THEATRE-SCIENCE PROJECT
The setting of the theatre laboratory can open fruitful and engaging spaces of elaboration on the impact of specific areas of scientific knowledge on individuals and societies, or on core aspects that scientific research shares with the arts (creativity, values, social dynamics, symbolic aspects).
These two goals can be achieved by exploring the symbolic imagery that the sciences evoke through physical training; by engaging with scientific issues that have an impact at the individual and societal levels – such as ethical, environmental, and identity ones – through improvisations or scene creation; or again by drawing on a wide range of materials, such as scientific texts, science-inspired literature, scientific audio-visual materials, historical episodes, scientific instruments, etc. as sources of inspiration for creating physical scores, improvisations, and other performance-based narratives.
Sarvàn Teater organises theatre workshops and laboratories aimed at engaging with topics, materials and imagery from the sciences for different purposes:
- Pedagogical purposes, such as investigating topics of social interest linked to scientific research (like climate change and its implications on an ethical, social and political level) with a group; or guiding a class of students into the exploration of a complex topic, such as the concept of human nature, that has biological, psychological and social implications at the same time.
- Creative purposes, for instance developing performances inspired by the history, issues, and imagery of the sciences and, more specifically, site-specific performances in buildings or locations that have strong connections with episodes in the history of science and medicine.
- Popularisation purposes, such as developing workshop formats suitable for contexts already engaged in science popularisation (e.g., museums, science festivals, etc.) and that can contribute to exploring a specific theme (e.g. a particular scientific experiment, a specific technological development) as a central inspiration for thatre activities; or providing budding scientists and researchers with creative tools to explore the broader connections and the impact of their own scientific results.