Duration 35min
Date for Performance #1 22.08.2026 / #2 29.05.2026 / #3 17.05.2026
Place #1 Public space, Pizzoferrato (CH) / #2 Giardino Villa Cappuccini, Perugia / #3 Bears in the Park, Vienna
Organization #1 Bruno Sammartino World Grand Prix / #2 Giardino Villa Cappuccini, Serena Schioppa and Cristiano Corbucci (Sparring partner) / #3 Bears in the Park, Premio Vienna in collaboration with Angewandte performance laboratory and Italian Istitute of Culture
When I was a child, I had eyes for only one man: Bruno Sammartino, my hero. Like me, Bruno was born in Pizzoferrato, in 1935, and is remembered as the greatest wrestler in history. Pizzoferrato is the only pataphysical town I know of, and in its main square we have unveiled a large golden statue in Bruno’s honour.
When Bruno Sammartino stepped into the ring, wrestling changed forever: less real fighting, more spectacle. A transformation that, in retrospect, might offer a glimpse into the origins of today’s spectacularisation of political discourse. Born in nineteenth-century English circuses, wrestling would go on, at the turn of the new millennium, to help shape the public image of the current President of the United States, known among fans by the nickname “Mr. Trump.”
Bruno is a story that weaves together autofiction, pataphysics, illusionism and improbable conspiracies to offer a personal rethinking of the uses of falsehood in the age of infotainment.
Mesmerizing the audience with a magic trick, Bears in the Park in collaboration with APL (Angewandte Performance Laboratory) and Italian Istitute of Culture, Vienna, 2026
Showing the audience the principle of the “future of magic” through the use of a black box, Bruno Sammartino World Grand Prix, Pizzoferrato (CH), 2026
Recounting the legendary fight between Bruno Sammartino and an orangutan, Bears in the Park in collaboration with APL (Angewandte Performance Laboratory) and Italian Istitute of Culture, Vienna, 2026
Repeating part of the refrain from Elvis Presley’s Blue Suede Shoes, Bears in the Park in collaboration with APL (Angewandte Performance Laboratory) and Italian Istitute of Culture, Vienna, 2026
Mesmerizing the audience with a magic trick, Bruno Sammartino World Grand Prix, Pizzoferrato (CH), 2026
With my hands forming a triangle, I create the pyramid symbol associated with various kinds of conspiracies, most notably the Illuminati and the third eye, Bears in the Park in collaboration with APL (Angewandte Performance Laboratory) and Italian Istitute of Culture, Vienna, 2026
Frightened by the wrestler Violenzo’s intimidating arrival, Bruno Sammartino World Grand Prix, Pizzoferrato (CH), 2026
Definitively captured by wrestler Violenzo while revealing the truth about wrestling to the audience, Bruno Sammartino World Grand Prix, Pizzoferrato (CH), 2026