[ WHAT ]

WISE faces the existential problem of people over 65, who have been actively involved in the society and its history, and are now compelled by their age and the new social structures to accept a marginal and isolated position in society. To help them discover new possibilities in their life’s condition, we have developed a process of care through practices borrowed from the scenic and performative arts with a philosophical approach. The participants will get acquainted with narrative techniques. Dialogue training will prepare them for interview situations and discussions. With the last step participants will re-create their own biography telling their story as a theatrical narration. The dramaturgic script obtained from the discourse of the learners will be structured as a sort of European "Bildungsroman" and presented publicly.

[ WHY ]

The phenomenon of rapid ageing of the society is increasing exponentially. Furthermore, in the last years, in many European countries the condition of the elderly has been the focus of a heated debate due to the continuous reduction of the social services and the consequent marginalization of the elderly themselves.
In addition, worsening the situation, the ongoing process of cultural change puts into question the very moral concepts that the older generation has developed in their biography after the wars and the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century.
The idea of politics as a project - on which the historical reconstruction of each country was based as they entered the new historical phase of the civil society - is put into doubt by phenomena like degeneration of power and excessive private interests.
In this context, the elderly are often abandoned to their mere biological function. The involvement of seniors in a working group on memories, experiences, thoughts and values with immediate relapse in practice and in a perspective of exchange with the community, will help open up new possibilities. Thus the elderly will be educated through techniques, so far unknown to them, which have emerged from the specific artistic research in recent years. With a change of perspective, the elderly are no longer the fringe of society, but its heart: their moral legacy will not be ignored.

[ HOW ]

WISE project is conceived as a "mosaic" structure. Each partner will be enabled to contribute to the project according to its specific mission and strategic priorities. This interdisciplinary cooperation will ensure to compare different educational approaches. The idea of putting together institutions with different profiles has been developed in order to enable a combined approach to the goals. The organizations are expert in different fields: lifelong learning; theatre education and creativity; politics and history; technology and society; cinema; languages and translation. The synergy of the heterogeneous techniques will foster a non-formal, flexible, self-directed learning, and take into consideration the individual needs of each participant.
The seniors take part in a transnational project, contributing to the realization of a series of common artistic products. The conductors of each laboratory will stimulate the learners' awareness of being part of a European network. This will gain evidence with the presentation of the dramatic script, the performance, the documentary film and the website. This will allow participants belonging to a generation usually bound to a concrete and local dimension, to make a real experience of contemporaneity, being in a relationship with their European peers.
The multiplication of the points of view will let emerge contradictory, even opposite visions, and will nurture dialogue.
Another factor of the project is its impact on the public. All episodes of the “Bildungsroman” will be presented publicly and at the end of each performance there will be an open public discussion (“theatre forum”). This will allow the public to understand the origins of the project, but also to benefit from the technological follow up of interconnecting the various phases and parts of the project in the video. At the "theatre forum" we will provide further evaluation tools (such as questionnaires) in order to measure the reception of the work by the wider community.
The basic assumption of the project is a continuous exchange of techniques, methods, strategies, expertise and perspectives, realised through an intensive texture of mobilities. The theatre education team, the dramaturgy team, the cinema team, the technology team will check the other team's work.

[ WHO ]

[ WHERE ]

[ WHEN ]