WEATHER#

January 30, 2021
Presented by Associazione BISSE, La MaMa Umbria International, and Commune di Spoleto in association with CultureHub, Seoul Institute of the Arts, La MaMa, Centro Umbro Residenze Artistiche, VRTY, and Arium
weather-swados.net

Weather is one of the last works composed by American writer, composer, and director Elizabeth Swados on the text of Filippo Consales. The goal of this “dramatic oratorio,” as Swados defined it, is to use music and theater as tools to raise public awareness on urgent issues related to climate change. Originally presented onstage at Teatro Romano in Spoleto, Italy's Festival Dei Due Mondi 2014, WEATHER# is now being produced as an online immersive experience through an international collaboration involving partner organizations and artists from Italy, France, United Kingdom, United States, Korea, and Mexico.

With sounds and rhythms that mix the atmospheres of western music and world music, the composition collects a great variety of stories, scientific descriptions, newscasts and mythological narrations that tell of storms, destructions, rebirth and beauty. This kaleidoscopic vision is a kind of hymn to the force of nature and at the same time a warning that wants to encourage people to reflect on the environmental emergencies that our planet is facing. An alternation of instrumental parts and songs invoke different stories and environments, independent of each other.

The audience watches WEATHER# in an online 360° space, composed of 12 rooms, like the months of the year, each including one song with the related video, animations and a series of references that help contextualize the topic of the songs. Navigating through the online space and interacting with the different visual and musical contents of the opera, the audience uncovers the stories as well as the scientific or cultural references behind those stories.

A SUSTAINABLE PROJECT
The safeguard of the planet is the most important global priority. We are especially reminded about it in this time of crisis and transformation, when communities are forced to face their fragility in front of uncontrollable natural phenomenon. 

In order to contribute to the promotion of a wider awareness on this issues, the project joins forces between Associazione BISSE, La MaMa Umbria International, CultureHub New York City, Los Angeles, and Europe, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Seoul Institute of the Arts, and the Municipality of Spoleto, forming a partnership to produce the online multimedia opera WEATHER#.

The purpose is to use the technology to “heal the distances” that divide us, neutralizing the un-certainties of this time, fostering trust and helping people reconnect with each other and the environment.

In a challenging moment of transformation the artists are entrusted with the ability to reinterpret and elaborate the fears, uncertainties and aspirations of the present, to catalyze new processes already underway and to prepare the ground for a cultural rebirth. Nature teaches us that strong storms can not only bare destruction, but also frees trees from sterile branches, which prevents them from sprouting in new directions with greater vigor. The project “Weather” also hopes to contribute to the development of a new vigor in the Performing Arts. 

MORE THAN JUST AN ART PROJECT
Weather is not only an artistic project, but a path to create a larger community of supporters and collaborators that want to give body and voice to environmental issues. The goal is to be able to involve a broad spectrum of people: artists, activists, experts, researchers, administrators, entrepreneurs, and individual citizens.

Because of its content and unique message, the Municipality of Spoleto, Italy has offered to support financially and logistically “Weather” and to include the project in in the 2030 Agenda ONU for Sustainable Development, as an example of artistic and technological innovation, which can help to minimize the ecological footprint of performing arts productions, while maximizing the outreach and strength of the message. The online performance of “Weather” will receive a sustainability accreditation, through the official certification ISO20121, as per plan goals of the Municipality of Spoleto, that already registered by EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme), the environmental management  agency developed by the European Commission

〈 PROJECTS