Motus <> Botto&Bruno

Following the format of the first issue of Echos, which presented a comparison between two artists – Romeo Castellucci and Alfredo Jaar – and between theatre and contemporary art, this third issue brings together Motus and Botto&Bruno. Both are couples in their professional and personal lives: on the one hand, Daniela Nicolò and Enrico Casagrande, founders of Motus, one of the most important and committed companies in Italian and international experimental theatre; on the other, Roberta Bruno and Gianfranco Botto, an admired artistic duo with an extraordinary career.

Many common threads can be identified in their respective careers: their studies at the Academy, their early careers, performances and exhibitions drawing on similar sources of inspiration, the Venice Biennale, and their appearances across half the world. But equally striking are their shared focus on the stories of urban peripheries, their exploration of myth, and their references to Pasolini. In terms of artistic language, one must not overlook both artists’ use of collage, photography and video. Naturally, the reader may look for certain differences between them – differences that serve to complete a fascinating identity.

Motus was founded in 1991 as a nomadic, independent company, constantly moving between countries, historical periods and artistic disciplines. Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Nicolò, driven by the need to engage with contemporary issues, conflicts and wounds, blend art and social commitment on stage.

Gianfranco Botto (1963) and Roberta Bruno (1966), known professionally as Botto & Bruno, live and work in Turin. From the very beginning of their collaboration, the artistic duo has primarily used the camera as a means of investigation, deconstructing photography through the use of collage, overprinting and drawing. Having both been born and raised in suburban neighbourhoods, they have treated marginality as a cultural theme in their search for new forms of vitality and poetry.

Who were Walter Benjamin and Luigi Pirandello looking for in Sanremo in the 1930s? One took refuge at the Villa Verde guesthouse run by his ex-wife Dora, while the other pursued a dream of love named Marta Abba, owner of a pied-à-terre in the old town. But could Benjamin and Pirandello have met? And what would they have said to each other?

Walter Benjamin, German philosopher, literary critic and sociologist from a Jewish family (Berlin, 1892 – Port Bou, Spain, 1940). His philosophical reflection, marked by a strong anti-systematicity and oriented towards theological themes drawn from the Kabbalistic tradition, was initially focused on language, partly due to his work as a translator. He continued his literary essay writing, but then devoted himself more to aesthetic and sociological issues in art; his most significant contribution in this field is the famous essay Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction) from 1936.

Luigi Pirandello, playwright and novelist (Agrigento, 1867 – Rome, 1936). A highly regarded writer, he revolutionised 20th-century theatre, becoming one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Although inspired by Sicilian Verismo, his work reveals an anguished, relativistic view of life and the world, anticipating definitively modern themes. However, it was theatre that spread his fame far and wide: from his early bourgeois comedies, in his so-called second manner, the drama of being and appearing rose to become a symbol and allegory of existence.

Within the Echos project, a pas de deux between visual art and theatre, the two artists, Alfredo Jaar and Romeo Castellucci, one for each of the two languages, find themselves answering the same questions, as if in front of an imaginary mirror. The structure of the double, of the mirror in fact, reflects and ideally crosses the different looks, approaches and results that find - not surprisingly - surprising commonalities. Alfredo Jaar and Romeo Castellucci, leading figures in contemporary creation, are the protagonists of the first volume.
(On the occasion of the Festival delle Colline Torinesi in world premiere currently available on the hopefulmonster website and in the bookshop of the Fondazione Merz in Turin.)

Romeo Castellucci, director, creator of sets, lighting and costumes, is among the most significant authors of contemporary theatre. A graduate in painting and set design from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna, in 1981 he co-founded the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio. In 2005 he was director of the theatre section of the Venice Biennale and in 2008 he was associate artist of the 62nd edition of the Festival d'Avignon. Winner of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2013, the following year he was awarded an honorary degree in music and theatre by the University of Bologna. Among his most recent creations: the plays The Third Reich (2020), Bros (2021), the direction of the operas Pavane für Prometheus IX (2021) and Bluebeard's Castle (2022), the public action Milan (2021) and the installation Tomorrow (2022).

Alfredo Jaar is a Chilean artist, architect and filmmaker who lives and works in New York. He studied architecture during the dictatorial regime in Chile and moved to New York in 1982. His work focuses on socio-political issues, the semiotics of images, themes of utopia and failure. He has participated in the Venice Art Biennale (1986, 2007, 2009, 2013), the São Paulo Biennale (1987, 1989, 2010, 2021) and Documenta (1987, 2002). He received the Hiroshima Art Prize in 2018 and the Hasselblad Award in 2020. His works have been exhibited worldwide.