The BABEL Tablet by Ionuț CRISTACHE
BABEL 2025 invites us to reflect on a theme that is as complex as it is essential to dramatic art: space. Let us begin with a brief introduction, starting from the philosophical dimensions that have always been fertile ground for theatre, for the stage, for directors, actors, and so on.
Space expresses order, position, distance, size, shape, and the extent of objects, things, facts, and events in the real world. The properties of space have long been a subject of debate among philosophers, evolving over time along with humanity’s accumulated knowledge throughout various historical periods.
Philosophically speaking, it might sound simple: space is a category that refers to the objective and universal forms of the existence of matter in motion. The unity of space with matter determines the infinite nature of space and the eternity of time.
In antiquity, space was seen as an empty and infinite receptacle for material atoms. Aristotle, for example, considered space to be the sum of the places occupied by bodies, and believed that both matter and space were finite. Later, Newton viewed space and time as absolute, objective, and universal—thus independent of matter in motion. Many philosophers, however, denied the objectivity of space and time, linking them instead to human consciousness or viewing them as forms of subjective experience. Kant regarded these two categories as a priori forms of human sensibility, while Hegel considered them as categories of the absolute idea. And the list goes on…
Today, at the start of BABEL, we might ask: Which of all these philosophical meanings are present in THEATRE? How, where, and with what dramatic effects?
In the coming days, we will try to find some answers…
