As announced, the weekly Conferences for a Better World organized by Itínera Theater are moving into their second phase, where we highlight projects from the realm of theater and other scenic arts, rather than natural building. The special guest of our first encounter was Cinzia Ciaramicoli, a puppeteer and social activist who has organized puppetry projects in marginalized communities all around the world. In her presentation Cinzia talked about the various places and the many types of performances she has been involved in. Similarly to Itínera, her constant traveling was the inspiration to name her artist group The ItinerAnts. As always, we had a great time getting to know the artist, and asking her about her work.
Italy, France, Denmark, Malaysia, England, ...
Cinzia explained how the arts introduced her to many cultures, even back home in Italy, where she is originally from. Later, she started traveling herself, which brought her even closer to various cultures, and inspired her to do more art, from plastic arts to performing arts. It was at the Odin Teatret in Denmark where she met Julia and Manuel from Itínera Theater. In each place she lived she made use of the space she had, which ranged from a gigantic penthouse in Malaysia, though a courtyard in France, to the tiny London apartment she lives in now. Making complete use of her resources, it was in Malaysia that she got into creating giant 4 meter tall puppets, which she took with her artist group to council apartments in the city, as well as rural villages of indigenous communities.
Community Engagement for the Underprivileged
Cinzia pointed out that the most important part in each performance was the initial purpose. Once the community understands what they want to do, and why, they will be more than eager to pull together to make it all happen. Otherwise, it can get very difficult. As such, The ItinerAnts got into performing for, and more importantly with children, people with disabilities, the elderly, isolated communities in rural areas, but also prisons, and refugee camps.
These activities tied right into issues of recycling, and food production, preparation, and sharing, but also using recycled and / or natural materials to create art, such as this flying creature they built out of forest debris. It was a place in rural Malaysia they visited, with the specific goal of using only local material for their scenic art.
Individual Front-Door Performances
In the last part of her talk Cinzia discussed her most recent performances, which happened over the last year when she was back in London. During the Covid pandemic she realized how many children suffered from being locked up at home, so she decided to perform for them outside the front doors of their apartments, mostly council flats.
It was this same year that she started making giant puppets again, this time of insects, which was part of a larger project, connected to Earth Day. Again, most of these amazing puppets are made entirely of recycled materials, especially fabric hoarded by her husband's mother.
Watch the Whole Presentation!
Once again, it is not my intention to give full account of all the details of the talk. Instead, I wanted to perk up your curiosity, and maybe get you interested in watching the presentation. As always, we are going to submit a cleaned up recording on YouTube (which I am going to announce in a separate post), but for those who can't wait, here is the link to the live transmission on facebook. Most importantly, however, I want to leave you with the announcement that we still have three more encounters with performing artists! Next week it's the Berlin-based Merlin Puppet Theater who is going to introduce themselves, but I will give them a proper announcement within a few days. So please mark your calendars, and tell all your friends!