Mutonia

Mutonia is an artistic park beside the Marecchia River in Santarcangelo di Romagna. Since 1991, the Mutoid Waste Company has made the former quarry its base, transforming discarded materials into large-scale sculptures and inventive structures.

Why it matters

The Mutoid Waste Company began in London in 1986 and settled in Santarcangelo after an invitation to take part in the town’s Festival dei Teatri. Mutonia brings the group’s experimental approach to art into a landscape shaped by reclaimed materials: waste becomes sculpture, and the former quarry becomes an artistic environment.

What to notice

The sculptures are assembled from inorganic waste, including iron, plastic, rubber, aluminium and copper. Their components retain traces of earlier uses, while different materials and techniques give the works distinct forms. Mutonia’s large mechanical figures and structures make the act of reuse itself part of the artistic language.

Context and history

After the group’s formation in London, the Mutoids travelled around Europe before settling beside the Marecchia in 1991. Mutonia has since developed as an artistic community and open-air collection, bringing together sculpture and the working spaces of the former quarry. It offers a contemporary counterpart to Santarcangelo’s medieval architecture, grounded in experimentation and material reuse.