One of the most disturbing things the 21st century has brought us, is the pervasive feeling that there is being fought a war on public sphere. Notwithstanding all the resonance that civic and political movements are having, particularly on what regards women and civil rights, there has never been so many violently conservative and reactionary political leaders. Thus, participatory actions tend to be seen in extremes. Either they are urgent and consequent; or considered to be futile and impotent.
To participate in a performance can be a powerful mean to inscribe our individual desires and feelings in the social dynamics. The provisional community that is formed in an audience – and its political strength comes precisely from that process – can help us to amplify and strengthen our personal and idiosyncratic cosmologies.
In this context, the question of how to move from a subjective perception of a live performance to an outward political action — or, in other words, how to move from aesthetics to ethics — comes into play. This passage from the experience of the encounter to the individual decision to act, this inner transformation, this Turn, is something that we’ll be addressing in this year’s Summer School.
Take it outside will run around the analysis of some of the festival’s performances — thus bringing up the inner reflection of ourselves within the world, and through our bodily commitment to turn the page — taking Alessandro’s practice as the ground from which we can come out.
05/10, 11h00 to 21h30
Alessandro Sciarroni is an Italian artist active in the performing arts, visual arts and theatrical research. He has presented his work in dance and theater festivals, museums, galleries and unconventional places, in important institutions and events around the world, among which Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Impulstanz stand out (Vienna), Festival d’Automne, Centquatre and Center Pompidou (Paris), Festival TBA (Portland), Biennale di Venezia, The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) or Museo MAXXI (Rome).
His work goes beyond gender definitions – he uses the theatrical structure, but he can use techniques and experiences of dance, circus or sport, regularly involving professionals from different disciplines. In addition to rigor, coherence and clarity, it seeks to discover obsessions, fears and weaknesses in the act of interpreting, through the repetition of a practice up to the limits of the physical resistance of the interpreters, considering a different dimension of time and an empathic relationship between the audience and the artists.