Workshop

Digital Approaches to Restorations and Philology: New Challenges in Music, Dance and Theatre

Workshop at the German Historical Institute in Rome

organized by the

German Historical Institute in Rome

11-12 May 2026

Call for Papers

Digital technologies offer new modes of access to historical sources related to opera and theatre, thereby opening up new perspectives and methodologies for their study. With regard to printed musical editions, they enable new forms of presenting philological analysis, such as the interactive visualization of the critical apparatus, variants, and related materials. The same applies to the study of documents related to performing arts, which can likewise benefit from multimodal forms of analysis. Digital means can be used to reconstruct elements such as costumes, stage sets, stage machinery, and lighting, as well as to recreate the sound of preserved or lost performance spaces. They can also be applied to gestural and choreographic elements, which may be visualized through avatars or interactive notations. However, attempts to restore performances inevitably leave gaps that particularly affect scenic and corporeal elements.

This Workshop aims to explore the intersections between critical editing and digital restoration in the fields of music, dance, and theatre, with a focus on both methodological and practical challenges. It seeks to foster dialogue among scholars and practitioners from musicology, theatre studies, dance studies, performance studies, digital humanities, computer science, the cultural heritage domain, and other intersecting disciplines engaged with digital restoration, in order to stimulate debate and encourage the exchange of methodologies, available tools, and possible solutions.

The hybrid nature of this call seeks to stimulate theoretical reflection on the kinds of outputs that may result from the use of digital technologies. Can such products still be defined as “editions”? Who are their intended recipients? The call also invites contributions addressing the role of collaboration: to what extent is cooperation with artists and cultural institutions necessary in the development of digital restorations, and what significance can such restoration works acquire within artistic practice? Finally, we encourage reflections on the sustainability of such approaches — both in economic terms and in relation to the technical skills and forms of expertise required for their production, maintenance, and use.

Within this framework, we welcome proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Digital restorations and 3D modelling of theatres and performance spaces
  
  
• Movement analysis, avatar-based simulations, and embodied performance in virtual environments
  
  
• Software tools for notation, annotation, and philological analysis
  
  
• Interoperability between digital archives, notation systems, and visualization platforms
  
  
• Innovative modes of visualizing critical editions and performance-related data
  
  
• Methodological challenges in combining critical editing and digital restoration
  
  
• Sustainability, maintenance, and long-term accessibility

Submission Guidelines

Please submit your topic proposals as abstracts (max. 300 words) via the DHI's application portal by 28 February 2026. Only fill in the section requesting your personal details, and upload your short bio (max. 150 words) and abstract as a single PDF file to the 'Attachments' section.

The language of the Workshop is English.

Each presentation will last 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute Q&A session.

The Workshop will take place at the German Historical Institute in Rome, Via Aurelia Antica, 391, 00165 Rome.

This is an in-person event.

Organizers

Elena Cervellati (University of Bologna)

Eleonora Di Cintio (German Historical Institute in Rome)

Silvia Garzarella (University of Bologna)

Vera Grund (German Historical Institute in Rome)