Diapositiva 1

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Experimenting with the communication of science
a poetic narrative
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• Science and Theatre
• Theatre as a means of conveying scientific
  concepts and ideas (pedagogical purpose)
• Theatre borrows its contents from science, while
  maintaining its own features as an artistic
  expression

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• First case
• Theatre as a means of supporting didactics
• The exploitation of the performing elements
• a. the acting area
• b. lights
• c. sounds
• d. images
• e. the dramatic vocabulary of movement
• f. the body and verbal language
• helps to lower the barriers between an
  inexperienced public and scientific contents

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Main strength of theatre Emotional and sensory
communication Reconciliation between
pedagogical activity and entertainment ? To
excite curiosity in the scientific world
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Performances deriving from the tradition of the
scientific conferences started in the XVII
Century coinciding with the origin of the first
scientific Academies
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Second case Theatre preserves its artistic and
aesthetic characteristics, thus enhancing
scientific imagination for the public
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An example A Brand New Sky a. It is, first of
all, a cultural project, which assumes the form
of an experimental communication activity about
the history of science b. By means of a poetic
narration it seeks to transmit the fundamental
elements of Galileos early astronomical
discoveries and the cultural climate in which
they came to light c. To build a strong
interconnection between science and art was one
of the aims of A Brand New Sky
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A Brand New Sky was part of the EU project
World View Network Culture 2000, a project
devoted to the five historical figures that
contributed in a substantial way to the
construction of a new view of the Universe
Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johann Kepler,
Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton
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• Structure of the performance
• A monologue (50 minutes) played by an actor who
  portrays a
  skilled glass craftsman, Loom
• A tale based on Galileos first observations with
  the telescope
• the Moons surface
• the Stars of the Milky Way
• the Satellites of Jupiter

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• The construction of the text
• a. Historical bibliographic research
• Main references
• - Sidereus Nuncius Venice, 10 March 1610,
• 500 copies immediately circulating in all
  of
• Europe
• - Letters of Galileo written before and soon
• after the publication of the book
• b. Selection of scientific nuclei
• c. Poetic-narrative transposition

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• Interest in communicating
• Galileos significant contribution to the
  rupture of the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic model
  of the Universe
• its replacement with a model built on the basis
  of new data and criteria
• Main character
• The persona of the craftsman was shaped in order
  to evoke the feelings of astonishment, admiration
  and incredulity that were raised throughout
  Europe immediately after the results of
  observations were published in the Sidereus
  Nuncius

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Particular attention was given to objects (glass,
lenses, telescopes) which provide evidence of
the material history of science
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Some technical characteristics - A Brand New
Sky was intended for a wide viewing audience,
without distinguishing between different types of
public (general/specialized/scholastic) - Staged
in a area inside the Imss - Each performance was
planned for a maximum of 30 persons - Total
number of performances 22 (including an English
version)
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The acting area
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Images from the performance
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Images from the performance
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Some qualitative comments concerning the
audiences type of reception - Enthusiastic
reactions from the public - A high attention
level throughout the performance - Strong impact
of the actor on the audience - At the end of the
performances, often the audience stayed and
talked with the actor, the author of the text and
director, the designer of the project - Questions
about the theatrical elements (e.g. the stage
design), the images evoked, the protagonists
characteristics, the art of the actor, the
scientific elements that emerged from the
narration
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Conclusions The publics positive reactions,
confirmed the idea that was the background of
the whole project the content carefully
translated in an artistic form has an intrinsic
potential of deep, universal communication We
reached the aim of letting theatre to maintain
its artistic integrity, while enhancing an image
of science as a human activity, an essential
element of a culture in general
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Il cielo nuovo A Brand New Sky