La Convention for safeguarding of intangible Cultural Heritage, firmata a Parigi il 17 ottobre 2003, nella sezione dedicata alle “Arti dello Spettacolo” (Article 2 – Definitions), afferma che: «The performing arts range from vocal and instrumental music, dance and theatre to pantomime, sung verse and beyond. They include numerous cultural expressions that reflect human creativity and that are also found, to some extent, in many other intangible cultural heritage domains».
La Convezione estende la sua tutela anche a beni materiali quali, ad esempio, strumenti, oggetti, testi, costumi e spazi intimamente connessi alla creazione e alla realizzazione degli spettacoli e/o degli eventi performativi. Salvaguardare questo patrimonio mondiale significa apportare miglioramenti nelle infrastrutture, formando in modo adeguato personale e istituzioni per la loro conservazione. Nel documento si evidenzia, inoltre, come: «Cultural media, institutions and industries can also play a crucial role in ensuring the viability of traditional forms of performing arts by developing audiences and raising awareness amongst the general public».
A questi principi s’ispira la nascente rivista, aperta a investigare e ad accogliere studi ed esperienze su un patrimonio culturale, che abbiamo il diritto e il dovere di tutelare e tramandare.
Di esso esistono innumerevoli beni conservati, ma non ancora archiviati o catalogati, che attendono di essere valorizzati e studiati. Per non parlare delle testimonianze degli spettacoli disseminate in raccolte pubbliche e private, studiate in base al loro settore specifico di appartenenza e per questo motivo defraudate della loro origine comune.
L’interesse suscitato nell’opinione pubblica attraverso esposizioni temporanee e permanenti, dedicate alle arti dello spettacolo, non trova un’analoga accoglienza negli studi museologici che cominciano, solo ora, a muovere i primi passi in questo terreno inesplorato. Le nuove tecnologie dell’informazione applicate ai beni culturali sono attratte dalle infinite possibilità che le arti dello spettacolo possono offrire: stanno nascendo musei virtuali e le prime ricostruzioni 3D di messinscene storiche nell’intento di attirare l’interesse di un pubblico sempre più vasto ed eterogeneo e di diffondere le conoscenze tutelando l’eredità del passato, che è il nostro presente.
L’internazionalismo delle arti, che nel 1920 Vasilij Kandinskij accarezzava sperando che un giorno alle parole ‘Oriente’ e ‘Occidente’ sarebbe stata sostituita la parola ‘lontananza’, oggi è prassi quotidiana perché nel villaggio globale in cui viviamo, collegandoci in Internet, nulla è più vicino di ciò che è lontano. Ed è per tale motivo che il dialogo su ricerche, studi, scoperte, tentativi falliti e sogni da realizzare è una necessità per eliminare incomprensioni e fratture, congiungendo attraverso la meravigliosa lingua onnicomprensiva delle arti ogni espressione dell’attività pratica e teorica nei diversi campi dell’esperienza umana.
Per questo motivo il Comitato Scientifico ed Editoriale di artidellospettacolo-perfomingarts conta soprattutto presenze di studiosi di nazioni diverse.
La rivista artidellospettacolo-perfomingarts nasce con questi propositi e si fonda su questi principi.
The members of the General Conference of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural organization (UNESCO) have adopted the adjective “intangible” to describe, among the many world-wide cultural expressions that must be safeguarded, also that of the Performing Arts.
The Convention for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, signed in Paris on 17 October 2003, in the section dedicated to the “Performing Arts” (Article 2 – Definitions), states: «The performing arts range from vocal and instrumental music, dance and theatre to pantomime, sung verse and beyond. They include numerous cultural expressions that reflect human creativity and that are also found, to some extent, in many other intangible cultural heritage domains».
The Convention extends its protection also to material goods such as instruments, objects, texts, costumes and spaces intimately connected to the creation and realization of stage productions and/or performances. Safeguarding this world heritage means improving the infrastructures and providing an adequate formation to the institutions and to the personnel responsible for its preservation. The document also highlights how: «Cultural media, institutions and industries can also play a crucial role in ensuring the viability of traditional forms of performing arts by developing audiences and raising awareness amongst the general public».
This new journal is inspired by these principles and is ready to investigate and welcome studies and experiences related to the cultural heritage, which it is our right and duty to preserve and transmit to future generations.
Of this heritage, many goods are extant but they have not yet been recorded or catalogued and are waiting to be evaluated and studied. These do not include records of performances scattered in public and private collections that have been studied in relation to their specific field and therefore overlooking their original common context.
The interest aroused in public opinion through temporary and permanent exhibitions dedicated to the performing arts has not received a similar acceptance in museum studies that are only now taking their first steps into this unexplored field. The new information technologies applied to the cultural heritage are attracted by the endless opportunities offered by the performing arts: the newly born virtual museums and the first 3D reconstructions of historical stage productions aim at attracting the interest of an ever larger and more heterogeneous public, and at disseminating knowledge, thereby protecting our past which is also our present.
The internationalization of the arts, dreamt of by Vasilij Kandinskij in 1920, in the hope that one day the word “distance” would take the place of the terms “East” and “West” is at present a part of everyday life because, in our global village, whenever we surf the internet nothing is closer than that which is far away. For this reason, a dialogue on research, study projects, discoveries, failed attempts, and yet unfulfilled dreams is necessary in order to eliminate misunderstanding and division. This can be effected by using the wonderful, all-embracing language of the arts to bring together every expression of practical and theoretical activity in the various fields of human experience.
For this reason the Scientific and Editorial Committee of the journal artidellospettacolo-perfomingarts mainly relies on contributions by scholars from different countries.
The journal artidellospettacolo-perfomingarts has been conceived with these purposes and is founded on these principles.