Elena Lydia Kreusch
artist / curator / scholar / producer
CIRCUS RE:SEARCHED IS A COOPERATION PROJECT INITIATED BY THE THREE CIRCUS ORGANIZATIONS KREATIVKULTUR (AT), BERLIN CIRCUS FESTIVAL (DE) AND CIRQU'AARAU (CH).
THE PROJECT ACCOMPANIES CHOSEN ARTISTS OF THE GERMAN SPEAKING REGION (APPLICATION UPON OPEN CALLS) AND ENABLES THEM TO IMMERSE THEMSELVES IN ARTISTIC RESEARCH PROCESSES AT THE INTERFACE OF CIRCUS ARTS AND OTHER ART FORMS (DANCE, VISUAL ARTS, DIGITAL MEDIA, ETC.). FURTHER, THE PROJECT AIMS TO ENHANCE VISIBILITY FOR CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS IN THE GERMAN SPEAKING AREA AND TO STRENGTHEN THE RESPECTIVE LOCAL CIRCUS COMMUNITIES.
BETWEEN 2019 AND 2020, SELECTED ARTISTS GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN RESIDENCIES, PERFORMANCE EVENTS, FEEDBACK SESSIONS AND ‘WATCH & TALK’ FORMATS IN ALL THREE COUNTRIES.
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE 2019
KreativKultur feedback workshop with Manolis Tsipos at ttp WUK in Vienna (AT): 10. - 12.10.2019
KreativKultur residence at Liquid Loft and showing at ttp WUK in Vienna (AT): 03-12.10.2019
KreativKultur residence at Flowmotion Studios and showing at ttp WUK in Vienna (AT): 03.-12.10.2019
Berlin Circus Festival residence at Cabuwazi Tempelhof in Berlin (DE): 23.08.-01.09.2019
DASARTS FEEDBACK SEMINAR
In Vienna, residencies will be accompanied by a three-day feedback seminar led by DasArts alumni Manolis Tsipos with up to 20 participants from the German speaking region. The list of participants will be published here soon.
The DasArts feedback method aims to empower artists who are receiving feedback on their work, the method allows to go beyond expressions of judgement, it allows fundamental criticism, to create a sense of (self-)discipline for the sake of precision and clarity and to increase the enjoyment of giving and receiving feedback.
JOSEF STILLER // RESPONSIVE ROUND
In an intimate circular setting the performer moves, balances and drops bamboo sticks. He plays with the natural reactions of the audience in a simple and smart way, manipulating not only his Bamboo sticks but also their focus and attention.
Josef Stiller studies at the Academy for Circus and Performance Art in Tilburg (NL). He specialized in object manipulation with bamboo props. Since 2017 he is part of Compagnie Trottvoir. Together with Laurence Felber and Julian Vogel he founded KLUB GIRKO in 2017.
KOLJA HUNECK //CM_30
“CM_30" attempts a transdisciplinary Gesamtkunstwerk based on Goethe’s color theory: Kolja Huneck manipulates round disks that reflect, filter and break the light, resulting in the constantly changing color patterns. The artist uses a movement based approach to juggling and further crosses the border to new magic practices. He has hand crafted all of his own props, as well as invented his own light technology for the project.
Kolja Huneck studied at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam (NL). The fascination for his juggling prop began in 2016 through experiments with vinyl records in his theatrical circus act "me-mo-ri".
CARMEN KÜSTER // STRIKING ROOTS INTO THE VOID
Carmen Raffaela Küster researches body & object relationships, the notion of interconnectivity and how to move in a world of uncertainty. For “Striking roots into the void”, a full size natural pine-tree root is being suspended from a free standing truss rig structure.
Carmen Küster is a circus performer and creator with a special love for aerial acrobatics. In 2019 she completed her joint MA studies in choreography at Codarts and Fontys (NL).
Two-week residence in cooperation with CircusNext and Performance at Cirqu’7 festival in Aarau (CH): 07.06.2019
ANDREA SALUSTRI // MATERIA
MATERIA aims to discover, explore and witness the aliveness of one material: polystyrene. Object manipulation is approached from a different perspective: within a set score, objects are free to perform and take initiatives. Thus challenging a traditional separation between subjects and objects, the piece constantly negotiates a balance on stage.
An autodidact in the realm of object manipulation, Andrea Salustri studied philosophy at La Sapienza University in Rome (IT) and dance and choreography at HZT Berlin (DE). He currently is a CircusNext Laureat.
PERFORMANCE ARTISTS 2019
Performance at Kaleidoskop, Winterfest in Salzburg (AT): 6.+7.12.2019
Performance at Kaleidoskop, Winterfest in Salzburg (AT): 6.+7.12.2019
Performance at Kaleidoskop, Winterfest in Salzburg (AT): 6.+7.12.2019
Berlin Circus Festival work in progress showing at Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin (DE): 29.08.2019
EGO PORTRAIT // INSIDE OUT
The Austrian duo Maja Karolina Franke and Ralph Öllinger uses partner acrobatics and performance art to explore the role of the audience and the responsibility of the individual in our individualized society.
A former sport acrobat, Maja Karolina Franke completed her professional studies in Contemporary Dance at the Vienna Conservatory and has a degree in Dance Pedagogy from Anton Bruckner University Linz. Ralph is a multidisciplinary performance artist who is specialised in ball manipulation and partner acrobatics with a circus degree from CODARTS university (NL) as well as a joint MA degrees in interdesiciplinary choreography from both, Codarts and Fontys University.
www.majakarolinafranke.com
www.ralphoellinger.com
DARRAGH MCLOUGHLIN // THE WHISTLE
Proactive audience involvement also plays a central role in the work of Berlin based performer Darragh McLoughlin: the artist mixes juggling technique with cinematic staging principles and lets the audience become a co-creators of the show.
Darragh McLoughlin is an Irish circus artist living in Berlin. After studying in the "Katakomben" (Berlin) and the "Akademie für Zirkus- und Performancekunst ACAPA" (Tilburg), he founded the company "Squarehead Productions" in 2012.
PAUL-EMMANUEL CHEVALLEY // PASSER ENTRE
The Swiss artist Paul-Emmanuel Chevalley, on the other hand, translates Japanese haiku poems into physical movement sequences (contemporary dance technique and club juggling), creating underwater worlds on stage.
Paul-Emmanuel graduated from "Flic", scuola di circo (IT) and specialized in club juggling and contemporary dance.
HYLDRA COLLECTIVE // WHEN WE STARTED WANTING
"When we started wanting" is about the desire to feel connected with all parts of our identity, even thoses parts that don’t conform with social expectations: a yearning for the instinctive, the animalistic, the savage in us.
Naomi Bratthmmer studied at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam (NL) and Emma Laune at the Academy for Circus and Performance Art in Tilburg (NL). They founded Hyldra Collective in 2018 and together are looking for new interpretations of the medium vertical rope.
Berlin Circus Festival work in progress showing at Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin (DE): 29.08.2019
Berlin Circus Festival “Meet the Artist” format at Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin (DE): 28.08.2019
Performance at WUK in Vienna (AT): 10.+12.01.2019
Performance at WUK in Vienna (AT): 10.-12.01.2019
DAVID EISELE // CYCLE
The solo show “Cycle” is based on a research of the circulating objects cyr wheel and diabolo. Supported by generative soundscapes of a loop station the artist explores the contrast between the cyr wheels force and the diabolos fragility.
David Eisele graduated from Codarts Circus arts (NL) in 2018. The same year, he won the BNG Circus Prize with his act "Senses" and started to create "CYCLE" with the support of circunstruction.
YOTAM PELED
Berlin Circus Festival wants to break the classical artist - audience relationship and open new perspectives and possibilities of exchange. In an intimate and protected setting, artists can present their work, explain their background and thoughts or even try a new approach to conveying their artistic idea.
”How can performance art be a reactive political force in today's reality? What is the unique ability and advantage the body has in carrying a conceptual dialogue? Where does science meet circus and dance, and why is it so important?”
Yotam Peled was born in a Kibbutz in Israel. Using choreographed physical movement at the interface of dance and vertical rope, his own works often examine the relation between gender roles, sexual identity and power dynamics of today’s society.
www.yotampeled.com
ARNE MANNOTT & ELINA LAUTAMÄKI // FALLHÖHE
If everything has to be perfect, what about the imperfect? If nobody fails, is everything normal then? The two performers playfully search for answers to these questions and thereby explore the quality of the relationship between them. Object manipulation meets dance, the absurd mixes with the poetic: “Fallhöhe” is a contemporary circus piece and experiments with influences from various art fields.
Arne Mannott has an artistic background in contemporary circus, dance, theatre and photography as well as an academic degree in philosophy and politics.
Elina Lautamäki is a finnish performer, choreographer and teacher.
www.arnemannott.de
www.elinalaut.com
JULIAN VOGEL // CHINA SERIES #1 + #7
"China Series # 1" works with group dynamics: audience and performers move together in a square marked on the floor with white tape. Ceramic diabolos act as both a link and a delimitation between performer and audience and become the translator of the topics "trust" and "fragility". The performer influences the movements of the participants and in turn is influenced by them. This creates spontaneous situations of mutual manipulation, one controls and is controlled - with the responsibility of all involved.
”China Series #7” is an installation of broken porcelain diabolos, reassembled again with golden glue according to the Japanese tradition Kintsugi. The installation comes with a Catalogue of Objects.
Julian Vogel graduated from the Academy for Circus and Performance Arts in Tilburg (NL) and is co-founder of Compagnie Trottvoir und KLUB GIRKO.
VERENA SCHNEIDER // (T)RÄUME
The piece explores the question of how the performer's relationship to her performative practice (hand balancing, acrobatics, dance) is also reflected in her relationship to herself and others: an attempt to understand. An attempt to overcome fears and to be close to oneself and to life. The piece examines which impulses and emotions can arise in this process.
Verena is a trained hand balancer and dance acrobat who studied at FLIC in Turino (IT) and LE LIDO in Toulouse (FR). In her work she deconstructs handstand and movement technique.
ANA JORDAO // I AM (K)NOT
"I am (k)not" is a contemporary circus piece, inspired by Álvaro de Campos' poem 'Tabacaria'. This piece unites the disciplines of circus and dance to create a poetic universe that oscillates between obscurity and joy, between chaos and beauty, between tranquility and disquiet. The vertical rope is used both in the air and on the ground, and is explored as an object that gives rise to a multitude of forms.
Ana Jordao studied Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Edinburgh (UK) and graduated from DIE ETAGE (DE) specializing in Hand to hand acrobatics and dance acrobatics. Her work is based on a rich hybridity of circus and dance skills as well as her endless curiosity and openness to experiment.
Photo credits:
M. Stapf, Lisa Horvath, Sabino Caruso, Aurelia Eidenberger, Milan Szypura, Marylka Boerisson, G.Bitschi/C.Küster, Deutsch, Einar Kling-Odencrants, Josef Stiller, Igor Ripak, Aime Moralles, Circunstruction, Heike Mischewsky, Franzi Kreis, Tilman Pfäfflin, Laura Carrau, Maria Lisa Pichler, Igor Ripak, Tilmann Pfäfflin
