Milano Genius 2021

After the Italian Design Day 2019 in Osaka and its focus on design as an instrument for urban redevelopment and creative expression, our Milano Genius 2019 produced by Italian Institute of Culture in Osaka, continues to propose high quality content through a variety of cultural events concerning Contemporary Art, Theatre and Food in the months to follow.

More specifically, in April (on April 12^th)  the attention will be on the performance of Mistero Buffo, theatrical representation by Dario Fo and Franca Rame that, thanking collaboration with Italian Institute of Culture of Osaka will be reinterpreted at the Osaka Central Public Hall (municipality of the city) by theatrical company Fronda Anomala thanks to an innovative prospective that merges performative evolution and continuity.

The famous play by Fo and Rame recalls a tradition during which jesters used to wander from a city to another to narrate engaging stories with the aim of breaking, in some ways, traditional bonds connected to linguistic diversity while addressing an ever-changing audience too: rich and poor people, with different origins and traditions.  

The theatrical company Fronda Anomala, formed by Elisa Pistis, Diego Coscia and Lorenzo Tolusso, will interpret this old practice once again, with great energy but especially with an important moral to impart: bringing current messages to the public through universal and old stories.

The result of this recipe is a performance that not only entertains and moves the audience, but also makes people reflect through the simple use of hyperbolic language, mimic and gesture but, at the same time, avoiding the use of massive theatre props.

Another key factor that makes this representation so innovative is the way in which communication is conceived. As a result, Mistero Buffo by Fronda Anomala plays with different languages, from Piedmontese and Sardian to non-existing languages. However, the audience still perceives central concepts and feelings; the magic expressed by the actors will in fact  help them to prevent the main message of the play from being damaged. 

The location,bchosen for the representation by Italian Institute of Culture in Osaka, is another element that seems anything but random. Being the municipality of the city, this building represents a symbol for the entire Osaka (alongside Osaka’s castle) and it is often used to host cultural, artistic and social activities that help both visitors and performers to dedicate time and passion to culture.

Given such premises, Milano Genius 2019 continues its successful journey among culture, creativity and innovation. All that’s left to do now is wait and discover what is yet to come.

The municipality of Milan has granted Milano Genius 2019 its patronage, as an important and stimulating event that fosters occasions of comparison and cultural exchange between Osaka and Milan, whose strong bond of sister cities is further strengthened because of EXPO 2015 (in Milan) and 2025 (in Osaka).

Milano Genius is entirely supported by the Italian Institute of Culture in Osaka and co – ordinated by Asian Studies Group in Italy but, with the recent recognition from the municipality that officially supports and believes in its effectiveness,  it officially presents itself as an opportunity to enhance the privilege of the city in a foreign country like Japan.

Now what surprises the most is not only the concession of the patronage with which an authority like the Municipality of Milan has decided to support our project, but also the fact that the event will not physically take place in the Italian territory but in Japan.

As a result, according to the guidelines of the Municipality in terms of patronage concession, the municipal patronage can be granted in case of social, cultural, educational, scientific or touristic events that are able to promote the general image of the city within the international scenario.

Events like these should also prove to be socially relevant in terms of the history and the traditions of the city or to strengthen national and international relationships in different fields involved in their realization.

Consequently, such events are seen as opportunities that can significantly contribute to the growth and the enhancement of the local community, its reputation and its products.  

Exceptions to this rule are rare since they require a complicated procedure in order to  successfully obtain the patronage and only occur when the event does not physically occur in Milan but its realization still strongly benefits the city.

One of the very few antecedents that we can take as an example is that of the Leosphere, the wooden sphere inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s studies installed in Chicago in 2018 in occasion of the 45^th anniversary of the twinning status between Chicago and Milan.

As for Milano Genius, the cultural advantages that this manifestation can bring to Milan are numerous and enclose multiple artistic fields.

In fact, many events will take place in internationally- known locations such as the Osaka City Hall, the Knowledge Salon or the Swissôtel. Furthermore, the entire project focuses on the city of Milan and deals with Italian artists and performers, whose artistic, creative, photographic contents regard Milan as their primary object of promotion.

In the following months Milano Genius 2019 will have to prove its full potential through a variety of events and exhibitions during which selected artists will allowed to gain recognition and visibility in a foreign context but always representing the essence of their local culture, what creative contents Milan creates in fields like Art, Design, Performing Arts and Photography in the name of innovation and cultural exchange.

Being Milan the city of great working opportunities and cultural development, it is easy to understand why fields like design, theater, music and performative arts of any kind are so important to allow people to appreciate not only their culture, but also foreign ones.

Given this positive framework, 2019 has been envisioned a great year in terms of cultural exchange among countries with very different traditions, with the aim of investigating lifestyles far from ours.

This is surely the case of Italy and Japan, that will merge their habits this upcoming year, thanks to our project named Milano Genius 2019,  already introduced as framework co-supported by Switch on Your Creativity (the 6th edition), promoted and developed by the Italian Institute of Culture in Osaka in collaboration with Asian Studies Group as Milan located and partnered organisation.

These two municipalities are not stranger to each other: both of them are in fact cities of EXPO (Milan in 2015 and Osaka in 2025) and they also share the status of sister cities. Milano Genius undoubtedly is a further opportunity for these countries to promote Italian artists, such as musicians, actors, dancers and artists in a series of events and cultural exhibitions between the months February and June.

An additional aspect of the project is that it aims to be developed in different locations around Osaka, from traditional theaters to more unconventional settings like museums, halls and universities. Here arts, culture and innovation will reach the so called “merging point”, where cultural boundaries of both countries will join to celebrate the essence of culture everywhere and in every form, thanks to a communication system that involves emotions and goes beyond the linguistic aspect.