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# Why an empty space (a tent) in an occupied theatre? (During a meeting on the city and art).
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/why-empty-space-tent-in-occupied-theatre-during-meeting-on-city-and-art/
- Published: 2014-02-25T07:02:51.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-22T07:56:40.000Z
- Description: It was brought there without any intentions other than that of being here as a sign speaking for itself. This was the action: setting up a light emergency tent.
- Author: MOTUS
- Tags: #Migrated, #appended-excerpt, Conflict & security, Cultural politics, Europe, Politics & activism, EU, ourEconomy, Democracy and government, ideas, Civil Society, culture, Oecumene: Citizenship after Orientalism, International politics, conflict, Teatro Valle, European Union, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 14:50, #ImagesUploaded

There are many ways of expressing one’s inadequacy with respect to the ‘normal cycle’ of things: one way is to give expression to the contradictions that we sought to expose during the intense days of reflection on space at the *Spatial Struggles* event at Teatro Valle: a tent in an (occupied) theatre... A sign on top of another sign, an occupation within the occupation!

![1.tent__0.png](https://cdn2.opendemocracy.net/media/original_images/1.tent__0_qSw69nZ.png)

1.tent\_\_0.png

The tent also expressed the provisional, the fragile, the disquieting force of the wind... ‘Settled’ above the stable marbles of an ancient theatre, like a GPS, it allowed for movement, whilst tracing the invisible trajectories that keep different worlds together.

A tension inspired the impulsive decision to drag the tent with us on trains and buses to Teatro Valle. It was brought *there* without any intentions other than that of being *here* as a sign speaking for itself.

This was the action: setting up a light emergency tent.

We had brought it with us and used it as a ‘place’ for sleeping and thinking about works in progress. It then came to be pitched in a different path, in the foyer of the theatre just outside the rehearsal space… hence following the invisible lines that crossed the tangle of wild ideas of those days at Valle. A trajectory, a path, a journey crossing a point, a referent, an expression of solidity (even if unstable). This metaphor nervously solved what passed through us right there. Two instabilities conquered by completely different journeys, yet connected: one, which was more permanent (because it had heroically been founded, cheers!) and another, which was nomadic. A little bit like watching a documentary in a movie theatre...

The tent tried, in its own way, to contribute to the discussion; a simple object, yet representative of a ‘doing’ without foundations. We prefer to live in a *tenda mobile* (mobile tent) than dying in a *teatro stabile* (stable theatre)! This could have been the slogan to be displayed outside.

But we were also there to state that Teatro Valle is a space where you can set up your tent and stay for a while: living in the moment, sharing ‘time-space’ and nourishing one another. This is how we do things... to unroll a carpet, to set up a tent... to have a base, even if it falls apart, a distance underlining our identity without actually unzipping the tent… To give air to sharing, to come through...

*A video from the contemporary art group* [*motus*](https://vimeo.com/motusonline?ref=opendemocracy.net)*, as they prepare to perform their work 'Caliban Cannibal'.*

![An editorial partnership with Open University](https://cdn2.opendemocracy.net/media/original_images/OUEPLOGO_nMVRSdW.png)

An editorial partnership with Open University

It was brought there without any intentions other than that of being *here* as a sign speaking for itself. This was the action: setting up a light emergency tent.