28 September – 2 October 2022 | Spoleto
5 – 9 October and 14 – 16 October 2022 | Foligno
The presentation of the programme of the multiform container dedicated to art and its possible declinations with events dedicated to theatre, dance, music and education was held on Wednesday 21 September in Spoleto during a press conference at the Sala Pegasus
The second edition of Umbria Factory Festival will take place in Spoleto from 28 September to 2 October and will continue in Foligno from 5 to 9 October and from 14 to 16 October. The presence of numerous artists from the national scene will give life to a multiform container dedicated to art and its possible declinations with events dedicated to theatre, dance, music and education. The project is realised by Zut! and La Mama Umbria International with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture, Regione Umbria, the cities of Foligno and Spoleto, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Foligno.
Among this year’s novelties is the conceptal collaboration with La Mama Umbria International in Spoleto. The expansion of the geographical territory corresponds to a perspective vision aimed at change, an innovative and indispensable condition that characterises the future of artistic experiences.
«We are very happy to start this wonderful adventure of Umbria Factory Festival together with our friends from ZUT, – says Adriana Garbagnati, artistic director of La Mama Umbria International – We have been collaborating on many projects for several years, particularly on artistic residencies, and crowning this collaboration with a multidisciplinary Festival is an excellent starting point to create synergies and increase our commitment to the city of Spoleto, the Region and its territory.
With the Umbria Factory Festival we wish to contribute to the renewal and enrichment of the cultural fabric of the area, stimulating dialogue, intercultural and intergenerational exchange, in an attempt above all to be able to build new opportunities for the younger population thanks also to projects implemented using new digital technologies».
The first weekend in Spoleto (28 September – 2 October) includes a series of proposals that ensure the involvement of the local community through the presentation of a rich programme, new paths and new productions. It begins with Cie MF | Maxime & Francesco, a French contemporary dance company that brings to the stage Chenapan (from the French brat), a physical theatre project aimed at children from 0 to 99 years old. The UnterWasser company presents Maze | labyrinth, a live shadow performance in which three-dimensional sculptures and bodies are projected live onto a large screen. Virgilio Sieni goes on stage with Di fronte agli occhi degli altri, a performance that was created as a testimony and denunciation of the Ustica tragedy of 27 June 1980. Among the new performance productions is Nebula, an installation/performance project created as part of the FASE XL artistic residency, organised by C.U.R.A. – Centro Umbro Residenze Artistiche, in collaboration with La MaMa Umbria International, which explores the use of new technologies applied to the performing arts.
Mahler & LeWitt Studios presents Materia, a collaborative project by geographer Dr. Alberto Valz Gris and artist Cecilia Ceccherin which explores the histories of materials in the Umbria Valley and their impact on the environment and cultural production. Jared McNeill presents the first study of a brand new work, The Rock, in collaboration with The Humid Squad; the performance is inspired by the book Choirs from the Rock by T.S. Eliot and explores the differences between reality and truth, maintaining the concept of theatre as an “invitation” and avoiding the risks of pretension and exclusivity in the search for the Invisible. 100 Comizi d’amore (piano solo) by Giovanni Guidi will accompany the audience on a musical journey dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini.
The programming of the first week in Foligno (5-9 October) will focus on encounters with associations, cultural and social realities and other events in the city. The selected proposals envisage the direct involvement of the public, new locations and non-theatre spaces. The programme opens with Satiri, the new production by the Compagnia Virgilio Sieni featuring the two dancers Jari Boldrini and Maurizio Giunti accompanied by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach performed live on the cello by Naomi Berrill. Astragali Teatro‘s Medea, Desír is a dense and imaginative rewriting based on the words of Christa Wolf, Adriana Cavarero, Hannah Arendt and Judith Butler. Chiara Frigo proposes her Ballroom, a community experience in which people of different generations come together through dance.
The Samovar Company is an artistic blend of musical clown, comic-poetic theatre and gimmicks and will be present with two productions: Officina Oceanografica sentimentale, 15 minutes of apnea to understand how deep the sea is, and Tre Quarti, three artists trying to survive the post-war period by spending their skills. Other artistic experiences included the presentation of the book Atlante delle micronazioni (Atlas of Micronations) by Graziano Graziani, a collection of stories and characters, a geography of places halfway between reality and imagination. Piccola Patria by CapoTrave is a performance set in our present, in an unspecified provincial town, where a referendum is about to take place to decide whether or not to become autonomous from Italy. Daniele di Bonaventura proposes L’harmonium dei poveri (solo bandoneòn), a concert with serious and playful sounds, a mixture of classical and jazz music that refers to Mediterranean melodic traditions and South American music.
Rimbambimenti by Andrea Cosentino is a performative and musical work, made up of compositions and improvisations, surreal and extemporary actions and digressions, playing with the paradoxes of post-Einsteinian physics and the defaults of memory. Zaches Teatro stages Cinderella, an initiatory fairy tale in which the difficult road to maturity passes through detachment from the past. Using object theatre, dance, original music and the languages of figure theatre, the bodies of the performers give life to the characters in the story in a whirlwind show full of invention, animated by strange presences between the funny and the grotesque. Also present will be the Banda Rulli Frulli, a reality that aims to involve its participants by overcoming the barriers of disability, directed by Federico Alberghini, with a music and self-construction workshop dedicated to children and young people.
The second week in Foligno (14-16 October) will be dedicated to raising awareness on issues related to fragility and to an open and participatory reflection, involving not only artists and operators, but also local communities and spectators. Marco Chenevier presents Un solo respiro (One Single Breath), a travelling performance in which dancers work on the importance of bodies, space and relationships. C.L.Grugher‘s Oedipus Rex presents a study resulting from a theatrical journey with sensitive people starting from Pasolini’s work. HOW TO_ Just Another Boléro, is the first chapter in the research undertaken by Emanuele Rosa and Maria Focaraccio on the theme of adaptation and coexistence, between sometimes dramatic and sometimes ironic tones. The Fossick Project company will be on stage with Gilgamesh, a storytelling between music and images about the ancient epic. Francesca Sarteanesi‘s Sergio, on the other hand, is a tiny fragment of an ordinary life: a moderately brilliant monologue with a few small impurities tending towards the dull.
Am I a falling star? The unparalleled spectacle of a dying star? This is the question of the show Étoile by Drama Teatro, a profound reflection on existence. Godblesscomputers, a producer and DJ inspired by the rhythms and styles of black and electronic music presents a live set. There will also be Daniele Albanese with Home Altrove, a performance and at the same time a framework for reflection on the concept of home as a personal, functional, emotional archive – hence a place of identity. Doppelgänger by Abbondanza Bertoni and Nerval Teatro attempts to unveil, amidst wise ignorance and disharmonious beauty, the double face of the sphinx: two identical bodies that recognise each other and do not stop embracing, the mandala, the cell that binds them, two first beings, primates, at their first steps. Finally, Ryoichi Kurokawa presents Subassemblies, a project that translates the relationship between nature and man into different presentation formats: a concert piece, multi-screen installations, prints, VR and projections.
The numerous events will alternate with book presentations, round tables on specific topics, and activities dedicated to children, thanks to the fruitful synergies established with other realities of the territory. Among this year’s special events, the Festival will include an unprecedented appointment UPSIDE DOWN – the Imperfect Talk, an innovative conversation in which the citizens of Foligno and Spoleto will discuss the themes of live performances and performance festivals, becoming the protagonists of a radio experience within the Radio IF/UFF programme schedule. Upside down was born in an attempt to overturn talk conventions and bring audiences into the limelight, leaving insiders the role of spectators and listeners, in a dynamic of involvement and participation of all those present activated by Luisella Carnelli. The live broadcast will consist of an in-person event curated by the UFF staff and conducted by Silvio Impegnoso, the editorial staff of Radio IF and Laura Rondinella of Theatron 2.0.
“Upside down responds to UFF’s need to open a real, concrete and unfiltered confrontation with the public and the community,” says Emiliano Pergolari, one of the curators of the Zut! – by trying out new processes of active and participatory dialogue. We would like our Festival to be more and more an opportunity to experience our territories and get closer to the communities of which we are part. A meeting between artists and civil society to try to understand our contemporary era and imagine new scenarios together”.
The festival will continue in the following months with an extended playbill until mid-November. Among the artists present will be the company Fettarappa Sandri Guerrieri with La Sparanoia (26 and 27 October), a study presented as a national premiere, and Apocalisse Tascabile (28 October), the winning show of In-Box 2021, proposed in collaboration with the Teatro Stabile dell’Umbria. Also premiered will be Nives, the new show by Accademia Mutamenti/Muta Imago that will be staged on 1 November.
The Festival is realised thanks to the collaboration with national and international partners:
Teatro Stabile Dell’umbria, C.U.R.A. Centro Umbro Residenze Artistiche, Ikaria e Moow, Dancity Festival, Young Jazz Festival, Circolo Arci Subasio, Ateatroragazzi e Cooperativa Fare, L’altra Mente Festival, Kilowatt Festival, La Casa d’Argilla, Fontemaggiore, La Mama New York; Cultural Hub New York, Seoul Institute of The Arts, Centro Italiano ITI International Theatre Institute-Unesco, Fondazione Trasformatorio NL, Fondazione Mahler&LeWitt Studios, Fondazione Monini, Cooperativa Il Cerchio, Cooperativa Immaginazione, Autopama, Cantine Cesarini Sartori and Cantina Scacciadiavoli.
For further information:
uffestival.info@gmail.com
https://www.spaziozut.it/umbria-factory-festival/
