La Götterlehre di Karl Philipp Moritz. Nell’officina del linguaggio mitopoietico degli antichi

The unpublished translation of Götterlehre (1791) by K.Ph. Moritz presents the mythopoietic process of the Ancients by means of the tale of the origins of the numinous and of its ekfrastic structuring into the great mythical representations of the Greek-Roman world. In the background of Moritz’s visit to Italy (1786-1788) and of his fruitful friendship with Goethe, the introductory essay illustrates the theoretical premises of the specific aesthetic itinerary covered by a work of classical mythology conceveid as Dichtung and codified by a very original and universal Sprache der Phantasie, emblematic figural language that refers to the iconic character of the text with the rich repertoire of lithographies based on drawingings by Carstens, inspired by ancient cameos and gems of Lippert’s Dactyliotheca and the Stosch collection.

Somebody or Anybody? Hip-Hop Choreography and the Cultural Economy

Kader Attou’s 2013 hip hop choreography The Roots provides a working context and playing field for a new generation. While hip hop continues to evoke racial, ethnic, or cultural difference in France, as urban concert dance it has allowed dancers of diversity to become ‘somebody’: as professionals working at a National Choreographic Center, their performances enact their integration via dance. But if the dancers are ‘somebody,’ it is because choreography’s figural language allows them to be anybody—to become artists unmarked by their origin, moving through their bodies beyond the ethnic or class labels to a space of self-expression and self-creation. The recognizable hip hop moves anchor the choreography in the language of the banlieues, but the gestures and emotions and abstract narrative stage difference on a stage that is graced with talent, an audience, and institutional support.