The culture of Emilia-Romagna in the world in 2021
The pandemic continued to strongly affect the world of culture in 2021. The annual account of Emilia-Romagna’s activities abroad shows numbers slightly higher than those of the ‘terrible’ year 2020 – small numbers when compared to the pre-pandemic data, but which nevertheless confirm an extensive presence of the artistic production of this territory in many Countries around the world, also thanks to the creation of specific artistic projects for the digital stage.
224 events took place in 138 cities of 46 Counties, on all continents.
They are performing arts, music, dance, cinema, exhibitions, lectures, meetings, workshops, promotional events organized by Emilia-Romagna Region.
France, Spain, Germany, India, United States –in that order– are the countries which hosted the largest number of events (but Africa, Oceania, and South America were also reached).
- Theatre
The primacy of theatre is confirmed, with 97 events in 64 cities of 25 Counties on all continents – shows in presence and streamed, web performance series, workshops and meetings, even remotely.
The 'live' activities took place mainly in Europe (in 15 Countries, above all France, Spain, Germany, Sweden) but also in Asia (in 5 Countries, India and Indonesia, in particular) and in Africa (Senegal), while streaming allowed to reach South America (Argentina, Peru) and Australia.
Among the most active companies: Romeo Castellucci’s Societas on tour in Europe; ERT and Pippo Delbono on tour in Europe and Turkey; Teatro Due Mondi on a long tour in Germany and Poland; Teatro Gioco Vita which, besides three shows on tour in Europe, carried the magics of its shadow theatre at EXPO 2020 Dubai; Teatro dei Venti with the memorable tour of the show Moby Dick in the Balkan Countries; Teatro delle Ariette with three shows on tour in France.
Intense activity by Instabili Vaganti company: the ‘Beyond Borders” interdisciplinary project – conceived during the lockdown and characterized by an innovative ‘remote collaboration’ with artists from around the world – has been enriched with 4 new web performance series, two of which dedicated to Dante on the 700th anniversary of his death: Video Dante # India and Video Dante # Indonesia. A new show also was born from the project: Lockdown Memory. After the international debut in Sweden, it was performed in India on a tour including the creation of the performance Dante Beyond Borders, which staged the work made in video in VideoDante #India.
Teatro delle Albe’s activities are also part of the Dante 700 Celebration – in Africa, above all, with the Dante in Wolof project on the occasion of the 21st Week of the Italian Language in the World taking place in the sign of Dante – and of the Emilia-Romagna Region’s cultural programme at EXPO 2020 Dubai.
Moreover, Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari made the Italian version of the audiobook produced by the MAECI Dalla selva oscura al Paradiso, presenting select passages from the Divine Comedy in thirty-three languages.
Last but not least, international prizes and recognitions are linked to theatre: “Honorary Award” to Pippo Delbono at the 25th Istanbul Theatre Festival; the French national association critics (Syndicat Professionnel de la critique de theatre, de musique et de danse) awarded Aristophane dans les banlieues by Marco Martinelli (the French version of Aristofane a Scampia) as “Best Book on Theatre”.
- Dance
42 events in 34 cities of 17 Countries, almost all in Europe.
Aterballetto, besides two performances on tour in France and Germany, carried the new MicroDanze project in Greece and Belgium (stages of the wider “An Ideal City” project shared with Les Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels and the Greek National Opera in Athens and co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union); Michele Merola’s MM Contemporary Dance Company was on tour in Spain; Monica Casadei’s Artemis Danza performed the new work Dante Solo Inferno in France, Canada, and United States, while another video-dance project also dedicated to Dante was proposed in Tunisia, Indonesia, India, besides Canada and United States.
- Cinema
28 events in 24 cities of 17 Countries, mainly in Europe and North America.
Among them, retrospectives and screenings dedicated to Fellini on the 100th anniversary of his birth –the Celebrations having been extended to 2021–, and many screenings linked to the Dante 700 Celebrations that, in particular, proposed the original version of L'Inferno, the first feature film of Italian cinema, restored by the Cineteca di Bologna, and the documentary The Sky over Kibera by Marco Martinelli, the story of a ‘Dantesque’ experience done with 150 teenagers of one of the biggest African slums.
There were also tributes to Bernardo Bertolucci, another world’s most-loved director from Emilia-Romagna.
- Music
13 events in 13 cities of 11 Countries, mainly in Europe but also in Colombia, Tunisia, Turckey, and Armenia.
Yerevan was the destination of the Ravenna Festival’s traditional concert The Roads of Friendship conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti, with the world premiere of Purgatorio by Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian – a work commissioned by Ravenna Festival on the occasion of the 32nd edition dedicated to Dante (an event included into the Emilia-Romagna Region’s promotional actions).
Accademia Bizantina is confirmed as the most active orchestra abroad, with concerts in France, Germany, and Turkey.
- Exhibitions and multimedia installations
16 events in 16 cities of 13 Countries, plus further 21 exhibitions included in the Emilia-Romagna Region’s promotional activities (outlined in the concerning paragraph), which bring to a total of 37 events in 36 cities of 26 Countries.
Among the exhibitions to be mentioned, the important ones dedicated to Giorgio Morandi in Spain and Brazil, with the Museo Morandi in Bologna as exclusive or main lender of the works.
Among the installations, 7 different works by fuse* art studio in Turkey, United States, Finland, Spain.
- Conferences, meetings
They are only three, in France and United States.
Of particular interest, the important appointment in Paris curated by Fondazione Giorgio Bassani and Italian Cultural Institute: Giorgio Bassani poeta, an international conference and a literary evening attended by Italian and foreign academics, and presentation of the new edition by the Cahiers de l'Hôtel de Galliffet of the French translation of some poems by Bassani.
- Promotional activities by Emilia-Romagna Region
25 events in 24 cities of 17 Countries, mainly in Europe but also in Asia, Africa, South America.
They are for the most part exhibition activities. The exhibition dedicated to Fellini, made in co-operation with the Centro Cinema Città di Cesena, was hosted in France, Croatia, and United States. The ones dedicated to the “Italian Excellence” of children’s illustration, made with Bologna Children’s Book Fair, were related to Rodari 100 Celebrations (these too extended to 2021) and above all to “The New Generation of Italian Children’s Illustrators”, a project shared with the Ministry of Foreign Affair and International Cooperation (MAECI), with 10 stages in Romania, Germany, The Netherlands, China, Tunisia, Mexico.
A focus on the projects promoted by Emilia-Romagna Region within the Dante 700 in the World celebration programme: 32 events in 16 cities of 10 Countries.
The theatre, dance, music performances and cinema proposals mainly involved the aforementioned Teatro delle Albe, Instabili Vaganti, Artemis Danza, Cineteca di Bologna. Due to the pandemic, one of the most important projects of the programme – Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari’s Dante in the five continents, produced by the MAECI with the support by Emilia-Romagna Region, the Municipality of Ravenna, and the Dante Celebrations Committee – was postponed to the subsequent years.
The cultural proposals by Emilia-Romagna Region at EXPO 2020 Dubai are also noteworthy.
In November, Teatro Gioco Vita opened the national project on puppetry arts and theatre animation presented by the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC) with the performance The Firebird and the workshop on contemporary shadow theatre “Immaterial Art”.
In January 2022, other events have been scheduled: a tribute to Dante with Teatro delle Albe's film fedeli d’Amore, the virtual and immersive dance by Aterballetto Virtual Dance for Real People, the successful exhibition “Italian Excellence”, and the Design is Everyday project, on the design put at the service of everyday life and human health.
The activities were made thanks to the precious co-operation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation’s network of diplomatic and cultural Representations and the participation of ATER Fondazione.