Francesca Casu

Antimanifesto, a story by Francesca Casu

The Antimanifesto aims to narrate a story without end or beginning, set in a celebration, or rather a way of living, that is truly Dionysian. Dionysus for the Greeks, Bacchus or Liber Pater for the Romans, Maimone for the Sardinians, Fufluns for the Etruscans, and so forth... By following and celebrating this deity, there is a way to exorcise evil through its proposition.

At the Dionysian procession, every being is invited and naturally drawn to participate; it is a celebration open to every social class and race, every age, every gender, every animal, and every being. It is a hymn to the freedom of expressing oneself and acting with an anarchic demeanor, that is, freely but without infringing on the freedom of others.

With the term Antimanifesto, there is no intention to create a new manifesto, a new set of rules to follow, and certainly not to establish any; rather, the aim is to leave open, without fear, every door and every possibility for a free becoming. Here, the organization of chaos is emancipated and translates into the triumph of spontaneous truth that only allows space and time for the loving joy of living in communion with the surroundings.

There is no controlled attitude, no falsehood, no deception; laughter is sanctified, the different is a source of cognitive pleasure, every mask is real and sincere. It is a celebration of the moment that perpetually manifests the power of life, often miserably lived in the pursuit of a perfection impossible to attain unless one lets go of every restraint and experiences the world inspired by the words of <that Dionysian demon called Zarathustra: "Elevate your hearts, brothers, up! Higher! And do not forget your legs! Raise your legs as well, good dancers, and, even better: stand on your heads!">.

An Antimanifesto for anyone who wants to loosen the grip of a society that leans and falters more and more exclusively on a rigidly Apollonian scale, eventually condemning and suffering from the light and expansive oscillation of the Dionysian scale.

It is the representation of a world vividly inhabited by humanity that reveals itself in its beauty as a work of art, traversing earthly and ecstatic journeys while speaking a Franciscan common language.
And it seems ironic that in today's exaltation of ancient Roman glory, those pagan rites celebrating a culture that dwelled in the rooms of the Villa dei Misteri and lupanari (brothels) are not extolled, where even today one can read engraved on the wall: hic habitat felicitas (here dwells happiness).

By the way, I stole this title.