Finalmente pronta la presentazione dello spettacolo con cui aprirò #Mesmerized!, la serie di eventi ospitati presso l’Università di Warwick e organizzati da Fabio Camilletti, Liz Turner, Alessandra Aloisi e Martina Piperno. Eccola in anteprima.

-

Right from its very name, the cultural project of Enlightment is based on expressions referring to light: “illuminer”, “rayonner”, “éclairer”. Albeit this program, 18th-century Europe offers an ecological niche in which charlatans, magicians and necromancers can flourish. “Magnetism” is the password granting the access to the Otherworld. Into the streets and in royal palaces, the magnetic properties of the stones are exploited by conjurers in ingenious forms; Pinetti’s mechanical automata show an intelligent behaviour, Cagliostro manipulates magic mirrors, Robertson projects ghosts on the smoke and Mesmer even postulates the existence of an “animal magnetism”. Long before the contemporary discussion on the concept of “post-truth”, newspapers feature inflamed debates on the very nature of reality: before such amazing phenomena, a line between reality and illusion can still be traced?

Mariano Tomatis’ lecture-show brings back to life scientists and magicians of the 18th century through their objects, their stories and their tricks, focusing on the long shadow projected by them on our contemporary society. “Mesmerized!” philologically reproduces a 18th-century demonstration in amusing physics, intertwined with an analysis of the rhetorical and mechanical techniques “behind the curtains”. Among talking skulls and magic lanterns, X-ray glasses and rising cards, spectators will take part to an educated and wonderful journey into the dark side of Enlightment.

domenica 26 marzo 2017, 9 anni fa · Questo post è stato liberato da Meta e trasferito su un blog personale, al riparo da ogni tracciamento.