ghost x santarcangelo

In July 2021, GHOST traveled by tour bus to the Italian Santarcangelo Di Romagna, a village not far from the coastal city of Rimini. For 50 years it has hosted the Santarcangelo theater festival, the oldest Italian festival dedicated to contemporary performing arts and one of the most important festivals in the European context of theater and dance. At the invitation of Santarcangelo and in collaboration with Vooruit, GHOST was invited in 2021 to participate in the theater festival.

A collaboration with the nearby village of Mutonia was the approach of this co-production. Mutonia is a peculiar “village within a village”, a temporary city that has transformed over time in relation to the larger urban, territorial and social context. Mutonia was born from the anarchist, iconoclastic and experimental spirit of the travelers and cyberpunks who founded it as a temporary escape from the reign of Margaret Thatcher, among others. The village has now housed two generations of ‘Mutoids’ and has become a place of origin, a ‘motherland’ or home to return to, or a place to make a conscious stop and raise children.

This peculiar residency, made up of collected scrap metal and self-transformed vehicles, is in danger of extinction because there is no regulation to meet the needs of such an anomaly. The relationship between Mutonia and the environment is therefore twofold. A few years ago, a council decision asked the inhabitants of Mutonia to dismantle their site and restore it to the state it was 23 years ago. Since then, the Mutoids have done everything they can to defend themselves and keep their home, their motherland.

During this edition of the Santarcangelo theater festival, the organization wanted to shed light on the situation the Mutoids find themselves in and demonstrate the added value, beauty and importance of the village for the environment and the (art) world. We may use the unique village as a stage for this GHOST edition, also our first foreign edition.

We set up our basecamp and lived and worked together with the Mutoids during a week. The result was an Italian-Belgian crossover on the 15th and 16th of July. With a special carousel of short performances scattered over the Mutonia camp site.

Watch a short interview with the Festival crew: https://fb.watch/v/3IjG1_3jr/

Performing artists
Mathijs Steels
ANKKH
Jesse Surmont
Reisac. ft. Jiheavy
BRENNT
Lotta Mächs
Zoe Francia Lamattina
Tullia Maria Primultini
Emilia Cantieri
Joris Casier
Cis Deman
Johanne Invrea
STAKE
Mutoid Waste Company

Special thanks to:
Mutonia – Nikki & Lyle
Vooruit
Santarcangelo Theatre festival – Irene & Monica
Motus
Gouvernement
Sabam for Culture
Flanders State of the Arts
Starstruck Nightliners

Artistic Director
Stefan Bracke

Production resp.
Louise-Marie Kerkhove

With artistic and productional coordination by
Lies Vanborm (Vooruit)
Wouter Vanhaelemeesch (Vooruit)
Matthieu Goeury (Vooruit)
Nele Keukelier (Gouvernement)

Film Crew
Jeroen De Wilde
Julie Daems
Zaur Kourazov

Technical crew
Nico Van Der Eeken
Kim Aernoudt
Bert -Dreeten- Van Maris

Reisac. Ft. Jiheavy – © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
BRENNT x Zoe Francia Lamattina & Tullia Maria Primultini © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
ANKKH © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
Games With Flames © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
Joris Casier © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
ANKKH © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
Lyle © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
STAKE © Claudia Borgia, Lisa Capasso
© Stedho