The performance in the Museo Macro was based on a fighting game inspired by Greco-Roman wrestling, first contested at the ancient Greek Olympic games. Eight couples took part and each couple grappled with each other with the object of the game being to gain possession of a relay baton which represents knowledge, because knowledge is power. Each performer learnt a ‘move’, like the GraecoRoman moves from the original game, so that they could stay in a position for a few minutes, then continue to wrestle until they hold another position for a few minutes and so on. The fighting game took place in the main hall of the Macro. As the performers grappled with each other the close contact and sinuous movement of the ten couples merged into a hallucinatory erotic dream sequence, reminiscent of Antonioni’s desert scene in Zabriskie Point. But this was a battle for knowledge, knowledge that is hard to gain, for whoever possesses this knowledge clings to it and keeps it to themselves, trying to prevent others from gaining it. 

Video by Monkeys Video Lab (Alessio Rucchetta, Valerio Sammartino, Simone N. Valente.