THEATER OF SYMBOLS, DANCE OF SYMBIONTS

Fronte Vacuo is a transdisciplinary duo run by Marco Donnarumma and Margherita Pevere. Testing the boundaries of contemporary performance, Fronte Vacuo’s live works redefine storytelling and audience participation through movement, sound, ecology and emerging technologies. The duo creates radical bodily performances with a distinctive symbolism, often utilizing living materials and artificial intelligent machines. Based in Berlin, Fronte Vacuo works with a broad range of collaborators and tours nationally and internationally.

Fronte Vacuo ongoing saga, Humane Methods (2019-present), tells the stories of a society out of time, futuristic and ancient at once, striving to co-exist with wounded, yet resilient ecosystems. The saga’s episodes take the form of stage productions, street performances, site specific actions and living installations. Defined by a high sensorial charge, the pieces speak of posthuman empathy, power structures, and fear of the ‘other’, exposing the tensions of today’s algorithmic societies. It is an invitation for audiences to reflect on collective responsibility and interdependence for alternative futures.

Some facts

Fronte Vacuo was founded in 2019 by artists Marco Donnarumma, Margherita Pevere and Andrea Familari, and since 2025 it operates as a duo with Donnarumma and Pevere.

During the two seasons 2022-24, Fronte Vacuo was invited to join the Volkstheater Wien as Artist in Residence. There, the group created six new productions in collaboration with the theater’s team and ensemble. The project, entitled [6XXX6] – 6 movements for 6 spaces, started in autumn 2022 with δISSOLUTION, continued with five site-specific performances and ended with the premiere of TRAGEDIA at the Wiener Festwochen on the main stage of Volkstheater.

Being radically transdisciplinary, Fronte Vacuo works is presented across different artistic landscapes, including theater, dance, performance art, and art & technology. Their performances have been shown in national theaters, galleries, independent venues, festival and parking lots in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, UK, Croatia and Italy. Past co-producers include Volkstheater Wien (AT), tanzhaus NRW (DE), CTM Festival (DE), Kontejner (HR), PACT Zollverein (DE), Romaeuropa Festival (IT) and Centre des Arts Enghien-les-Bains (FR).

Fronte Vacuo work was supported through fundings by Fonds Darstellende Künste, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa Berlin and Bündnis internationaler Produktionshäuser (DE). The duo research into performing arts and technology happens in collaboration with a range of partners, including, among others, the Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique (LRI) of Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Academy for Theater and Digitality, Dortmund.