‘Negus - Invernomuto’

In the presence of Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi

Invernomuto is a duo started in 2003 by Simone Bertuzzi (1983) and Simone Trabucchi (1982), working with moving images, sound, sculpture, publishing and live acts.

Negus is a conceptual feature length documentary starring Lee “Scratch” Perry, exploring the convergence of history, myth and magic through the complex and competing legacies of Ethiopia’s last emperor Haile Selassie I. In 1930s Italy, during the fascist rule of Mussolini, Selassie was portrayed as a black devil, justifying Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia. During the same period, the religion of Rastafarianism was emerging in Jamaica, claiming Selassie as their living God and the black Christ resurrected. Negus is powered from the void between these two irreconcilable realities, activating a strange short-circuit between Italy, Jamaica and Ethiopia.

Following the Jamaican tradition of the versioning (to create different versions of the same song), Negus has had different outputs: video, exhibition, publication, and a performance which was previously presented at BOZAR.