ABC Project plays around an acronym for Arts, Borders and Communities, three main focuses of the activities which together can create an Alphabet of Love.
It is a large project consisting of a complex program of actions aimed to develop cross-border, multidisciplinary artistic activities, in order to experiment and enhance cultural and social practices and methodologies, focusing on the concept and practice of hospitality.
The value and culture of hospitality, in its many forms and traditions, are the foundation of the project where a very rich system of actions is developed based on three fundamental pillars:
- the creation of an international theatre performances trilogy with the participation of performers, dancers, musicians, extended reality experts from all over Europe and inspired by three plays of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes;
- the circulation of the three international productions played in renowned theatres and important archaeological sites in five different countries and the realisation of five Spatial Augmented Reality installations about the involved cities in the five countries;
- the realisation of five International Host Labs (IHL) in five countries consisting of a program of seven months of on-site activities and hospitality of foreign artists and artistic works. Artists are part of a community and in dialogue with the people, they have voices that come from far away, linking the past to the present and creating a dialogue for the future, a voice, an alphabet of love, that can contrast the circle of violence.
These initiatives aim to make the performing arts a concrete tool for building bridges between people, promoting cultural exchange, and demonstrating that peaceful coexistence between peoples is indeed possible.
ABC Project is supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe program and it will run for three years, starting from 2025.
ABC is led by Astràgali Teatro (Italy) and involves a network of European and international partners, including the Grotowski Institute (Poland), the Centre Culturel Aykart (Tunisia), the Fundación de la Danza ‘Alicia Alonso’ and the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain), JU Muzeji i Galerije Podgorice (Montenegro), and the AVR Lab from University of Salento (Italy).
Professor Fabio Tolledi, Artistic Director of Astràgali Teatro, will be directing the productions.
