THE MYSTERY OF THE ORIGIN

1ST JULY 2018 - 15TH JULY 2018
SPOLETO61 FESTIVAL DEI DUE MONDI

Art and Science are not separate realms. This assertion by Professor Fernando Ferroni, President of the INFN – National Institute for Nuclear Physics, sums up the vision developed by the Carla Fendi Foundation for The Mystery of Origin, a project created for Spoleto61 Festival dei Due Mondi. Two exhibitions and a series of stage interventions at the Caio Melisso Carla Fendi Theatre brought creativity and reason, consciousness and knowledge, into a shared dialogue. Contemporary culture is now intrinsically shaped by the interweaving of art, creativity, spirituality, and scientific knowledge. Yet the dialogue between science and art has ancient roots, developed across East and West, between mysticism and the human need for rational understanding. The Mystery of Origin explored these themes through a theatrical performance at the Caio Melisso Carla Fendi theatre, directed by Quirino Conti, and through two installations, Science and Myths and Transfigurations.

 

Contemporary culture is now intrinsically shaped by the interweaving of art, creativity, spirituality, and scientific knowledge. Yet the dialogue between science and art has ancient roots, developed across East and West, between mysticism and the human need for rational understanding. The Mystery of Origin explored these themes through a theatrical performance at the Caio Melisso Carla Fendi Theatre, directed by Quirino Conti, and through two installations, Science and Myths and Transfigurations. On stage, following a motet for children’s voices set to music by Kurt Weill, excerpts from Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht and Galileo’s original Abjuration, pronounced in 1633, were performed by Massimo Popolizio alongside Alberto Onofrietti. These two pieces stand for a perfect common ground between confessional knowledge and scientific inquiry. The lineup continued with A Sense of Wonder, an inedited video by Gabriele Gianni, produced by the Carla Fendi Foundation as a tribute to Stephen Hawking, one of the most eminent scientific figures of our time. The presentation was further enriched by the moving onstage testimony of his daughter Lucy Hawking, who shared her personal story and spoke about her latest book, George’s Secret Key to the Universe. Classical scholar Silvia Ronchey captured the deeper meaning behind the two installations connected to the project: Science, set in the former Baptistery of the Manna d’Oro, and Myths and Transfigurations, housed in the former Civic Museum. Through these works, she traced the dialogue between mythological and scientific interpretations of the universe. The futuristic musical interlude offered the audience the unexpected sounds of the Ensemble Hope, which explores electronic-acoustic technologies through instruments of new creative invention, including the water organ.

 

 

THE MYSTERY OF THE ORIGIN - SCIENCE

 

The Carla Fendi Foundation produced an immersive installation in close collaboration with the INFN – National Institute for Nuclear Physics – and CERN – European Organization for Nuclear Research – presented in the former Baptistery of the Manna d’Oro during Spoleto61 Festival dei Due Mondi. The work forms part of a broader series of events connected to the project The Mystery of Origin and traces, on a rigorously scientific basis, the history of our universe.

THE MYSTERY OF THE ORIGIN - MYTHS AND TRASFIGURATIONS

 

Myths and Transfigurations is an installation set up in the Lucrezia Borgia armory, formerly the Civic Museum of Spoleto, as part of the project The Mystery of Origin, produced by the Carla Fendi Foundation for Spoleto61 Festival dei Due Mondi. Precious East Asian schists (2nd–4th century AD) from the Gandhara region are presented alongside classical Occidental marbles from the Greco-Roman period. A historical and artistic journey that explores and compares ancient cosmogonies.

 

RELATED CONTENT