ARTISTIC RESEARCH: THRILLING JOURNEY/SOFT LANDINGS 2020
“Thrilling Journey/Soft Landings” is the new program by Workspace Ricerca X, a project founded in 2015 committed to making a culture of artistic research in Italy emerge, a growing phenomenon producing new knowledge.
Among the distinguishing elements of the project are a strong multidisciplinary approach and a sharp focus on discursivity around dance, as a bridge between theory and practice, academic discourse and performative work. During this edition we will further elaborate on the discussion about which results the artistic research produces, in terms of methodologies and formats of sharing.
In this respect we want to highlight once again the dialogue between research sectors, a dialogue based on some intersections and just as many differences. This discussion acquires more consistency in light of a recent national legislative action: on the 25th of February 2020 some amendments to the Decree Law 09.01.2020, signed by Senator Russo, were approved (the Decree divided the previous Ministry of Education, University and Research into two separate Ministries). We particularly point out the explicit addition of “artistic research on par of scientific and technological research” to the primary functions of the new Ministry of University and Research.
Through this perspective we ask which are the existent places and which are the contexts that we can prefigure for the development and strengthening of artistic research in Italy. Which kind of relation can we identify between academic, institutional environments and independent projects?
The theme of basic research, led through an artistic practice, has a rigour and a specificity that translates into a methodological reflection, opening grounds for political, aesthetic and epistemological discussion. These are relevant to the artist, the context and the wider political and institutional ecosystem. Basic research interfaces three sectors: higher education with institutional PhDs, plannings of cultural, choreographic and museum centres, and grass-rooted, independent projects like Workspace Ricerca X. Recognizing the role of the artist-researcher means creating new professional perspectives within the art field, contributing to the innovation and the transmission of produced knowledge.
Another key point we want to go back to is dance dramaturgy. This is clearly a highly relevant topic in the current European context, a topic Ricerca X was somehow forerunner of, with the Symposium Re:search Dance Dramaturgy held in December 2016. Dramaturgical function and middle dramaturgy will be central in the residency work with the tutors – Bart Van Den Eynde and Carlotta Scioldo – and with the artists invited for this edition: Elisabetta Consonni, Mirko Guido, Sara Manente, together with the curatorial team – Erika Di Crescenzo, Francesco Dalmasso, Ambra Pittoni, Elisa D’Amico.
Within this framework, in order to reach the above-listed goals, with the support of Piemonte dal Vivo/Lavanderia a Vapore, we will organize one research residency (9>28 September 2020), one workshop on dance dramaturgy open to anyone interested , and a series of lecture performances and events during the year 2020, under the title “Thrilling Journey/Soft Landings”.