contemporary circus show that staged climate migration, and La möa (2022), a choreographic work in nature that embodied the relationships in the river habitat
The subtle substances of living: Choreographies of becoming between feminist perspectives and queer temporalities
Get PDFIn the following text, I will try to articulate a thought on inhabiting from bodily practices. What I am interested in is demonstrating how a certain feminist thought in architecture in contact with performativity studies that are inextricably intertwined with questions of the production of gender and space, in nurturing each other, inaugurate a field of inquiry into the multiple modes of dwelling and their making. To do so, I will briefly traverse the trajectories of feminist thought and practice in architecture, focusing primarily on the European space and then moving geographically across the Atlantic to the epistemological openings that queer theories and practices have made on the theme of the relationship between bodies, architectures, and objects to the Caribbean. This shift will take us beyond the building, not only into urban space but especially into the dimension of the ecosystem in which Cecilia Bengolea’s choreographic works are grafted, which I will get to at the end. The material mobilized here starts from the thought produced by figures formed within the architectural sphere and in neighboring fields, but which has operated a movement of convergence with additional practices and theories from other experiences, such as performance art, feminism, and activism, bypassing disciplinary boundaries.In the following text, I will try to articulate a thought on inhabiting from bodily practices. What I am interested in is demonstrating how a certain feminist thought in architecture in contact with performativity studies that are inextricably intertwined with questions of the production of gender and space, in nurturing each other, inaugurate a field of inquiry into the multiple modes of dwelling and their making. To do so, I will briefly traverse the trajectories of feminist thought and practice in architecture, focusing primarily on the European space and then moving geographically across the Atlantic to the epistemological openings that queer theories and practices have made on the theme of the relationship between bodies, architectures, and objects to the Caribbean. This shift will take us beyond the building, not only into urban space but especially into the dimension of the ecosystem in which Cecilia Bengolea’s choreographic works are grafted, which I will get to at the end. The material mobilized here starts from the thought produced by figures formed within the architectural sphere and in neighboring fields, but which has operated a movement of convergence with additional practices and theories from other experiences, such as performance art, feminism, and activism, bypassing disciplinary boundaries
Arti perfomative, rigenerazione urbana e nuove cittadinanze
Get PDFThis paper is based on the experience gained in European funded research projects. Despite the different objectives pursued by each project, the thread that connects them is the relationship between the performing arts and urban regeneration, in order to emphasise the importance of directly involving the territory and its inhabitants in urban regeneration processes. The research that has matured in the field of territorial co-design at national and European level was based on the conviction that the ultimate goal of urban renewal is not exclusively the quality and safety of life. In fact, the processes of urban renewal, when viewed from the perspective of social and cultural innovation, produce a collective participatory experience capable of overcoming the dichotomy between the public and private dimensions, guiding processes of \u27commoning\u27 (Chatterton 2010) or the preservation of the \u27common good\u27, which here takes the form of the production of relational goods, of community constructions (Manzini 2021). The aim of this essay is therefore to develop, within the framework of sociology, a reflection on the impact and value of culture in the context of urban renewal processes. The proposal is thus to re-read urban renewal from a culturalist perspective. To this end, it is important to define what cultural sociology studies as a theoretical premise in order to understand how important social practises and cultural participation are in defining social imaginaries and in defining related life, such as housing, consuming, producing, just to name a few areas. Therefore, shifting urban renewal to a participatory key, here I mean citizen participation through artistic practise, allows us to question models of individual and collective well-being, also in terms of well-being, which I believe must be at the heart of urban planning and design processes, in order to recognise the multidimensionality inherent in renewal and open new multidisciplinary paths.This paper is based on the experience gained in European funded research projects. Despite the different objectives pursued by each project, the thread that connects them is the relationship between the performing arts and urban regeneration, in order to emphasise the importance of directly involving the territory and its inhabitants in urban regeneration processes. The research that has matured in the field of territorial co-design at national and European level was based on the conviction that the ultimate goal of urban renewal is not exclusively the quality and safety of life. In fact, the processes of urban renewal, when viewed from the perspective of social and cultural innovation, produce a collective participatory experience capable of overcoming the dichotomy between the public and private dimensions, guiding processes of \u27commoning\u27 (Chatterton 2010) or the preservation of the \u27common good\u27, which here takes the form of the production of relational goods, of community constructions (Manzini 2021). The aim of this essay is therefore to develop, within the framework of sociology, a reflection on the impact and value of culture in the context of urban renewal processes. The proposal is thus to re-read urban renewal from a culturalist perspective. To this end, it is important to define what cultural sociology studies as a theoretical premise in order to understand how important social practises and cultural participation are in defining social imaginaries and in defining related life, such as housing, consuming, producing, just to name a few areas. Therefore, shifting urban renewal to a participatory key, here I mean citizen participation through artistic practise, allows us to question models of individual and collective well-being, also in terms of well-being, which I believe must be at the heart of urban planning and design processes, in order to recognise the multidimensionality inherent in renewal and open new multidisciplinary paths
Regenerate the monstrous. An essay
Get PDFThe article moves from the idea of monster as a “cultural predicate” referable to a wide linguistic and symbolic repertoire proper to the overall human history. In this perspective, particular attention is paid to the variegated viewpoints on monstrosity that, from the initial teratology of “natural” sign, develops into a teratology of a specifically “social” character. Hence the indication that, from a material standpoint, shows how the transformations of feeling, thinking, and acting related to nowadays work activities, make it possible to associate certain characteristics of monstrosity – clearly not conceivable only in negative terms – to new productive subjects and cooperating singularities.The article moves from the idea of monster as a “cultural predicate” referable to a wide linguistic and symbolic repertoire proper to the overall human history. In this perspective, particular attention is paid to the variegated viewpoints on monstrosity that, from the initial teratology of “natural” sign, develops into a teratology of a specifically “social” character. Hence the indication that, from a material standpoint, shows how the transformations of feeling, thinking, and acting related to nowadays work activities, make it possible to associate certain characteristics of monstrosity – clearly not conceivable only in negative terms – to new productive subjects and cooperating singularities
Teratology’s grey area. An excursus about the hermaphrodite
Get PDFThis work focuses on a particular figure of the monster: the hermaphrodite who has been considered significant since ancient times. In Middle Ages, the hermaphrodites were executed because of their deformity. This attitude changed later on and they started to be condemned as perverts. During the XIX century, Teratology wanted to include them in a monsters’ classification but the scientists found this work very difficult because they were influenced by novelists who considered the hermaphrodite a perfection’s emblem. In this case, it’s important to underline that Balzac and Hugo wrote about “double” monsters. It means that Balzac talked about people who were both male and female, while Hugo talked about characters with both dark and sublime soul. Balzac in particular considered the androgyne perfect because he didn’t show significant differences. So, this essay wants to analyze the debates about hermaphrodite and its doubleness.This work focuses on a particular figure of the monster: the hermaphrodite who has been considered significant since ancient times. In Middle Ages, the hermaphrodites were executed because of their deformity. This attitude changed later on and they started to be condemned as perverts. During the XIX century, Teratology wanted to include them in a monsters’ classification but the scientists found this work very difficult because they were influenced by novelists who considered the hermaphrodite a perfection’s emblem. In this case, it’s important to underline that Balzac and Hugo wrote about “double” monsters. It means that Balzac talked about people who were both male and female, while Hugo talked about characters with both dark and sublime soul. Balzac in particular considered the androgyne perfect because he didn’t show significant differences. So, this essay wants to analyze the debates about hermaphrodite and its doubleness
Introduction. Cosmoaesthetica in nuce
Get PDFA neo-cosmological sensibility seems to pervade many of today’s philosophical debates. But what does it mean to conceive of a cosmic totality after Kant and after the entrance of cosmology into the circle of sciences? What does this new sensibility entail and what are its consequences on our thought, sensibility, representations, and artistic practices?
This issue aims to address these and other questions from different viewpoints and traditions, with particular attention to the aesthetic implications of the new philosophical cosmologies.A neo-cosmological sensibility seems to pervade many of today’s philosophical debates. But what does it mean to conceive of a cosmic totality after Kant and after the entrance of cosmology into the circle of sciences? What does this new sensibility entail and what are its consequences on our thought, sensibility, representations, and artistic practices?
This issue aims to address these and other questions from different viewpoints and traditions, with particular attention to the aesthetic implications of the new philosophical cosmologies
Astral Bodies. Elements of Georealism
Get PDFThis age is characterized by the increasing humanization of a planet more and more subject to representation, visualization and prediction. The future, however, seems to herald the emergence of forces indifferent to this historical process. Our present is thus the time of this contradiction, as new forces affect all strata of our lives like a diffuse but deep trauma. My text calls for a georealism that takes into account this time, a new form of planetary realism that assumes that our time is emptied of all representable content and thus open to its own infinity, open to the encounter with what is not given, either as horizon or as memory.This age is characterized by the increasing humanization of a planet more and more subject to representation, visualization and prediction. The future, however, seems to herald the emergence of forces indifferent to this historical process. Our present is thus the time of this contradiction, as new forces affect all strata of our lives like a diffuse but deep trauma. My text calls for a georealism that takes into account this time, a new form of planetary realism that assumes that our time is emptied of all representable content and thus open to its own infinity, open to the encounter with what is not given, either as horizon or as memory