The Project Noh Theatre at the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice: Collections, Practices, and Digital Heritage is promoted and supported by the Fondazione Scuola del Patrimonio e delle Attività Culturali, the implementing body of Sub-investment 1.1.6, "Training and Enhancement of Digital Skills"—publicly communicated as "Dicolab. Cultura al Digitale"—within the framework of the Culture 4.0 National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR – M1C3 – Digital Strategies and Platforms for Cultural Heritage). The initiative supports the planning, development, and delivery of training, dissemination, information, and research activities, both online and in person, aimed at fostering the digital transition of the cultural heritage sector.
In April 2025, following a public call for expressions of interest, the Museum of Oriental Art requested that the Fondazione Scuola del Patrimonio e delle Attività Culturali establish a research fellowship dedicated to the study and public accessibility of its collection of Japanese folding screens. The Department of the Arts at the University of Bologna submitted a proposal for a project focused on the study and enhancement of works connected to the practice of Noh theatre preserved in the Museum's collection. The project was conceived and is coordinated by Matteo Casari on behalf of the Department and Marta Boscolo Marchi on behalf of the Museum, in collaboration with Diego Pellecchia (Kyoto Sangyo University). The project tutors are Marco Milani, Elisa de Concini, and Linda Rosin. The selected research fellow is Laura Ghezzi.
Through the cataloguing and analysis of the works, the project has explored the relationship between Noh theatre and the traditional arts of Japan, highlighting how characters, episodes, and motifs drawn from the theatrical repertoire have shaped objects, artefacts, and practices of Japanese material culture.
The research activities included the revision of existing catalogue records, the digitisation and updating of information relating to the works, the creation of new catalogue entries, historical and iconographic research on the represented subjects, and the development of thematic pathways dedicated to Noh theatre and its presence within Japanese culture.
The results of this research have been incorporated into the General Catalogue of Cultural Heritage (Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali).
This site collects many of the museums and art collections in Italy, including the collection of the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice (the site is only in Italian).
(The site is only in Italian)