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Opening of ‘The Poetry of Primes’ – a weekend of art and entertainment in the footsteps of Pythagoras
The timeless beauty of numbers and mathematical relations with the universe of art.
This is the theme of ‘The Poetry of Primes’, reflected in the content of the third great exhibition of Matera 2019, under the scientific direction of the eminent mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi with installations by the Open Design School. This amazing exploration of the art of numbers, produced with the Museum Service of Basilicata, started at the National Archaeological Museum of Metaponto with the exhibitions
‘Numbers in time. Counting, measuring, calculating’ curated by Claudio Bartocci and Luigi Civalleri and ‘Filling the void. From the symmetries of M.C. Escher to contemporaries’ curated by Federico Giudiceandrea.
From Metaponto we move on to Matera, where Palazzo Acito reopened on Sunday 23 June with the inauguration of three exhibitions: ‘Numbers’ with works by Ugo Nespolo, who has always created images relating to mathematics and to reason; ‘Elements of transcendental
calculation’ with works by Tobia Ravà, a symbolic approach through the infinite possibilities of combining numbers; and ‘Computed Art’, with works by Aldo Spizzichino, interwoven with mathematics and incredibly profound. Three visions, three different pathways that explore the close relationship between art and mathematics.
Elsewhere, in the unique setting of the archaeological area of Metaponto around 1,500 visitors attended the stellar ‘Night with Pythagoras’ on Saturday 22 June. This special event featured performances by actors David Riondino and Valeria Solarino, who played Pythagoras and Hypatia from an original text by Piergiorgio Odifreddi with musical interludes by the pianist Alessandra Celletti. This was followed by the
eminent Piero Angela, the star turn of the evening, who gave a biographical talk on ‘Science and technology in modern society’, focusing on the key themes of communication, the falling birth rate and ageing.
The long night continued with a fascinating lecture by Guido Tonelli who explained the origin of the stars, accompanied by Eleuteria Arena on the cello. At dawn people stretched their tired muscles with a yoga lesson by Rosalia Stellacci and Andrea Stella to the sound of a beautiful concert by the pianist Alessandra Celletti, who played music from her latest wonderful album, produced in vinyl and inspired by the
maths of Pythagoras.
The long weekend closed with two interactive talks in the Auditorium of the University of Basilicata: ‘Prime numbers and their applications’ by the British mathematician Ian Stewart and a reading of ‘Mathematical Adventures’ by winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature John Maxwell Coetzee, alternating with readings by Piergiorgio Odifreddi.
Focus on the relationship between Man and Nature in contemporary dialogues and performances
- Campo aggiuntivo 5:
Credits photo: Salvatore Laurenzana
Contemporary dance and the performing arts have been the protagonists of this first part of Petrolio, a project co-produced by Basilicata 1799. From 11 to 23 June site-specific entertainment and performances were the focus of a dialogue on the great, as yet unanswered, questions concerning the Anthropocene – the geological era in which human behaviour has directly affected environmental equilibrium and generated a new dimension of cohabitation.
Original productions, rehearsals and meetings with the artists explored the theme of the relationship between Man and Nature in a new aesthetic. The vision, ideas and actions are changing; people are no longer the centre of the universe and Nature is beginning to have real importance.
The performances were held in a natural setting without stage lighting in the field, wood and countryside of the Parco del Castello Tramontano in Matera, chosen for its position rather than its architecture. Almost all the shows lacked specific boundaries: the difference is in the way the public and the performers interact with the space.
We start with Giacimenta (Deposits), curated by Francesca Corona and Michele Di Stefano. Their project consists of four episodes of artistic production, designed as an exercise in vision and an exploration model, in which they seek total complicity between the artist and the landscape, between places and people. The choreographers chosen for this episode, which plays with geological, social and human ‘layers’, are internationally renowned.
First was Alessandro Sciarroni, with a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement award, considered one of the most revolutionary choreographers on the European scene. Starting from his observation of animal migration phenomena, his work focuses on ‘turning’, not only meaning ‘to turn’, but also to change or evolve. Bodies revolve round their axis in an emotional psychophysical journey.
Sciarroni places one element at the centre of the creative process and repeats it relentlessly, using ballet to suggest something different. Unusually, youngsters also twirl incessantly en pointe. In the Matera version of Turning he chose five dancers through a call launched last November.
Another internationally famous artist, performer and choreographer in the Giacimenta section was Maria Hassabi from Cyprus. Her performances are examples of great symbolic value that link tensions and instincts between the environment and the individual in an expanded ritual temporal dimension. Minimalist movements and a gentle slowness, which suggest the need to slow down and a different way of experiencing the flow of things.
Hassabi’s Figures (2019) is a very delicate, complex and sophisticated work and for the first time she chose to use her way of working with a group of very young girls selected through a call launched in May. 10 dancers were chosen from the Lucania area to take part in this extraordinary experience, working with a professional who has performed in theatres, museums and public spaces worldwide, including MoMa in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Closing the first weekend of performances was choreography by Silvia Rampelli, who in a preparatory workshop presented movement, action and dance activities for senior citizens. Once a week the residents of the Brancaccio rest home in Matera took part in a gentle and novel activity, eager to try a small breathing exercise, about being together, perception and vision. With Child’s portrait we wonder: where are we? When are we? What’s around us?
The final performance event in this section was Le Merende by the artist collective Industria Indipendente, mainly devoted to performance, theatre and visual arts. Le Merende occupied this space following the principle of sharing, free giving and offering as a way of informing artistic practice. A place transformed into a natural habitat, where you can take a break between one performance and the next, with everyone present and a lively DJ set.
On the second weekend, opening the Sedimenti section were contemporary dance performances and live music with a DJ by WHO CARES? | Ecologia del dialogo. In a co-creation project four young choreographers – Bassam Abou Diab, Yeinner Chicas, Olimpia Fortuni and Leonardo Maietto – from opposite ends of the Mediterranean and two musicians – Ayman Sharaf and Stefano Zazzera – joined together to present a performance around the themes of the Anthropocene.
The scene was an imaginary piece of land in the Mediterranean, a geographical location that defies association with any particular people or places and represents the styles of architecture and traditions of the Lebanon, Italy and Spain, the countries where the artists come from.
As well as performances, meetings with the artists and rehearsals to kickstart the creative process, dialogues also started in the section Geo-logical Thought with Marcello Di Paola, an expert in environmental philosophy. Events planned for September include the team of architects, landscape architects and gardeners Volumezero, Bartolomeo Dichio, Alba Mininni, philosopher Emanuele Coccia and lecturer Gianfranco Pellegrino.
Purgatorio, local residents discuss the construction of a collective work
This was not simply a participatory event – it was a journey that made every citizen an integral part of Dante's work.
This was the intention behind 'Purgatorio, a Public Call for 'Divina Commedia, by Dante Alighieri', and this is what it turned out to be. The performance was produced by the Teatro delle Albe and directed by Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari, and involved not just IAC actors from Ravenna and Matera, but above all hundreds of local people. The idea behind the entire project was to construct a performance that would deal with the present, one that aimed to engage with what is happening today. When they took on this colossal work, Martinelli and Montanari decided to make use of to two distinct, yet complementary, theatrical traditions: sacred mediaeval events and the Russian people's theatre of the early twentieth century. It was this approach that provided the power behind the process, and which made it possible to go beyond the classic concept of participation, which can sometimes be bound to what is almost a deliberately amateurish approach, and to attain a fusion between the work and the citizens.
Purgatorio was built around local residents in such a way that they became a vital part of it, and without them it would have had no reason to exist.This is why it was essential to follow the protagonists of the process, to understand their hopes and emotions, and finally to be able to appreciate their development. Four local people of different sexes, ages and origin decided to tell their stories and to have them told during the construction of this collective performance. What emerges from the words of Tiziana, Maurizio, Antonella e Claudio, who joined hundreds of other citizens as part of the chorus of Purgatorio, is the explosive power of chorality, and at the same time the sometimes therapeutic function of the theatre, which has given our protagonists a serene new kind of awareness.
PURGATORIO, the canticle of starting anew on stage in Matera from 17 May to 2 June
The final curtain has fallen on Purgatorio, a wonderful spectacle that moved the entire community, a collective experience that became an extraordinary artistic production!
Two weeks of planning, 300 citizens directly involved in the performances and a wonderful response from audiences, with all the performances sold out.
The relevance of Dante's Purgatorio to our everyday lives can be found in the human vices and virtues represented in the extraordinary monologues by Ermanna Montanari and Marco Martinelli, the creators, artistic directors and directors of the joint stage event they put together call after call around people of all ages, languages and origins.
From 17 May to 2 June 2019, this splendid artistic production by the Ravenna Festival-Teatro Alighieri with Matera 2019, in collaboration with the Teatro delle Albe-Ravenna Teatro, also involved local theatre companies, including the IAC - Centro Arti Integrate.
Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari's visionary gamble of transforming Dante's masterpiece into a theatrical event involving numerous incursions into important current topics – politics and sociology, and love and hope – was a success, from the intense, heart-breaking scene of women killed violently by their husbands, fathers, boyfriends and brothers to Pia, who becomes every woman in the world, and the final scene, in which four little Greta Thunbergs with pigtails made us think about the fragility of our planet caused by the irresponsibility of adults and those in power.
The show ended with loud applause in Via del Riscatto, the location of the splendid Cappella delle Monacelle and a metaphor for a great, prophetic spiritual rebirth.