Romaeuropa Festival and Teatro di Roma

Romeo Castellucci presents with the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio his latest work The Four Seasons Restaurant, which traces a one-way curving trajectory from the chaos of black holes to the edge of an incandescent volcanic crater.

At the centre of Castellucci’s work is his relationship with the public and with existence. The title of this piece refers to the controversy which arose around Mark Rothko when, in 1958, he was commissioned to paint a series of works to adorn the luxurious rooms of the Four Seasons Restaurant which was to open in Manhattan. After having accepted the commission, Rothko went back on his word and kept the works which are now conserved in London, Tokyo and Washington. The performance does not make any direct reference to this episode but the artist’s refusal of the image in a society dominated by imagery is symbolic and is used by Castellucci to return on some incandescent issues in his theatre and to add new elements to the recent work “Sul concetto di volto nel figlio di Dio” and “Il velo nero del pastore”, presented in previous editions of the Romaeuropa Festival.

The force which is able to pull light into the vortex of the antimatter of the black holes, is transformed from an act of negation into a beginning where images disappear and everyday language is no longer sufficient. A poetical universe emerges which embodies the feminine presence and the rhythmical verses that Hölderlin dedicated to the not accidentally unaccomplished tragedy “The death of Empedocles”. The pure poetry of the words which constitute the essence of the scene mark a decisive change of direction in Castellucci’s theatrical journey and opens the doors to many future developments. The refusal and the solitude of an artist, the suicide of the philosopher Empedocles who throws himself into the crater of Etna -the unfinished work- are Castellucci’s backdrop for “a pause in the social contract” in which a space is created to construct a dramaturgical plot based not on the tradition of the Greek tragedy of contrast between the protagonists but on the comparison of the scene and the audience.

    Artists:
    Romeo Castellucci
     
    Open: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
    Close: Sunday, 03 November 2013
    Address: Teatro Argentina, Largo di Torre Argentina 52, 00186 Roma
    Mail: promozione@romaeuropa.net
    Phone: +39 06 45553050
    Web: Romaeuropa Festival
    Admission: 30€ | 12€
    Photo credits: Photos by Sonia Zugic – Bitef Festival.