Romantic Disaster
madalena reversa
Running time 30’
Romantic Disaster is a meeting of opposites, a romantic reflection on the destruction of Nature and on Nature’s power to destroy. The performance adopts the scenic format of a live-set, where the digital and the analogue coexist and interact. The dramaturgy revolves around poems by Keats, Byron and Shelley, on the topic of climate change. Although unaware of the cause of the lowering of global temperatures, provoked by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, the three romantic poets wrote verses that express their growing concerns. The global cooling from two centuries ago intersects with the more recent global warming, gesturing to the civic awareness of the young activists of yesterday and of today. With urgency, poetry becomes song, music, battle cry. A Hymn to Beauty, which cannot die, and to the young people who wish to guard it.
madalena reversa is an artistic project created in 2016 by Maria Alterno and Richard Pareschi. Their work focuses on the aesthetic and affective power of lights, sounds, objects and bodies. From these elements, their projects create atmospheres and emotions, operating at the intersection between theatre and visual arts, performance and installation, with the dramaturgy guiding the overall structure. Their most recent projects are: Romantic Disaster, live-set performance (shortlisted for Biennale College directors under 30, 2020), Blaue Blume, a light and sound installation (selected for Biennale College directors under 30, 2019), Dreaming Beauty, an immersive installation (finalist at Scenario Infanzia, 2018).