ART, ARCHITECTURE AND SPECTACLES IN CLASSIC JAPAN

This course is one of the related subjects offered by the Master’s Degree Programme “Languages and Civilizations of Asia and North Africa” (Curriculum: Japan). The course contributes to the attainment of the teaching goals of the graduate course in the cultural and humanities areas, and includes also the goals of the area of language skills.
The main teaching goals are: to provide an adequate and critical knowledge in reference to the body in Japanese performing arts and to provide fundamental tools for the interpretation of aesthetic texts in relation to it; to introduce aesthetic criteria and technical terms inherent in performing arts between tradition and contemporariness; to develop the judgement faculty and the skills to produce and communicate, both in oral and in written form, the critical and interpretative discourses on the topics of the course.
The interdisciplinary trait of this course will enable students to apply notions acquired in other disciplines and to widen the understanding of the performative aspect and the body in processes of cultural and artistic production, in society and other spheres.

Knowledge and understanding:
- to know and understand the main aspects of issues concerning the body in Japanese performing arts and in aesthetical texts
- to know and understand concepts and tools from the fields of theatre criticism, performance studies and dance studies in a transdisciplinary perspective
- to deepen through the critical analysis of performance and aesthetic texts the knowledge and understanding of historical and social context that may have already been studied in other teachings from different points of view (e.g. historical, literary, religious, anthropological, linguistic, artistic, etc.)
Applying knowledge and understanding:
- to analyse and interpret performing arts and texts by using concepts and critical tools from the fields of performance studies and dance studies
- to critically apply concepts of performance theory to the phenomena examined in this course
- to use bibliographic references in different languages (included Japanese)
- to conduct new and interdisciplinary researches

Making judgements:
- to elaborate critical assessments on the performative and textual phenomena, which are part of the programme, based on well documented and solid argumentations
- to put various types of sources (academic, statistic, alternative) under critical examination within a comparative and transcultural perspective
- to develop original and innovative theories on the topics introduced in this course

Communication:
- to express and elaborate the contents of the programme in written form, in a synthetic and effective way, without depending on automatic, schematic and mnemonic study.

Lifelong learning skills:
- to know how to take notes in an effective way
- to know how to critically integrate the study of different materials (notes, slides, manuals, academic articles, audio-visual sources, web-based and alternative sources)
- to be able to independently examine study materials and topics not covered during the lectures
- to refine the ability to examine study materials in English
- to refine the ability to use the online teaching platform

A good knowledge of oral and written Japanese language (intermediate level) is prefered, but not mandatory.

This course focuses on the body in Japanese performing arts and in the aesthetic texts related to it. The body and performative techniques are considered in a diachronic perspective and particular attention is given to postwar avant-garde practices including butō. Part of the lessons will be dedicated to the study on the body and text in Hijikata Tatsumi and Murobushi Kō, and to the study on the female body. Critical tools to approach the body in a transdisciplinary and transcultural perspective will be provided in reference to methodologies within performance studies and dance studies.

- Centonze, Katja (2018). Aesthetics of Impossibility: Murobushi Kō on Hijikata Tatsumi. Venezia: Cafoscarina.
- Centonze, Katja (ed.) (2010). Avant-Gardes in Japan. Anniversary of Futurism and Butō: Performing Arts and Cultural Practices between Contemporariness and Tradition. Venezia: Cafoscarina.
- Ruperti, Bonaventura (2016). Storia del teatro giapponese, Dall'Ottocento al Duemila, Venezia: Marsilio Editori.
- Ruperti, Bonaventura (2015). Storia del teatro giapponese, Dalle origini all'Ottocento, Venezia: Marsilio Editori.
- Ruperti, Bonaventura (a cura di) (2014). Mutamenti dei linguaggi nella scena contemporanea in Giappone. Venezia: Cafoscarina.
- Eckersall, Peter (2013). Performativity and Event in 1960s Japan: City, Body, Memory. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Online:
- Centonze, Katja (2018). “Vibrations of 11 March 2011 in Japan’s Performance Scene: Yamakawa Fuyuki and the Sound of Radioactivity”. In: Marcella Mariotti, Maria Roberta Novielli, Bonaventura Ruperti, Silvia Vesco (eds.), Rethinking Nature in Post-Fukushima Japan: Facing the Crisis, pp. 105-130. Venezia: Edizioni Ca’Foscari. (open access: https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni/libri/978-88-6969-289-5/vibrations-of-11-march-2011-in-japans-performance -/)
- Centonze, Katja (2017). “Hijikata Tatsumi’s Sabotage of Movement and the Desire to Kill the Ideology of Death”. In: Andrea De Antoni, Massimo Raveri (eds.), Death and Desire in Contemporary Japan: Representing, Practicing, Performing, pp. 203-231. Venezia: Edizioni Ca'Foscari. (open access: https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/en/edizioni/libri/978-88-6969-150-8/hijikata-tatsumis-sabotage-of-movement-and-the-des/ )

The oral examination (15 minutes) will focus on:
a. an argument, chosen by the student, deepening one of the issues presented in this course
b. questions and discussion about the general topics of this course.
The student must show to know the topics of this course, and be able to frame, analyse and comment appropriately and critically the issues.

Conventional lessons and in-class discussions. PowerPoint presentations supported by audio-visual sources, web-based and alternative sources. Presentations and further readings are available on the moodle.unive.it platform.

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development