MU – metafisica urbana

The Japanese word MU 無stands for absence or missing, and it’s translated with “there is not”. Within the Zen Buddhism philosophy, the notion of “nothingness”, i.e. MU, has a particular relevance; it doesn’t simply mean the absence of a presence – western common definition of nothingness -, it more specifically marks the simultaneous absence of being and of being not. “There is” and “there is not” are dismissed at the same time. Zen nothingness refuses the possibility of being determined, therefore it’s truly pure and untouched because utterly unintelligible. MU is a urban exploration through the city of Parma, a contemplative exercise in movement. It is based on the notion of thinking by making, the skill of learning and producing thought by the sensitive experience. After a residency time, sailing throughout the weaves of the city, and within the philosophical principles that inspire the new edition of the festival Natura Dei Teatri, DOM- creates a walking journey over the urban oddities, it leads the audience inside those fringe landscapes, obscure face of the present time, which, if observed thoroughly, open up profound questions around our dwelling on the Earth, our being human, community, sometimes thorn of creation, sometimes contented expression of vital energies. The participants are required to walk for a few hours, inside a collective action that will end out around the sunset in a happy hour. The experience is conceived as an urban ritual with the aim of producing an accidental and experiential knowledge of the city. The participants will observe the stratification of marks that occur in a given portion of land, as the architectural morphemes employed in the residential habits of the humans, animals and plants that dwell in there. They will investigate the relation between body and landscape, center and periphery, permeability and separation, private and public space, reality and projected reality. Beside the moments of dialogue and reflection, have been scheduled some session of specific work on the body, throughout perception, movement and listening practices. The workday will produce documentation material, in written form
and with the aid of photography and video editing.
Meeting at 5 pm at Lenz Teatro, 3/E Via Pasubio. Comfortable clothes and water canteen are strongly advised.