Gioele Colombo

In the context of Venice and the Adriatic Sea where the Theatre of the World is settled, Aldo Rossi employs archetypal forms attempting to re-establish a connection with the collective memory of the site.

Back in the 18th century, floating structures, of peculiar formal semplicity and bold colors, were popular during carnivals. In this manner, these theatres performed as an identitarian ritual in which the society feels representes and represents itself to the world. Their representative function acts therefore a dispositif through which Venice places itself in the contemporaneity. And that is what the Theatre of the World attempts to achieve in its modern times.

For this reason, the replacement of Theatre of the World in a new location on the North Sea requires an attempt to identify what specific identitarian function allows a different society to feel represented and to represent itself to the World - in the same way the Theatre did for Venice. Where is it possible to find - in the words of Rossi - the collective memory of the changed location?

As carrier of cultural and historical value, the collective memory has to do with the way the community synthetizes its character in front of the World. In particular, in its close relation with the sea, that, even if in different manners, enables the existance of communities on land.
Every year, the Republic of Venice marries the Sea in order to secure good condition for all the activities happening on the territory. Venetians are not born from the sea and so they need a ritual to ensure their coexistance.

The way communities interact with the North Sea could assumes a slightly different nature.
Back in the time, the Vikings dominated the Sea. However, they were born from the sea, they are meerschaum (Schmitt), and thus there no need for a marriage. They arise from the Sea and in the Sea they die, as their funeral rites wanted, on a boat that symbolizes a safe passage into the afterlife.

At the same time, the Southern section of the North Sea cannot share the theatre as a floating public event such as in the Republic of Venice. Living on the coasts of the North Sea, such communities were gathered by a need of protection against the cruelty of water. There is no theatre that allows them to feel represented, but rather a sense of union in a common fight for life.