Project
Casa Motus flourishes amidst the hills of San Giovanni in Marignano, within a rural complex that carries with it a long history of work and community. Today, this place opens to the future as a space for research, encounter, and creation.
This is a project promoted and curated by the Motus Cultural Association, founded in 1991 by Daniela Nicolò and Enrico Casagrande.
This is a project promoted and curated by the Motus Cultural Association, founded in 1991 by Daniela Nicolò and Enrico Casagrande.
Da oltre trent’anni, Motus attraversa i linguaggi del teatro contemporaneo spingendosi oltre i confini estetici, politici e geografici, dando voce a domande urgenti e costruendo legami con contesti internazionali.
The transformation of Casa Motus into a cultural centre was made possible through the support of the PNRR – Next Generation EU, via a dedicated programme for the regeneration of rural heritage. The project bears the name Progetto Tito, in homage to Enrico Casagrande's father, who in 1993 supported the investment in the property, which dates back to the 1800s (and legend has it that Garibaldi once slept here, according to the old farmers nearby). Tito’s deep love for his rural roots and his early belief in the transformative potential of this place live on in this project.
The Casa Motus team consists of artists, curators, researchers, and designers who collaborate to develop a transdisciplinary programme, deeply rooted in the local area yet open to the world beyond.
At the heart of the project lies the idea of a house that breathes alongside those who inhabit it: a living space, capable of welcoming and fostering deep relationships between artistic practices, research, nature, and community.
Casa Motus is a place with a clear stance: it is on the side of those at the margins, standing against all forms of systemic violence, where care is a political act.
It is a place that fosters permeability between performing arts, ecological practices, critical thought, and daily lived experiences. An environment where the domestic sphere intertwines with the public realm, and artistic experience takes root in the surrounding landscape.
We believe in art born of dialogue, art that crosses the boundaries between disciplines and opens up to risk, the unexpected, and the 'Other'. What matters is not "what is produced," but how, for whom, and in relation to what.
Research is understood as an open process, a state of transformation between thought and creation, where ideas settle and relationships deepen.
Casa Motus looks towards the exchange of practices and dialogue between perspectives, contexts, and geographies.
San Giovanni in Marignano is also home to the Notte delle Streghe (Night of the Witches), an event that has assumed new symbolic and cultural meanings over the years, marking the summer solstice with rituals, storytelling, and collective participation.
Drawing from the theme of witches, Casa Motus proposes an intergenerational artistic model, rich in mythological meaning, aimed at recovering feminist and pre-capitalist knowledge.
Local rituals connected to the summer solstice, alongside Silvia Federici’s writings on the witch as a symbol of autonomy and resistance, are inspiring Daniela, Enrico, and project manager Francesca Danesi to shape future programming with an increasingly international perspective that is deeply rooted in these themes.
"A hybrid model as a direct challenge to structures that seek to erase the wisdom of women, the autonomy of the land, and our collective capacity to resist."
Casa Motus is not just a place — it is a space of rebellion, a radical reimagining of what it means to belong, to care, and to fight for a future rooted in solidarity, ecological justice, and the recovery of ancient feminine knowledge.
Casa Motus is a natural extension of the artistic and political experience of Motus, the theatre collective founded by Daniela Nicolò and Enrico Casagrande in 1991, now recognised as one of the most radical and influential voices in the European contemporary scene.
Over the years, Motus has created performances, site-specific projects, residencies, and performances that have rewritten the relationship between the stage and the audience, between space and body, between art and current events. The company’s work has always been driven by an ethical and poetic tension towards change, with a constant focus on the urgencies of the present and the movements sweeping the world.
Casa Motus inherits this legacy and propels it into a new dimension: not only as a place for artistic production but as an ecosystem. In this sense, it is a living extension of Motus's practice: a permanent laboratory for imagination, resistance, and relationships. A physical and symbolic space where creation can take root in time, cross-pollinate with other forms of knowledge, and forge unexpected alliances.
