A Gift For Eleanora: 3 different site-specific performances
- Submitting institution
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De Montfort University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32046
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Basilica de Santa Croce, Florence, Italy; Roman Baths, Bath, UK; Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, UK.
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
- -
- Year of first performance
- 2015
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- A Gift For Eleonora represents three distinct, interrelated research projects, sustained over 3 years, on themes of women’s history, cultural health and well-being. The first, addressed Eleonora di’ Toledo’s well-known health problems and her place in the business empire of the Medici, at the Basilica di Santa Croce, in the Cappella dei Pazzi, Florence, Italy on May 13-15, 2015. The second at the Roman Baths, Bath, focused around Minerva and wellbeing, March 2016. The third, linked the Cavendish family and business through Bess of Hardwick, at Chatsworth House in 2016. This sustained and rigorous output encompasses three site-specific performances.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- ‘A Gift for Eleonora’ investigates the cultural value of the arts for health, happiness and well-being as a cultural health intervention for public engagement in three different, site-specific performances. It was first performed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Basilica di Santa Croce, in the Cappella dei Pazzi, Florence, Italy on May 13-15, 2015.
The research began with interviews, filmed with selected Florentine families whose own history was traced back to the world of Eleonora di’ Toledo (born Medici), attending to Eleonora’s well-known health problems and her business role in the Medici empire. These interviews formed the basis for research into health, commerce, fashion and textiles in Eleonora’s time (1522-1562) that were explored in the her-story of the performance. In 2016, the work was adapted for performance at the Roman Baths, responding to the environment and Roman heritage, healing and health-giving properties of the spa. White created ceramic vessels for this piece and curated a media wall using her photography from the venues of Basilica di Santa Croce and Roman Baths, connecting the two performances through an animated multidisciplinary work influenced by the art and architecture of Renaissance Italy. This installation was in place 22nd February-6th March 2016. As part of this performance A Gift for Eleanora was published with the full script and short essays outlining the research and links to the site of the Roman Baths.
The Art Out Loud Festival adaptation linked the Medici and Cavendish families, in a private view and a public performance in the Victorian Theatre of Chatsworth. Research into connections between Bess of Hardwick and Eleonora was explored through household artefacts. The public performance included designed and filmed locations inside and outside the house creating immersive film vignettes, using 360 degree and drone filming, that played as scenography.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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