Motus was founded in 1991 as a nomadic and independent theatre company, constantly moving across countries, historical moments and disciplines. Driven by the need to engage with the themes, conflicts and wounds of contemporary reality, Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Nicolò bring together artistic expression and civic commitment on stage, exploring imaginaries that have reawakened the visions of some of the most uncompromising poets of our time.
The company emerged in the 1990s with performances of remarkable emotional and physical impact, and has consistently anticipated and narrated some of the most acute contradictions of the present. Over the years, it has both shaped and traversed hyper-contemporary theatrical trends, interpreting authors such as Beckett, DeLillo, Genet, Fassbinder, Rilke and the much-loved Pasolini, before arriving at a Shakespearean Tempest, interwoven with the writings of Aimé Césaire. This production evokes the tragedy of migration while creating instant communities around the world. The themes of borders—physical, geographical and mental—and the freedom to cross them remain central to the company’s work, including acclaimed productions such as MDLSX and the Italian–New York co-production Panorama. Following a radical reinterpretation of Antigone through the lens of the Greek crisis, Motus continued its exploration of some of tragedy’s most challenging female figures with Tutto Brucia (Everything Burns) and its two performative offshoots, You Were Nothing but Wind and Of the Nightingale I Envy the Fate, which raise the deeply political question of whose bodies are considered worthy of mourning. Their most recent production, Frankenstein (a love story)—the first part of a diptych inspired by Mary Shelley’s celebrated novel—intertwines the author’s restless, complex and often painful biography with contemporary gender studies, posthuman philosophy and theories of interspecies relations.
The company’s artistic practice is accompanied by an extensive educational programme of public talks, lectures and masterclasses at universities and institutions in Italy and abroad, including IUAV University of Venice, La Manufacture – Haute école des arts de la scène in Lausanne, the DAS Theatre Master’s programme at the Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam, and the Bern Academy of the Arts.
Motus has received numerous awards and honours, including three Ubu Awards and several prestigious special prizes recognising its artistic achievements.
As independent artists, they have presented their work internationally, appearing at festivals and venues including Under the Radar (New York City), Festival TransAmériques and PuSh Festival (Canada), Santiago a Mil (Chile), FIBA Festival (Buenos Aires), Adelaide Festival (Australia), MITsp (Brazil), Taipei Arts Festival (Taiwan), and the Hong Kong International Black Box Festival, as well as throughout Europe.
In 2010, Enrico Casagrande, representing the entire company, served as Artistic Director of the 40th edition of Santarcangelo Festival. In 2020, the festival once again invited Motus to take on its artistic direction for an extraordinary edition celebrating its 50th anniversary. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a complete rethinking of the project, which expanded over twelve months and became a journey in three acts: an emergency prelude in July 2020, an online winter interlude, and a grand finale in July 2021.
In 2023, Motus curated Supernova, the inaugural edition of a contemporary performing arts programme in Rimini, developed in collaboration with Santarcangelo dei Teatri and the Municipality of Rimini. The same year saw the launch of MOTUS Archivio, a project dedicated to digitising materials collected by the company over thirty-five years of artistic activity. The project culminated in 2025 with the exhibition Future in the Past, inaugurated in the Ala Nuova wing of the City Museum of Rimini.
In 2024, Motus won the thirteenth edition of the prestigious Italian Council grant with [ÒDIO], a film-documentary project emerging from research conducted with adolescents and developed alongside the second chapter of the Frankenstein project on monstrosity, Frankenstein (History of Hate).
The year 2025 marks the opening of Casa MOTUS in the hills of San Giovanni in Marignano. Supported through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), it has been transformed into a cultural centre dedicated to the development of artistic and pedagogical activities.