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Imago Mundi: the speculative minimalism of SYMBIOSIS

Imago Mundi: the speculative minimalism of SYMBIOSIS

Presented at the 2026 edition of UP Festival, SYMBIOSIS by Luuk Brantjes and Kolja Hunek proposes speculative, futuristic, and at times dystopian engagements with object manipulation, suspension, juggling, and balance work. World-building in intention and effect, the performance offers a “non-hierarchical” view on what encountering non-human elements

Things we need in times of crisis: a throwback to the 2026 UP - Circus & Performing Arts Festival

Things we need in times of crisis: a throwback to the 2026 UP - Circus & Performing Arts Festival

What does it mean to attend a circus festival in times of crisis and instability? It is perhaps commonplace that art can provide hope, fuel resistance, and inspire revolt; yet, we can agree that this is not a requirement! Art can delight, confront, please, confuse or disturb on its own

Circus and its Others V: The International Circus Conference arrives in India for its first Asian edition

Circus and its Others V: The International Circus Conference arrives in India for its first Asian edition

From 15 - 19 January 2027, Circus and its Others (CaiO) will celebrate a historic milestone as the international conference takes place in Thrissur, Kerala, marking its first-ever edition in Asia. Hosted in collaboration with the International Festival of Theatre Schools (IFTS) and the School of Drama & Fine Arts

Cie Inéluctable’s SEUIL: materialising the connection between the inert and the living

Cie Inéluctable’s SEUIL: materialising the connection between the inert and the living

Marius Fouilland and Aimé Rauzier are two acrobats who blend dance, circus, and marionette. In their first co-authorial circus creation, a duo becomes a quartet with two inanimate bodies that seem to double their presence. Trained since childhood in dance (Marius) and circus (Aimé), they met at Académie Fratellini

Marcelo Nunes’ GHETTO: swinging across the chasm of class

Marcelo Nunes’ GHETTO: swinging across the chasm of class

Marcelo Nunes is a Brazilian circus artist who uses clowning, fakirism and trapeze to deliver story-driven performances that explore human nature. He began practising circus arts as a child, attended the Escola Nacional de Circo do Rio de Janeiro, studied trapeze in Argentina and then in Europe at Ésacto’

David Martin’s Metaphoric Objects: the DIY fireworks of a modern troubadour

David Martin’s Metaphoric Objects: the DIY fireworks of a modern troubadour

David Martin is a French author who pushes the boundaries of his juggling techniques. He is interested in creating what he calls poetic shocks with words and object manipulation, a synesthetic way of seeing props used while they inhabit the space. His parents, both astrophysicists, have been fascinated by juggling

Jef and Marica’s In Difference: when the kinetic force of a contrast creates harmony

Jef Everaert and Marica Marinoni have transformed their individual technical masteries into a common artistic creation. Both artists attended the same schools, first training at the Flic preparatory school in Turin, Italy, and then graduating from the CNAC in France, establishing themselves as two of the most interesting performers on

HEL Treats 2025: Glowing Lights and Dismantling Categories

HEL Treats 2025: Glowing Lights and Dismantling Categories

In August 2025, Circus & Dance Finland invited international presenters, programmers and journalists to Helsinki. During the two-day programme of HEL Treats, we got a crash course in the work of more than 20 Finnish artists. As part of a professional group, I contributed to an article on the

Circus and its Others V: Call for participation

Circus and its Others V: Call for participation

Circus and its Others (CaiO) is an international, cross-disciplinary research initiative that explores how contemporary circus artists and companies relate to the concept of difference in their practice. Since its launch with a study day in 2014, the initiative has hosted four international conferences (Montréal, 2016; Prague, 2018; Davis,

The Human Capital in the Arts: Creative Alchemy, Human Networks and Fairness

The Human Capital in the Arts: Creative Alchemy, Human Networks and Fairness

Co-curator’s afterword on We Don’t Dream of Labour, 5th edition of the research project LA PAROLA AI CORPI 2025 A few years ago, I was complaining to a colleague that a job I had the perfect profile for had just gone to someone who was already known

I Wanna Circus With You! Two Days at the ON THE EDGE 2025 Symposium in Vienna

I Wanna Circus With You! Two Days at the ON THE EDGE 2025 Symposium in Vienna

On 7 and 8 November 2025, I visited Vienna’s 5th edition of festival ON THE EDGE, curious to witness an event that marked a milestone for the Austrian contemporary circus scene. For the first time in Austria, the festival hosted a symposium to represent and make visible contemporary circus

On Circus Scenography: Reflections with Julian Vogel and Boris Gibé

On Circus Scenography: Reflections with Julian Vogel and Boris Gibé

The 2025 edition of Theater op de Markt welcomed two reflection days under the title ON CIRCUS. Initiated in 2023 in collaboration with Hanna Mampuys and Toon Van Gramberen of THERE THERE Company, the format invited circus companies to step away from the stage and into conversation. Each session unfolded

On Contemporary Big Top Circus: Insights from Collectif Malunés and Cirque Rasposo

On Contemporary Big Top Circus: Insights from Collectif Malunés and Cirque Rasposo

The 2025 edition of Theater op de Markt welcomed two reflection days under the title ON CIRCUS. Initiated in 2023, in collaboration with Hanna Mampuys and Toon Van Gramberen of THERE THERE Company, the format invited circus companies to step away from the stage and into conversation. Each session unfolded

ON CIRCUS 2025: Contemporary Big Top and Scenography

ON CIRCUS 2025: Contemporary Big Top and Scenography

The 14th edition of Theater op de Markt welcomed two reflection days under the title ON CIRCUS. Initiated in 2023 in collaboration with Hanna Mampuys and Toon Van Gramberen of THERE THERE Company, the format invited circus companies to step away from the stage and into conversation. Each session unfolded

Zeit für Zirkus Cologne 2025: a contemporary scene in the making

Zeit für Zirkus Cologne 2025: a contemporary scene in the making

Last year, from November 14 to 16, Zeit für Zirkus presented contemporary circus on stage in several cities across Germany and brought it to life at the international La Nuit du Cirque. Over the course of a weekend, a diverse programme of performances, workshops, exhibitions, parties, online formats and activities

Pamela Banchetti’s Forget Me: A Thread Without Hold

Pamela Banchetti’s Forget Me: A Thread Without Hold

In the frame of the Zeit für Zirkus days in Cologne, at the CCCC, a body tells what words cannot. Forget Me begins with a stark contrast. The reception is loving: Pamela Banchetti greets the audience at the door in several languages, warm, almost caring. But as we move into

ANGELS Aerials: How Not to Forget How to Fly

ANGELS Aerials: How Not to Forget How to Fly

ANGELS Aerials proves to children and adults with When Dreams Fly – Peter Pan that gravity can be overcome. A visit to the CCCC during the Zeit für Zirkus festival in Cologne. When I was a child, I didn’t like it when adults played children on stage or anywhere else.

High (on) Fashion: In the frenzy of the fashion industry

High (on) Fashion: In the frenzy of the fashion industry

A work-in-progress showing at the CCCC of the solo show by Clara Köpf, as part of Zeit für Zirkus in Cologne. A familiar scene: standing in front of the clothes rail, overflowing them and unable to find anything suitable. Then a sewing machine rattles, the performer slips through

RAPT: a piece of paper for observant minds and thoughtful gazes

RAPT: a piece of paper for observant minds and thoughtful gazes

For Zeit für Zirkus 2025 in Cologne, Benjamin Richter presents his work in progress: a blank page on which he blends in with his juggling material. The streets start to get dark and lighted up around 5 in the afternoon when I arrive at the House of Architecture in Cologne.

Time to Talk [about] Circus in Cologne: Matchmaking and cold feet

Time to Talk [about] Circus in Cologne: Matchmaking and cold feet

At the festival for contemporary circus in Cologne, Zeit für Zirkus, representatives from politics and the independent performing arts discuss the lack of space and dependencies. It makes me think that you can tell the working conditions by the footwear. Steel-toe caps are required in workplaces where heavy objects

Ready, Set, Juggle: Hippana Maleta’s Runners at Schauspiel Köln

Ready, Set, Juggle: Hippana Maleta’s Runners at Schauspiel Köln

For the Cologne circus scene, it is a special evening: for the first time, contemporary circus is being shown at Schauspiel Köln. As part of Zeit für Zirkus 2025, on November 14 and 15, the Cologne-based company Hippana Maleta presented its piece Runners, receiving a standing ovation. In Germany,

When the circus grieves: Collective bodies, precarious spaces

When the circus grieves: Collective bodies, precarious spaces

performance II: Beneath the pillow on which I rest, I feel the hard, cool floor of the white cube. A warm, muted light falls on three bodies suspended from ropes attached to the four-meter-high ceiling, their limbs tightly entwined. The door closes softly behind those entering, who search

An Insight: Take Care Mental Health Conference through the Bodies of the Initiative Feminist Circus

An Insight: Take Care Mental Health Conference through the Bodies of the Initiative Feminist Circus

Hi, Before we start, I’d like you to ask yourself: Is this the right time to read this article? Why do you want to read it? Do you feel obliged to do so? To be honest about our current feelings must be one of the first steps toward taking

360° Shorts: Purple, neon, and existential

360° Shorts: Purple, neon, and existential

Circus acts are traditionally performed in a ring. It was within the circle, the hippodrome, where horses could run and audiences could gather. Later in history, this also meant using a circus tent, where the magic happened. This is still true, of course, but in contemporary circus, the form is

CARE as a verb, not only as a noun: what have we been actually practising?

CARE as a verb, not only as a noun: what have we been actually practising?

After our previous joint articles on Mentally Safe(r) Spaces and Decoloniality and Questioning Privilege as Embodied Practices, together with the independent researcher Gaia Vimercati, we meet again to generate an inspirational keynote in the frame of the Take Care Conference at CircusDanceFestival 2025. Evidence shows that in circus practice,