What is at stake when we put an image of ourselves into circulation? What is this gesture deeply connected with?

Every day, in the open space of the Web, millions of photos are posted through which people attempt to compose an image of their own identity. Places, portraits, selfies create an endless Atlas of the contemporary, almost a modern-day version of the unfinished Atlas of Memory, composed by art historian Aby Warburg at the beginning of the 20th century. Warburg was convinced that archetypes traversed history by embodying themselves in images and, in images, he sought that formula of pathos that would reveal to him the profound spirit that connects our imagination to its origins.

The plates of Bilderatlas Mnemosyne resemble an analogue version of an Instagram profile, in which a constant is sought that connects them together: the photo of a young girl in a club brings the archetype of the Nymph to our day; the analogue photos of a young actor try to recompose the archetype of the Hero.

Circolo Bergman, starting from the personal images of its performers, questions – like Warburg – the presence of archetypes in our time. A modular scenic action, divided into autonomous and interdependent tables, which can be assembled, disassembled and reconstructed in theatrical and non-theatrical spaces, in search of a pervasive Atlas in which the spectator can mirror and multiply himself.

In Italian

concept Paolo Giorgio a project by Sarah Chiarcos Paolo Giorgio Marcello Gori direction Paolo Giorgio original music Marcello Gori staging Circolo Bergman lights Sarah Chiarcos scenographic consultancy Erika Sambiase visual Dario Serio stage photos Jo Fenz production Circolo Bergman texts intimately shared with Sarah Ātman and Alberto Baraghini – first study: IT Festival 2017 – second study: Hors, Teatro Litta, 6-8 October 2017 – third study: Teatro Magro 6 January 2018

Circolo Bergman is a collective composed by: Paolo Giorgio, director and dramaturge; Sarah Chiarcos, dramaturge and responsible for the productions; Marcello Gori, musician, dramaturge, responsible for the sound. It moves between the creation of a repertoire of contemporary dramaturgy and the experimentation in the performative area, declining new writing formats through different media, with a particular interest in site-specific projects. He operates in different territories, starting from live performances and embracing curatorial, exhibition or editorial paths. Depending on the specific nature of each project, the collective is open to collaboration with other professionals (videomakers, curators, artists, critics, actors, performers, dancers), as well as non-professionals. It produced the shows: Werther, o dell’assoluto (2014), La cosa peggiore che possa capitare a un cane (2015), Fondamenta (Teatro Ringhiera, 2015), Calcografia (2016), Macinante (commissioned by Festival Pergine Spettacolo Aperto, 2016), Pergine, via San Pietro 4 (commissioned by Festival Pergine Spettacolo Aperto, 2017).