RezzaMastrella: The Transformative Power of Art as Ritual

Stefania Gaudiosi recounts a personal experience in Naples, November 2009, when she took her family to see Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Stabile d'Innovazione Galleria Toledo in the Quartieri Spagnoli. The performance transformed their exhaustion into joy, illustrating art's ability to heal and transform. Rezza and Mastrella have worked together since 1987, developing a unique 'poetics of objects' where everything becomes object, and identity is fragmented and recomposed. Flavia creates 'Habitat' installations that Antonio inhabits with his body, his face serving as a stage for extreme gestures and grimaces. Their work is described as a ritual, dissecting identity, society, family, and God, with laughter as an antidote to mental conformity. They emphasize independence from state funding, asserting that art's necessity must remain uncorrupted. The piece argues for the importance of live theater as a space for authentic ritual and collective regeneration, especially after the pandemic closures. Rezza states, 'The theater is like God, and moreover it exists.'