Cinema Impero, reimagined by Muna Mussie, disseminates across Rome at three points in the city, through collaboration with Cinema Troisi, MUCIV-Museo delle Civiltà and MACRO – Museo d’arte contemporanea. A device that takes its name from the eponymous cinema located in the centre of Asmara, built in 1937 during the fascist regime, it traverses colonial archives through the lens of intimacy and affectivity, bringing into dialogue video materials from the Istituto Luce and the artist’s private archive, narrated and interpreted by two voices and two intelligences — one artificial, one emotional.
Short Theatre 2026 presents it in a specific version, Cinema Impero #Roma, alternating between a singular experience addressed to one person at a time and a collective viewing that gathers a group of participants.
Starting with the works Milite Ignoto (2015), Oasi (2018), Punteggiatura (2018), Bologna St. 173, Curva Cieca (2021) and Oblio (2022), my research has focused on how to employ narrative strategies that enable an oblique and cross-cutting exploration of the relationship linking my dual historical and cultural heritage, Eritrean and Italian. The emotional element has been the thread weaving together narratives drawn from macro-history and micro-history, enabling new stories to be told. My new research, Cinema Impero, focuses on moving images. Cinema, as a language, has always had the power to create imaginary worlds but also to shape and construct narratives, particularly in its most propagandistic and pro-regime forms. The project takes its name from a cinema built in 1937 in the centre of Asmara. It is an Art Deco building, an example of Italian Rationalism, whose name clearly reflects its form, content and function. What interests me is highlighting the resonance between the role cinema played during the Fascist regime and the role that artificial intelligence plays today: a language designed to surprise and, at the same time, to distort and alter reality in favour of a speculative and convenient narrative. This manipulative principle is intrinsic to human nature, though we must also acknowledge humanity’s capacity to discern, choose, tell the truth and actively reposition itself in the face of historical and contemporary narratives, however small or large. Cinema Impero is a meta-narrative that brings into dialogue different space-time planes and various linguistic elements: video footage from the Istituto Luce’s historical archive and the artist’s private archive, narrated and interpreted by two voices and two forms of intelligence: one artificial, the other emotional. Cinema Impero is a black box that contemplates the language of cinema, theatre and the algorithmic language of artificial intelligence. Within this multi-sensory device, designed for one viewer at a time, the individual – placed at the centre of the macro-narratives – is invited to move towards a warm proximity: a space of intimate otherness between narrator and listener.
– Muna Mussie
Muna Mussie (Eritrea, 1978) began her artistic career in 1998, training and working as an actress and performer with Teatrino Clandestino until 2001. In 2002, she attended the European Advanced Training Course for Actors, led by Cesare Ronconi of the Teatro Valdoca, and continued to work with the company as an actress until 2012. From 2001 to 2005, she was a founding member of the research collective Open, where, following the performance opentolikemunamussie (2005), she began to develop a desire to explore her own ways of being on stage. Muna Mussie’s work spans gesture, vision and word, exploring the languages of the stage, performance and the visual arts to shape the tension arising between different modes of expression. Her productions include: MadrePatria (2006), Più che piccola, media (2007), Con Permesso (2008), Ti ho sognato, ma non eri il protagonista (2009). Together with Flavio Favelli, she designed the FFMM clothing collection (2007–2009). Her international stage projects include Monkey See, Monkey Do (Chapters I–II, 2011–2012). Her subsequent works – including the installation and performance Milite Ignoto (2015), the performances Oasi (2018), Curva (2019), Curva Cieca (2021) and PF DJ (2021) – explore ghostly apparitions and marginal history. Two of her objectual works are يونلعب Punteggiatura (2018) and የቦሎኛ ጎዳ ر Bologna St. 173. Il sole d’agosto, in alto nel cielo, batte forte (2021), a solo exhibition at Archive sites Milano exploring the concepts of home, citadel, fortress and freedom. This was followed by the performances Bientôt l’été (2021), on mental nomadism and wandering, and PERSONA (2022), a one-on-one encounter mediated by the practice of sewing. The recent projects Oblio (2021) and Oblio/Pianto del Muro (2022) mark the start of an investigation of public art. The performative piece The Perfect Human from Sunrise to Sunshine (2023), spanning the course of a day, examines the essence of human beings today. She released the album Curva Cieca Oblio ኩርቫዕውርምርሳዕ in collaboration with Massimo Carozzi (Xong collection – artist’s records, Xing 2024). Other recent projects include PR – Public Relations (2025) and Domus Feroniae (2025), a solo exhibition that won the Arcolaio Artprize. The project Bologna St. 173, Un viaggio a ritroso, winner of the Italian Council 11 in 2022, involved the creation of the works يونلعب UROBORO ኦውሮቦሮ (2024), የቦሎኛጎዳر Bologna St. 173 (2024) and NAKFA-NAKBA (2024), which have been added to the collection of the MAMbo museum in Bologna. Her work has been presented at Art Fall/PAC Ferrara, Xing/Raum and Live Arts Week Bologna, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin, the Marino Marini Museum in Florence, Workspace Brussels, Kaaitheater in Brussels, MAMbo in Bologna, Santarcangelo Festival, Museion in Bolzano, ERT in Bologna, Rue d’Alger/Manifesta 2020 in Marseille, Archive Books in Milan, SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin, ArteFiera in Bologna, HangarBicocca in Milan, the Biennale Democrazia in Turin, Mattatoio in Rome, Sesc São Paulo, Centrale Fies in Dro, Black History Month Florence, Spazio Griot Rome, Villa Romana Florence, Mucem Marseille, MAXXI L’Aquila, Høstscena Festival Ålesund, OGR Turin, Musei Reali Turin, Kora Contemporary Arts Centre Lecce, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge/IT Out OFF/Manifesta 2024 Barcelona, XX Biennale Donna Ferrara, AR/GE Kunst Bolzano, the 24th International Exhibition of the Triennale Milano, Fondazione Malvina Menegaz and Cineteca Bologna.
written and directed by Muna Mussie
video editing Luca Mattei
curator Martina Angelotti
africanist anthropologist Simao Amista
musician Matteo Nobile
sound designer SimonLuca Laitempergher
translator Susan Zuckerman
thanks to Filmon Yemane for sharing AI technology dedicated to blind and visually impaired people
project supported by blOOm, network for one-on-one creations developed by Fondazione Armunia, Primavera dei Teatri, Santarcangelo Festival, Sardegna Teatro, Triennale Milano Teatro
within LANDING, project supported by Ministero degli Affari Esteri and Cooperazione Internazionale realised by Santarcangelo Festival
with the support of Passage Festival, IIC Strasburgo and the co-production of MUCIV-Museo delle Civiltà
thanks to area Export di ATER Fondazione for their invaluable support
in collaboration with Cinema Troisi, MUCIV-Museo delle Civiltà, MACRO – Museo d’arte contemporanea
Muna Mussie is present at ST26 with the support of SIAE
ph. Pietro Bertora / Santarcangelo Festival