as part of Oltre le mura / Beyond the walls
a project by Fabbrica Europa for Autunno Fiorentino

From November 4 to 7, Il Lavoratorio in Florence will host a workshop to gather materials that will form part of the performance-lecture Library of Botanical Voices by Benno Steinegger and Eirik Havnes, scheduled for November 9.

During these four days, Steinegger will meet with 15 people for brief individual conversations of about 20 minutes each, either outdoors or within the spaces of Il Lavoratorio. Each participant will be invited to share their personal connection with a plant, and from these encounters, the materials for the final performance will emerge.

Benno Steinegger is an artist and performer born in Bolzano in 1980. After studying at the University of Florence, he deepened his training in theatre and performance by completing a Master of Arts in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Central School of Speech & Drama in London. In 2008, he co-founded the artistic collective Codice Ivan, with which he developed a body of work that intersects theatre, performance, visual arts, and new media. His work stands out for its profound reflection on two central themes: identity and structures of power. In i (to be defined), he deconstructs his own identity through numerous interviews with people who describe him. In 2023, he created the film Language Portraits – Ritratti di lingue, dedicated to the importance of minority languages and the ways in which they shape our perception of the world. That same year, he collaborated with artist Jovial Mbenga on the performance The Chance to Find Yourself, which explores friendship, cultural differences, and the possibility of recognizing oneself in the other. One of his most recent projects is To Those Who Will Survive, an ongoing performance focused on imagining a radically different relationship between humans and nature—particularly between humans and plants.

Oltre le mura / Beyond the walls is carried out within the framework of