Science and Humanity, “Operation Galileo”

What do we know about the relationship between science and humanity? Starting from this fundamental question, the program “Processo Galileo” (presented this morning at a press conference in Lugano) was designed and built, because it was inspired by the history of the physicist, astronomer, philosopher, mathematician, writer and academic who lived in By the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it became possible Getting an idea of ​​the question and understanding the mechanics of this relationship has never been so easy.

an introduction

Although this article is devoted to the production of the show—which he wrote co-written with Angela Dematti and Fabrizio Senesi, under the dual supervision of Andrea De Rosa and Carmelo Refsi—and to his performance, we can’t ignore some annotations on Galileo Galilei’s character. We jump from his birth in 1564 in Pisa to 1604, when the scholar began to support the heliocentric and the Copernican system, in which the Earth is not at the center of the universe, but goes around the sun, although it follows a fixed orbit. A thesis backed by empirical observations allowed by an essential instrument that sees the light of the era: the telescope. Galileo would build one in 1609. Seven years later, it was reported to the Holy Inquisition. In 1632 he published A Dialogue Over the Two Maximum Orders which, the following year, sentenced him to trial in the Holy Office (he was impatient with Pope Urban VIII). Although ostracized, he would live out the last years of his life under “house arrest” in Eritrea, where he would die in 1642 (not before he published “Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations on Two New Flags” in Holland).

on the scene

“Processo Galileo” – production of Lac, Teatro Piedmont Europa, Emilia Romagna Teatro / Teatro Nazionale – will premiere on November 7 in Lake Lugano (20.30), with replicas on November 8 and 9 (same time now). So the show’s tour will cross the border in the following weeks, hitting some theaters in northern Italy.

Inspired by the life and work of the father of modern science (but we already wrote it), the show—among others with Luca Lazzareschi and Milvia Marigliano—is divided into three acts, or rather three stories, as shown at the press conference. The first, presented in the past, is based on philology and originally has historical documents of Galilei (materials from the trial, correspondence with Cardinal Bellarmine, text of denial …), the first act that puts different themes on the canvas: the relationship between science and power, tradition and conscience, But also the question of the inseparability of the scientific-technical apparatus. The second story takes place in the present day, and its heroine is a young woman, a mother and an intellectual (they write in the director’s notes), “invited to tell in a popular magazine” a new paradigm set by science. In the final chapter, we look to the future and organize a court…” Three series corresponding to the many processes that – in different languages ​​and modes of expression – investigate the destinies and questions of the contemporary world and what we now call ‘modernity’, from excerpts from the director’s notes.

Tale: Genesis

Let’s take a step back and go back to the genesis of this work (“difficult to tell and complex”) that opens the season dedicated to the relationship between science and the performing arts, which is reduced in twelve events under the focus of “Light of Shadow” (the title of the entire season). During the show, De Rosa and Revici immediately said that: the presence of a duo of directors, in the theater, is an extraordinary fact. But this duo was born by chance. Both were working – in a separate way – in a show about the relationship between man and the world, in short, on projects that were very similar to each other. Once connected, they realize their “duality”: so one of them had to give up. But there was another option: to work together. So it was and from there that an “unprecedented form of brotherhood” arose.

Finally, here are the cultural mediation proposals always under the central theme of the season, which aim to respond to the necessity of investigation and inform the relationship between humanity and science. Among the thirteen dates from next November to March 2023, we would like to refer a couple, in reference to this and other information, as well as to the pre-sale of tickets for the show, to the website www.luganolac.ch. On Tuesday, November 8, at 6.30 pm, the Teatro Sala will host a meeting with the directors of “Processo Galileo”, who will explain the novelties in production and creative methods in today’s theater scene. And again, Wednesday 9, the “Story Drawn. Stories that Tell and Move” workshop is for children (4-7 years old; 2.30 pm) and youth (8-11 years old, 1615 hours) in the Atelier.