Simona Levi
| Simona Levi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
July 23, 1966 Torino, Italy |
| Residence |
 Spain Barcelona, Spain
|
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Known for | Activism, Performing arts |
Simona Levi is an Italian (naturalized Spanish) multidisciplinary artist and activist based in Barcelona, Spain, since 1990. She is a prominent activist in European social movements that support the free circulation of knowledge, and has actively participated in movements in defense of the right to housing, against corruption and the use of public space. In the past few years she has focused on the issues of free culture, e-democracy and the strategic use of digital tools for collective organisation, communication and action.
A stage director, actress and dancer by training, Simona Levi studied performing arts in Paris, where she worked as a programmer in the squatted arts space L’oeil du Cyclone. She started touring as an actress with several companies in 1982, eventually settling in Barcelona in 1990. In 1994 she set up Conservas in Barcelona’s Raval, a venue that promotes local, innovative, independent performing arts based on a self-production paradigm.
In 1999 she founded Compañia Conservas, and that same year the company presented its first stage production, Femina Ex Machina, directed by Levi and Dominique Grandmougin. The piece was awarded the FAD Special Critics Price and the Aplaudiment Award, and toured extensively to festivals and theatres in Europe (Spain, France, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Norway...) for more than two years. In 2003, again with Dominique Grandmougin, she directed the company’s second work, Seven Dust, which premièred at the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona. The production toured through several European countries, including Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Slovenia and Poland. In 2007, with Marc Sampere, she co-directed the third show by Compañia Conservas, Realidades Avanzadas, which questioned representative democracy and the concept of property. At the end of the show, audience members could take home a CD-ROM with the texts, videos, music and images used in the show. The idea for the production was sparked by a video posted on YouTube in October 2006 that denounced real estate speculation and included footage recorded with a hidden camera in the anti-mobbing office at Barcelona City Council. The video was removed from YouTube at the request of the bank La Caixa, which alleged copyright infringement based on the use of images of one of its branches.
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Wikipedia