The Republic of the Mad – Reading
Fiume on the Adriatic. Until 1918, the port city belonged to the Habsburg Empire; now Italian irregulars are moving in, led by a famous man. Gabriele D’Annunzio, poet, war hero, and fervent nationalist, proclaims the Republic. In Fiume, the craziest state in world history is set to emerge, politics as spectacle. Among D’Annunzio's followers: a certain Mussolini. And Guido Baron Keller von Kellerer und Wolkenkeller. The audacious aviator, nudist, and utopian is obsessed with an idea from futuristic art circles: If one wants to destroy the rotten world of yesterday and build a radiant new one, one needs the explosive power of madness. Said and done. (As harmless as possible) patients are requested from insane asylums all over Italy. They are to become ministers in the new state.
And so, the nurse Cherubino also sets out to accompany a friendly axe murderer to the Adriatic – toward the dawn of a new era, into the Republic of the Mad.
Kulturlabor Stromboli
Krippgasse 11
6060 Hall in Tirol
(0043) 5223 45111
kulturlabor@stromboli.at
