Iconography of Japanese Performative Arts

The teaching aims to offer to the students reading and comprehension tools of the music, theatre and more in general of the Japanese performative arts world through their visual representations. Considering the strong influence that Japanese culture and its philosophy had and continue to have on Western thought and artistic production, the course will identify the main categories of performative arts and their characteristics (aesthetic concepts and symbolic values linked to gesture, space, costumes, stage objects) by analyzing artistic and historical materials and assimilating the specific terminology. Students will reach the capacity to identify the several forms of performative arts and their main iconographic materials, and the acquaintance of basic aesthetic concepts useful for a better understanding of Western music and theatre developments and productions contaminated by Japanese performing arts.

Knowledge of the principal forms of performative arts of Japan and their main characteristics; capacity of analysis of iconographic references and acquaintance with an adequate Japanese/English terminology in the field.