THE ANIMATE PROJECT

ANIMATE investigates the spectacles staged at the Savoy court in Turin during the lifetime of the regent Christine of Bourbon-France (1606-1663) through an art historical and cross-disciplinary approach, situating them into the global contest of changes of the early modern era. The analysis focuses on the large commemorative drawings that reanimate the dynamic movements of the dancers, the transformations of materials and diverse environments – local and from the world – staged in twelve events, which were devised to promote the Savoy court and its trading interests to European audiences. These elaborate performances will be construed as a critical laboratory for thinking through the complexities of early modern global forces, the economic circulation they incited and the consequences on the landscapes they impacted. ANIMATE unfolds between the Art History Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (2022 and 2023) and the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna (2024).