69521 - Forms of Multimedia Stage (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Music and Theatre Studies (cod. 8837)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student acquires a complete overview of the aesthetic theories and technological integration strategies in place on the performance scene, as well as the relations with experimentation in the field of sound. Starting from the analysis of representative works and the discussion of the main national and international theoretical-critical positions, the student: - acquires the methodological tools to inscribe contemporary practices in a perspective of continuity and rupture with the historical framework of the discipline in question. In terms of skills, this knowledge provides students with: - analytical tools to be applied in the field of education, essay writing, criticism and journalism; - analytical tools to be applied in the field of planning, design and management of specific spectacular events - theatrical and choreographic - linked to the use of technologies and new media.

Course contents

Days:

Monday 9h-11h

Tuesday 9h-11h

Wednesday 9h-11h

Lessons in presence, at the Aula Dioniso - Via Barberia 4



Course title: Extend Perception

We cannot define present only what is felt by the senses. In order to detect these presences - all those entities that act at the limit of the resolution power of the sensory organs - it is necessary to develop a strategy that makes them visible and audible. This observation introduces a reflection on the relationship between art and science: every work of art involving technology clarifies the limits of human perception and at the same time allows it to be extended. In other words, technology, before being an instrument, is a form of thought: it makes visible and audible what it is not yet. Starting from an investigation that interweaves knowledge related to the body, perception and technologies on the contemporary performance scene, the course aims to define the aesthetic framework of the notions of immersive environment and extended corporeity.

As far as immersive environments are concerned, we are going to analyze the way some practices think of the scene as a device able to immerse the spectator in an audiovisual environment, which makes him aware of the perceptive strategies he has put in place. To do this, we're going to explore the work of Japanese Dumb Type and Shiro Takatani made in collaboration with composers and sound artists Ryoji Ikeda and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

If this is the first declination around which we move, the second one brings into play, specifically, the relationship between the body and technology, both visual and sound, where the latter is designed as a device to explore and extend the perception - and therefore the imaginary - of dancers and actors (biofeedback), allowing them to elaborate unpublished gestural scores. We will develop these arguments through the analysis of the creation processes developed by William Forsythe, Ginette Laurin, Cindy Van Acker and others.

The two lines of investigation set out here will find their synthesis in the operational notion of composition. By adopting this expression, we intend to bring attention to a particular dimension of the scene, whose device is composed of a series of infinitesimal variations - technologically mediated - that latently influence the perception of the performer and the spectator.

Readings/Bibliography

    1. Readings/Bibliography

1)- E. Quinz, Il cerchio invisibile, Milano, Mimesis, 2015.

2)- P. Eckersall, E. Scheer and F. Shintaro (edited by), The Dumb Type Reader, Copenhagen, Museum Tusculanum Press, 2017.

3)- I. Choinière, E. Pitozzi, A. Davidson, Through the Prism of the Senses: Mediation and New Realities of the Body in Contemporary Performance Technology, Cognition and Emergent Research-Creation Methodologies, Bristol, BETWEEN Intellect Ltd, 2019.

For students not attending the exam consists of an oral interview on the texts in the bibliography + the addition of this book:

E. Pitozzi, Magnetica. La composizione coreografica di Cindy Van Acker / La composition chorégraphique de Cindy Van Acker / The choreographic composition of Cindy Van Acker, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2015.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons, with analysis and deepening of the concepts treated, guided analysis of the audiovisual works of the theatre, choreographic and installation scene.

Assessment methods

The evaluation of the course will be carried out according to the ways, timing and guidelines established by the course of study. It will be based on an oral interview. Students may also agree with the Lecturer to prepare an essay on the aspects developed within the module. The written text shall be approx 10 pages and shall be provided to the Lecturer one week before the oral test date. Evaluation will be according to the modes, timing and directive set up for the course and will be based on an oral test.

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussing during frontal lectures (only for attending students) as well as those treated in the program's texts. Attending students may, alternatively, present a written work agreed with the teacher.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;

- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;

- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology (30 cum laude and 30).

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology (29-27).

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with the capacity for synthesis and analysis articulated in a correct language, but not always appropriate, will lead to discreet evaluations (26-24).

Gaps in training and/or imprecise language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the examination material - will lead to sufficient marks (23-21).

Training gaps and/or imprecise language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the examination material - will lead to just enough grades (20-18).

Insufficient training, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic material will be evaluated negatively (<18).

Teaching tools

Audiovisual material from theatre, digital archives; platforms and websites.

Office hours

See the website of Enrico Pitozzi