"Politics of Theatre. Current and Future Transnational Strategies for Building and Improving the Theatrical Experience"

International Conference "Politics of Theatre.
Current and Future Transnational Strategies for Building and Improving
the Theatrical Experience", 28--29 November, 2017

Department of Cultural Heritage and Environment, University of Milan

This international conference will provide a final assessment of the
European Cooperation Project «SENSES: the sensory theatre. New
transnational strategies for theatre audience building»
http://www.sensesproject.eu

The conference will be divided in two sections, in accordance with the
complementary dimensions that play a role in working with the
theatrical audience.

Theatrical Politics: the audience and its scene. The first section
is conceived as a multidisciplinary platform for dialogue among
institutional representatives, theatre professionals and scholars in
philosophy and aesthetics upon the function of the theatre in the
public sphere and the central role of the spectator in the performing
arts. The purpose of this comparison is to outline transnational
strategies for enhancing the theatrical experience. With this aim, the
section will offer a space to examine the relationship between
theatre, spectator and public sphere in the present context of gradual
dematerialization of performance and participation practices. In order
to deepen the perspective of the comparison, which mainly addresses
the contemporary world, a relevant part of the discussion will be
devoted to the historical and intellectual-historical study of
significant cases of theoretical reflection on theatre audience and
its function.

Theatrical Aesthetics: sense and fruition. The second section will
contribute to the aims of the conference by examining the experience
of theatre audiences within the perspective of modern aesthetics.
Since the beginning of the 18th century the popularity of theatre has
attracted the attention of philosophers and critics as a result of
their becoming aware that appealing to the norms of "good taste" is no
longer enough to educate the "tastes" of a wider and more
heterogeneous public. To this aim, the receptive faculties must be
trained in order to increase or attenuate the intensity of sensations.
The experience of the spectator in theatre may serve as a model for
the appreciation of different art forms, such as for instance
painting. On the other hand, a generalization seems to be prevented by
the specific interaction of text, staging and performing that
contribute to the theatrical representation, and by the peculiar
ethical-pedagogical purposes assigned to theatre. The section will
investigate the theoretical premises and the history of the
relationship between the general issue of forming a public taste and
the exemplary case of building the theatrical audience, from the 18th
century all the way down to contemporary theories of reception
aesthetics.

Languages of the conference will be English, Italian and French.