In 2011, circus as an art form had only recently entered into the circuits of artistic education at a university level and into artistic research. A working group at the Circus department Stockholm University of the Arts, formely knows as DOCH,  has been teaching, analyzing and documenting a particular course that concerned the methods of artistic exploration in circus. The purpose of the project was to address the following question: which pedagogical methods can we develop to prepare students for the methods of artistic exploration and research, specifically in circus? Or in other words: how can we learn the method of teaching the methods of artistic research in the field of circus? The described project was initiated and directed by Marie-Andrée Robitaille. This documentation was written by Camilla Damkjaer in collaboration with Marie-Andrée Robitaille and the presentation was made with the participation of circus students from the bachelor program in circus arts namely Nathalie Bertholio, Quim Giron Figuerola, Patrik Elmnert.

 The purpose of this research is to try to understand and be aware of what happens when space is transformed and the body becomes space.

Space understood as the place where bodies and movement are situated or inhabit, commonly characterised as unlimited, continuous or three-dimensional, as well as, on the other hand, a limited surface with common purposes. The physical body understood as that with mass, energy and three-dimensionality, which does not distinguish between human and non-human, material and living.

The manipulation of bodies as the action of manipulating with the hands, with other parts of the body or even with another instrument, is the idea of distorting reality, of transforming and transposing it. Through manipulation, or rather movement, space is changed and dialogues and stories are created. Since the concept of manipulation focuses on what the person wants to achieve, creating a hierarchy between bodies, and the concept of transformation can be understood as the exchange or dialogue between bodies, where everyone offers and receives, the term manipulation will be changed to transformation. Transforming space as a horizontal place where bodies and movement inhabit; understanding bodies as that human and non-human, material and living, and movement as the means by which they dialogue with each other and with space. The transformation of space as a leap from what has so far been known as the manipulation of objects, with the aim of understanding the relationship between bodies and space as a circus discipline through movement as dialogue.

As an aerial harness dance artist working with suspension, distortion of reality and shifting perspectives between the vertical and horizontal plane, I seek to understand what happens to space when it is transformed through a series of methodologies and methods. The methodologies employed focus on the practice of circus and dance, spatial architecture, the art therapy and the adaptation of bodies as pedagogy. In terms of methods, there is a difference between those that already exist, such as the study of concepts and other projects, and others that emerge as a result of the research. The latter are new methods, concepts such as movement as dialogue, horizontality as a multidimensional space [the breaking down of boundaries between human - non-human and space – body], limitation and control as possibility, vulnerability as a potential, bodies as spaces; as well as pause, adaptation, installation and observation as means to understand the transformation of space and the body as space.

Treat this study within the field of research of new materialism with the aim of developing the potential of interconnectedness, understood as that which reciprocally relates bodies occupying a space, and spaces occupying a body; the means of expression that arises between body and space; and the breaking down of barriers inside, such as between living and material bodies, space and body, or the human being and everything else; within the circus with the aim of transforming the space.

The art of circus is a vibrant and competitive culture that embraces new tools and technology. In this paper, a series of exploratory design processes resulting in proofs of concepts are presented, showing strategies for effective use of three different modes of sonic interaction in contemporary circus. Each design process is based on participatory studio work, involving professional circus artists. All of the proofs of concepts have been evaluated, both with studio studies and public circus performances, taking the work beyond theoretical laboratory projects and properly engaging the practice and culture of contemporary circus.The first exploration uses a contortionist’s extreme bodily manipulation as inspiration for sonic manipulations in an accompanying piece of music. The second exploration uses electric amplification of acoustic sounds as a transformative enhancement of existing elements of circus performance. Finally, a sensor based system of real-time sonification of body gestures is explored and ideas from the sonification of dance are translated into the realm of circus.

Creating immersive performance design using mycorrhizalstructure methodology and iceberg theory in circusperformance settingsWhat is immersive performance design and what role does ithave in a performance-based setting and frame? Does it holdthe possibility and capability of challenging the frame in whichwe normally perform?The focus of my research is to explore the boundaries of howwe approach devising performance with particular attentionto the relationships in space and the proximity of objects andparticipants within this. I am to create a performance-basedmilieu in which spectators, practitioners, the space andobjects are in symbiosis. A space of symbiosis where no oneperson has a different status from the other, but a space thatallows for people holding different roles. The performer andthe audience, the object and the body. My definition ofsymbiosis draws inspiration from the mycorrhizae funginetwork as a starting point for me to mould a methodologyadapted to a performative setting. To this milieu I incorporateother factors and concepts, such as the role of text, thedialogue of the still and quiet and how our senses-experienceaffect our perception. I attempt to weave these concerns intomy circus practices

A review of Book Review: Erika Hasebe-Ludt & Carl Leggo. (Eds.) Canadian Curriculum Studies: A Métissageof Inspiration/Imagination/Interconnection. Toronto: Canadian Scholars (2018).

This paper discusses asymmetrical gender treatment in circus schools where graduates obtain both an academic diploma and the competencies to begin a professional career in circus arts. The relatively recent global rise of professionalizing circus schools has both reflected and created the evolving landscape of contemporary circus performance. While students attend professionalizing circus schools to develop an artistic vocabulary, they also learn career management and become socialized into the norms of the circus industry. This paper summarizes the rise of professionalizing circus schools and explores key critiques levied at circus educational systems through the lens of gender equality. I then expand the scope of investigation to consider, from the perspective of circus schools, what factors might predicate gender disparity in circus education. In conclusion, I explore what actions can be taken by circus schools, circus students, and the circus community to favour gender parity.

Youth circus opportunities are part of a global expansion in circus arts practices. Although defined with different nuances in different locations, Youth circus is generally accepted to include any youth participating in learning circus skills for non-professional reasons, including recreation, physical education, and social contexts. Anecdotes describing the transformative and beneficial effects of learning circus abound. Research indicates that the introduction of circus arts to a broad youth population has been shown to increase motor competence, motor confidence, physical literacy, self-determination, and encourage risk assessment. This chapter describes how research describing the benefits from participating in youth circus can be understood within the framework of risky play. When engaging in risky play, youth test their own physical and emotional limits in order to develop strategies that will benefit them when encountering future risks. The opportunity to participate in risky play enables youth to learn to trust themselves and develop awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Learning circus offers a context for diverse, incremental, and individualized risk-taking, in environments where instructors and equipment provide risk-management. Looking at research results through the lens of risky play contributes to a description of youth circus as an enriching activity.

We, the three authors of this chapter, all come from professional careers in the circus arts. We also have a deep interest in and involvement with our academic domains, including physics, history, and education. We have found that combining circus arts with these traditionally academic subjects in academic institutions has motivated our students to engage with their own learning processes in unique ways. Through our discussions, we have identified three common ways in which students experience agency through the integration of circus practice and academic knowledges. First, students are able to build new knowledge from their domains of comfort into domains of discomfort. Second, combining embodied and academic knowledge expands student access to creative solutions, thereby expanding their knowledge horizons. Third, we notice that the collaboration inherent in the practice of circus arts enables community building, which, in turn, elicits the development of trust in new situations. We see each of these elements as foundational for social change. This chapter situates our findings in relation to theories of creativity that include quotidian, personal discoveries (Beghetto, 2010; Csikszentmihalyi,1997/2013; Sawyer, 2012) and theories of embodiment that show how the mind and body mutually inform and affect each other (Gallagher, 2006; Steinman,1995). We further contextualise our findings within the greater conversation of circus arts in education (Cadwell, 2018; Funk, 2018) and the long-term effects of learning arts on the development of other knowledges.

Introduction: After more than a decade monitoring physical education instruction in Brazilian elementary schools we noticed an exponential increase in circus activities in both curricular physical education (PE) and in after-school programs. The purpose of this study was to analyze the children's participation and gender preferences in circus activities, with regard to recent studies reporting substantial gender inequalities in Brazilian PE.

Method: A qualitative study, based on multiple-cases design, was conducted in two public and six private Brazilian elementary schools. Data collection consisted of 17 semi-structured interviews with PE teachers and school administrators and in situ observations totalizing more than 130 h. The data were analyzed using Content Analysis (thematic categories).

Results: Boys and girls showed high participation levels in both curricular and extracurricular PE circus activities. In grades 1–5, participant activity preference was not linked to gender in either curricular or extracurricular situations and overall physical engagement was high. Gender preferences between activities were identified in grades 6–12: girls for aerial activities (trapeze, silks) and boys for juggling activities. Teacher preferences played an important role in the process of linking activities to specific genders both through modeled behavior and gendered encouragement of participants.

Conclusion: Circus instruction engages children of all genders and is thereby an effective activity to counter low participation in PE for boys and, especially, girls. Although circus activities are not inherently gendered, gender preferences are cultivated by teachers through gendered behavior modeling (their activity preferences) and encouragement strategies (guiding students to activities based on gender), which is often observed in traditional PE school activities and sports.

There is limited information available to assist evidence-supported detection and referral of mental, social, and physical health issues affecting performance in circus artists. Therefore, this study examines mental, social, and physical health of artists in 2 circus settings (circus school, professional circus). The specific aims were to assess overall health and develop data-informed wellness screening methods in these populations, assisting referral guidelines for performance and health optimization. A comprehensive psychometrically validated battery of standardized measures was administered to 109 professional circus artists employed by Cirque du Soleil and students enrolled in the National Circus School. Compared with students, professionals reported significantly fewer problems with social isolation, fatigue, and factors that interfere with circus performance specific to shows/evaluations; they also reported greater satisfaction in their social roles and overall circus performance. Professionals also reported significantly less severe depression, and greater receipt of emotional and informational support compared with normative samples. Scores of students were similar to those of normative samples, although their scores measuring anxiety and fatigue were higher. There were no significant differences between professionals and students in perceived interferences during training, or circus-related problems with coaches and classmates/coworkers. For all participants, scores on measures of mental, social, and physical health were negatively associated with factors reported to interfere with circus performance. Participant responses to the measures were used to develop guidelines to facilitate detection of factors interfering with performance and to assist informed referrals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The artistic research, Kehrä/ Kehrae is done together with Myrsky Rönkä, with significant ropes, places and spaces, creatures and histories. This paper is subtitled entwining possible worlds. It implies alternative possibilities for prevailing modern western ways to live and die and circus.

There are three big questions in the air: What is the meaning of circus? What does it mean to be alive? And how could circus care (the existence of life within the earth)?

The starting point was a concern about the troubling state of life and the world how it is today and how the modern western circus felt paradoxical and incapable of responding to the current times in sustainable ways. The initial question was, how to combine circus and other aspects of life into one sustainable, or regenerative and renewable practice. In order to seek other, latent realities this research goes beyond modern western circus history, beyond modern western worldview, and beyond “ordinary” circus practice. 

The guiding idea is: life is circus, circus is life. Therefore the practice in this research is a collection of “whatever we were doing”. To mention some with great importance: whirling, meditation, becoming-with rope, making and mapping space with ropes and strings, dwelling with nature, and sauna. The other idea is to go through liminality and evoke communitas, with circus practice, bodies, ropes, and others.  This means abandoning accustomed ways to train and think about circus and life. Because of its nature, this work is also opening up what could spiritual (circus) practice mean as an alternative to a mechanistic way of thinking and making.

The ontology of this research is animistic and relational, which suggests care, respect, reciprocity, and response-ability in all of our relations and takes into account the circulative nature of time and life. Animistic ontology takes materiality and skill towards the idea of becoming-with, when becoming into who and what happens in relational material-semiotic worlding.

During the process, some specific features, or dwelling places for circus, emerged. Those are circus and play, circus and liminality, circus and shamanism, circus and others. In these dwelling places lies the deep powers of circus to be inversive and subversive, simultaneously transformative and sustaining: the mythical power of circus.

Through the final artistic outcome Kehrä/ Kehrae, this paper is entwining the strings of the research together as a temporary gathering to be unraveled and intertwined into one again. 

This is a thesis - supposedly. It could also be a performance if you want. As an object it is detachable in that you can pick it up. Or download it. This thesis has edges. It has protrusions, indentations, connections and holes. Lots and lots of holes. That is because this is a thesis about and consisting of affordances. That is to say something that offers interaction. We’ll get into that in a bit. Suffice to say, my hope is that you feel free to read it or play with it in any way you see fit. Turn it into a paper airplane to see if it flies or set it on fire to warm your hands. Rearrange the pages if you want. This might affect the red thread that ties the pages all together, but that’s all the thread was there for. To tie things up and as something to hold onto.With that said, somewhere amongst all the following words, I’d like to think that there is something at least nominally related to Circus. That is because this is supposed to be a thesis about Contemporary Circus Practices. Well….about my own contemporary circus practice in any case. It feels kind of empowering to call my circus practice contemporary though, I must say.Com –Latin. Meaning with or together, and Tempus-Latin. Meaning time. With the times then! Though in all honesty it is probably a very anachronistic, sin temporary circus practise at best.Hmmm…remind me to look into the affordances of time.

The thesis could be described as a performative, reflexive review of my circus practice. Followingapproaches to writing that situate text as part of a practice, such as Jane Rendell's Site Writing, thatlooks at art criticism as a form of architecture, I approach writing as a form of circus. I think this holdstrue whether we adopt the position of circus as the place where events unfold (as in the circus tent) orthat it is the events themselves. I would note that this is not a unique proposition, and follows theprinciples of my classmates & the direction of my course leader. Crucial to understanding this thesis is adecision to start from an approach to circus from a point of view that considers circus as theperformance of the relationship between body, object & environment (following Sebastian Kann 2018).In the same way that my movement practice explores and performs this relationship, so does this text. Istarted out writing this thesis as a performance of the relationship between bodies, objects andenvironments. This works towards an expanded view of what circus could be, operating in a similar veinto notions of expanded choreography. I am hesitant to separate the practices of choreography fromcircus (as is sometimes the case with choreography and dance) - so as to avoid producing a Cartesian riftbetween body (dance) and choreography (mind) and a division between art (choreography) and craft(dance) - as discussed by Bojana Cvejic in the introduction to Choreographing Problems. It could beargued that in this instance, there is a body of text, an object of discussion and an environment ofacademia - though, as you will discover, I find the boundaries of body, object & environment areslippery and shift register (in line with my movement practice).

This study offers insight into the process and frst-hand experience of quitting circus. The focus lies in the defning of acts of stopping as a consciouschoice. Stopping is generally seen as negative and unproductive as it caneasily be associated with giving up or failing, and therefore seems to be anunlikely and unworthy subject to be researched. But in the artist’s opinion thedecision to stop carries a consciousness and a creative potential, which qualifes Quitting as a research subject. A substantial part of the research was devoted to defning and redefning the subject’s borders, as well as its heart. Within these explorations, concepts of phenomenology, psychology, storytelling,deconstruction, vibrant materiality and memoir-writing were discovered andrevealed. As a circus performer in transition, the artist was guided throughher research journey by sharing her own story of starting and stopping circus,sharing insights gained through reflective writing and self-observation. These were further enhanced by participating in physical and performance exercises and movement improvisations.Quitting’s potentiality is anticipated inspaces of resistance, moments of inertia, in the motivation for stopping, andin the felds between the old and the ‚not yet‘. This inspired the investigationof symptoms like training, repetition, pressure, perfection and identifcation.

The initial defnition of Quitting as an ‚Intended Un-becoming‘ in a cleansingact of creating a new, unspoilt and authentic starting point was confrontedwith the realization that consequent Quitting would result in death. This challenged the project’s realizability and led to a confrontation with questionsabout achievement and performance. The abandoning of an impossible concept while continuing to pursue the project, presented Quitting as a paradoxand indicated possible new approaches.

Recognizing the act of letting go as an individual event, and practices of realigning and re-synchronization as a generating of the potential that was searched for in Quitting, established the telling of Quitting Stories as a Making ofSpace. Storytelling and interviews with Quitters, practitioners and therapistsare therefore the main practice and expression of this research.

Understanding Quitting’s paradoxical nature enabled its potential as an artistic practice, by presenting subjects in an unexpected way and allowing themto be seen in a new way. Quitting as an artistic practice is an intended futurecontinuation of the research.

In September 2018 I started my research project at the Master of contemporary circus practices at DOCH, Stockholm. Much has happened since then. 2018 turned into 2021. The school changed its name to SKH. The world turned into a pandemic battle zone. I turned into a mother of two. Little things, big things. Life.The following is a compilation of material from the last 2½ years. It is made like this to provide insight into an unusual process. A research project where the obstacles during the process ended up being the theme of the project.It is structured as followed:Old text material is kept in its original shape, even when it is painful (!) for me to go back and read it. I have shortened some sections and deleted irrelevant parts even though I know that what seems irrelevant today can become relevant tomorrow. Repetitions will likely occur, some on purpose, others not.Old texts taken from school reports are in blue like this. Blue, for me the color of balance. When I balance on my hands, I see myself in and surrounded by blue shades when I maintain balance and in white when I fall.Extracts from a diary written during this writing process are in red like this. Blood red. Written during a lockdown where I felt quite melodramatic hence the color.A script I wrote to my classmates is in green, the color of... hope? Definitely of new life.New reflections are added, some to explain the research further, others to engage in a critical dialogue with my voice of the past. All new thoughts are in black like this. These texts are the narrator of the story, the guide of the exhibition, the detective of the disappeared meaning, the curator of the mess

What happens when circus artists get in the studio and throw gender, circus practice, history, sexuality,body image, theatre, writing, devising, drag and movement into one big melting pot? This thesisattempts to answer this question. Using Barbette (a genderbending circus artist active in the early-mid20th century) as catalyst, frame and partner in this research, I set out to develop what I’ve named “theopen source play”: an innovative performance-making tool that would enable fellow circus practitionersto become active creators, guiding them in devising an autobiographical show through the lenses ofcircus history and queer theory. I began by fleshing out Barbette: his life, his person and personae asreflected through both primary and secondary sources, and within the wider historical context of dragperformance. I then investigated my own personal relationship to this research, extracting interactionsand testing the roads I envision other devising artists might travel when engaging with The BarbetteProject. Taking a step back, I examined the history of female circus artists and the tropes surroundingthem — constructing a lens for gendered analysis of circus performance which I then applied tocontemporary aerial acts that play with gender. Adding on layer after layer, I concocted The BarbetteProject’s open source play and mapped out the various methods and approaches it takes. Evaluating thetwo-year period of research, I traced the devising and creation process as it unfolded over four stages ofResearch & Development conducted with diverse teams in different environments. As for the result ofthis research, I borrow from the words of poet T.S. Elliott: “We shall not cease from exploration / Andthe end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”

This research was based on the idea of creating a space of encounter and of an encounter in space. The initial idea was to create a participatory/immersive installation framed within relational aesthetics and contemporary circus: focusing on a vital language that celebrates movement /dance, play, imagination and the magic of life. But through the process I left the concept of installation and I aim for an encounter space: blurring the boundaries with fields such as Movement, Dance Theatre, Improvisation, Circus, etc… A research to explore and develop the relationship with others, specially the audience. And how the audience can become a participant through 1-2-1 performances. Furthermore, I wanted to focus on the process of the research (inspirations, methodology, detect obstacles, making space…) rather than the outcome. The main thread is: Connecting with the “Self” state. ____reVisionesA research in how to facilitate a state of connection, essence, spontaneity and honesty to oneself, though around the idea of an immersive experience for the visitor/participant. “reVisiones” aims to create a space of encounter where participants can focus on awareness of the connection between their Body/Mind/Spirit: a "Transitional Space" where they can observe, be moved or move within as they please.

This is an investigation of the trick as it relates to three fields; gravity, language and capital.

   I will fully break down and unpack what I mean by ‘trick’ later in this introduction, in the mean time I refer to it as something that refutes the systemic validity of the system through which it proceeds.

   It is a proposal of how circus physicality might be structurally related to a method of ‘circus thinking’ that likewise moves through restrictive fields in order to refute the authority of those fields. In this way the trick is offered as a tool.

   This is an investigation of how that thinking might operate in any field.

Three distinct kinds of trick are discussed in each of the three aforementioned fields:

TRICK ONE: exposes the limits of a system.

TRICK TWO: conceals the limits of a system.

TRICK THREE: jumps out of the system entirely.

The approach I have taken is to think of these three tricks as occurring within fields of value; in which there are two separate registers: the qualitative and the quantitative.

   For me then what is exposed, concealed or jumped out of is something I feel is inherent to the subject’s position within a field of value. This is the conflation of incompatible registers of value.

   This conflation, or false union, is discussed as a cause of tautology within the field that can lead to either subjective or systemic compromise, depending on how the trick is performed.

   As such the main internal relation of the trick for me, and its place in relation to the formal limits of the system through which it proceeds, is one of contradiction, paradox, impasse, bind or knot.

The trick is therefore is proposed as a tool for reconfiguring systems of value; in that its relation to exposing or concealing tautology define how the system of value is perceived; ether as limited or total, respectively.

The work speculates upon systemic restriction and interrogates, through its transposition as a mechanism of tautology, what the trick is supposed to ‘do’. This is done in awareness of what circus practice supposes about itself as well as the way circus is embedded in fields of value as it makes proposals about mobility, agency and individual freedom within them.

Parts of this text are marked in red as ‘additional reading’ and in this regard I think of the entire work as an encampment of sideshow booths. You will not have time to visit them all. I have clearly marked in red those that cannot be read, and are outside your temporal economy.

In times of climate catastrophe, refugee crises and Covid-19, the question of the responsibility that artists and scholars have is becoming increasingly urgent. What is the role of circus within society? How far does this form of art and entertainment correlate with historical and contemporary social interests? How does circus research position itself as a relevant field of research within academia in the 21st century? Those questions will be explored within the series Adventures in Circus Research– Facing a New Decade, curated by academic Dr. Franziska Trapp. By featuring circus researchers, we give them the space to explain the nature and significance of their research directly to the circus community and to highlight the practical impact of their research on the circus world and its relevance for society. 

In the sixth article of the series, Marie-Andrée Robitaille, PhD at the faculty of Artistic research at Stockholm University of the Arts in Sweden, provides insights into her doctoral artistic project in which she searches for ethical alternatives to human exceptionalism in circus art.

Problematic assumptions which see humans as special and easily defined as standing apart from animals, plants, and microbiota, both consciously and unconsciously underpin scientific investigation, arts practice, curation, education, and research across the social sciences and humanities. This is the case particularly in those traditions emerging from European and Enlightenment philosophies. Posthumanism disrupts these traditional humanist outlooks and interrogates their profound shaping of how we see ourselves, our place in the world, and our role in its protection.

In Posthumanism in Practice, artists, researchers, educators, and curators set out how they have developed and responded to posthumanist ideas across their work in the arts, sciences, and humanities, and provide examples and insights to support the exploration of posthumanism in how we can think, create, and live. In capturing these ideas, Posthumanism in Practice shows how posthumanist thought can move beyond theory, inform action, and produce new artefacts, effects, and methods that are more relevant and more useful for the incoming realities for all life in the 21st century.

Amidst the fourth industrial revolution, the sixth mass extinction, global warming, and a world pandemic, humans face an increasing amount of complex and challenging crises on planet Earth. Over the years 2020 and 2021, the performing arts sector has been paralyzed and now in 2022 we are oscillating between coming back to normal and moving to a new normal. Our modes of creation, production, and dissemination have been disrupted. On a larger eco-socio-political scale, during the pandemic, the impacts of human activities on Earth seem to have been made more distinctly visible, inviting us to ask: what does it mean to be human today? More specifically, however, the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing circus artists to revise how we work and think about circus arts. What does it mean to be a circus artist today? How can circus arts remain relevant? And what connections might circus arts have with the wider question of human involvement in the world?

The research cluster Vulnerability as Virtuosity is to collectively examine human and more-than-human vulnerabilities within

the context of crisis, with a specific focus on exploring the following questions:

- How are human responses and vulnerabilities understood and manifested across different

fields and disciplines?

- How can vulnerabilities be addressed fairly and sustainably?

- What insights can be gained from human and more-than-human vulnerabilities?

- How can the diverse knowledge on vulnerability from various fields be shared and

leveraged?

- What practices can be initiated to align vulnerability with a more sustainable and just

world?"

My doctoral artistic research project, Circus as Practices of Hope, responds to the growing complexities emerging from the convergence of the fourth industrial revolution, the sixth mass extinction, and the eco-socio-political turmoil of our time. What does it mean to be human today? What does it mean to be a circus artist today? How is circus relevant in today’s context? 

 Core to this inquiry is the assertion that although circus arts hold the potential to foster significant knowledge, they simultaneously perpetuate outdated worldviews that restrict their transgressive potential. With this research, I investigate alternatives to regressive models of thoughts and modes of composition, aiming to identify and articulate circus’ inherent epistemic, ontological, and ethical specificities and their relevance for navigating and steering the current planetary paradigm shift.

I conducted my research through embodied practices as a circus artist, as a pedagogue, and from the perspective of a human on Earth. My inquiry occurred through Multiverse, an iterative series of compositional performative experiments and discursive activities. I engaged critical posthumanism and neo-materialist philosophies to challenge and evolve my relation to risk, mastery, and virtuosity. 

 The project conceptualizes circus arts as nomadic and fabulatory practices, culminating in a series of artistic, choreographic, and conceptual tools and methods that articulate circus arts within and beyond their disciplinary boundaries. The project advances a philosophy of circus that highlights circus-specific kinetic, aesthetic, and embodied relevancies in today’s context, situating circus arts as hopeful practices for the future. 

My research is about Rope Design. The design of, but more importantly, by and with the ropes. I have worked with ropes all my life, in many ways; sailing, circus, rigging, knots, etc. They have had a big impact on me and my life. In my research I am looking at what they can do and who or what they can be. On stage, in my practice and in my daily life. With me, as well as without me. I want to find an equal partnership with them, where I acknowledge that we both have agency and where both of us constantly keep changing and learning from each other. I am discovering how they can change my movement and the way I look at the world.

First of all, my research is not only my research but our research. It has been made together with my long-time art companion Marjut Hernesniemi. The starting point for our research was our experience of the western modern circus, what it does, and how it cares for the cosmos. From our experience, the western modern circus is based on techniques, risk, danger, and spectacle. Human is in the center of it, often presented as superhuman controlling and manipulating everything. By looking at the current situation in the world, human domination has caused us problems in a form of climate change and other ecological crises such as mass extinction. However, there are different ways of relating to the world. In this research we have looked beyond the western modern circus, to the roots of circus in China and Japan, and to the archaic rituals, to find other ways of relating to the world through circus and trying to bring them to the present day. This research was set out with the question of trying to combine circus and other aspects of life as one sustainable or regenerative practice. The theoretical framework of the research has been ritual. The thought behind that has been the efficacy of the ritual in contrast to entertainment. That is circus can make a difference. From an animistic perspective, the purpose of the ritual is to sustain and renew, preserve or bring back the balance between the psyche, body, social, cosmic, and circle of life. With this in mind, we have made use of the anti-structure of liminality as a playground while working in the studio. In this playground, we have not been bound by the custom, convention, or ceremonials of the western modern circus. Instead, we’ve had the possibility to play. Use the definition of western modern circus as a launching pad and try to run as far as possible, but still have the connection point as the one that we left from. The rules of the play were simple, such as we don’t climb the rope, you are not allowed to hurt the rope, instead of objects, materials of becoming, instead of human exceptionalism, appreciation of the other, what if there was no human on stage. All these rules created different possibilities. 

While in liminality we have been bound by another thing that can appear in a liminal phase, communitas. Communitas as an unstructured communion of equal individuals working towards a collective task with full attention. In our communitas, the task has been a sustainable circus. Moreover, in our communitas, ropes and nature were included as equals. Together we have been imagining and making different kinds of possible futures. These relations between us, nature, and the ropes have been intimate relations. During the process of making, humans have been ”affected” as much as the significant other. 

Our task was to combine circus and other aspects of life as one sustainable or regenerative practice. As performances in circus consist of ritualized gestures that show the relationship between us and the cosmos, we need to rethink what we are presenting. To find a more sustainable and regenerative future, we need collective survival skills instead of individual ones. These survival skills should include all life in its diversity. For change to happen liminality, communitas and play are all needed. Liminality to open up a playground outside of the structured society. Play to come up with solutions to challenges. Communitas to form a special bond between the players, speak for the weak, and not forget that we work for the same cause. 

Circus can transform, however it requires that the artists are willing to go through the liminal space themselves and take circus with them.

Freedom through restriction is an artistic project which investigates movement, freedom of expression and the value of restrictions in creative processes, through my experience. Through this study, I aim to develop innovative methods to encourage myself and fellow practitioners to connect with the body, to expand awareness and knowledge of the circus practice through the self, and to think through movement for creative, artistic, and pedagogical purposes. The source material is videos of my movement research, relevant literature and texts that I have been writing throughout the two-year Master Programme at the Stockholm University of the Arts.I start by introducing the concept of restricted verticality, an involuntary alteration of the normalized environment of aerial disciplines, where the vertical space is stripped to the minimum. Adaptation, sensing, rope manipulation are methods extrapolated from the exploration of the limited vertical space. Learning to shift conditions voluntarily becomes a method to unlock new possibilities and to acquire deeper knowledge of the circus practice. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a less anthropocentric approach to circus apparatus and a shift in virtuosity that differ to the standardized ones of athletic prowess and dominance over the objects, to enable circus artists to become active creators and improve a sense of availability towards other animate and inanimate bodies. The last chapter is dedicated to my Final Major Project, a physical representation of my study at the end of the Master course, and how this experience informed my practice further.Restriction is throughout a framed space of investigation, where environment, bodies and task-based improvisation approaches are all intended as spaces within which there is an infinite number of possibilities to explore freely and discover their full potentialities. The mutual relationship between restriction and freedom of movement is opportunity for artistic research processes.

CARD consisted of a dense program with 27 different presentations and activi­ties. The hope was to address artistic research in circus in the intersection be­tween physical practice, reflections on practice and theory. The event therefore consisted of keynote lectures, performances, presentations of methods, presen­tations by emerging artists, and not least: a four day workshop led by 4 invited group leaders.The key note speakers were: Tilde Björfors, John-Paul Zaccarini, Jean­Michel Guy and Rolf Hughes. They all presented their point of view on artistic research in circus and at the same time put forward a specific question that the participants would continue working on during the workshop in the afternoon.The workshops were guided by four group leaders: Ivar Hecksher, Nalle Laanela, Jean-Michel Guy and Maksim Komaro. The group leaders guided the groups in their work on the question as they transformed it into discussions and physical experiments.CARD also contained sessions where artists presented their methods. Thus Ilona Jäntti , Paola Rizza, and Daniel Gulko shared their methods with the par­ticipants. In addition to this, the emerging artists Marie-Louise Masreliez, Jacob Cold, Celso Pereira and Francesca Lissia presented their work.During CARD several performances were also presented. The Company La Scabreuse presented [ TAlTEUL ] created by Jean-Michel Guy, Nathan Israel, Julie Mondor, Tom Neal and Jordi L.Vidal. La Scabreuse also presented a work­in-progress: LARD -a creation project by Nathan Israel, Volodia Lesluin and Paola Rizza. In addition to this Hona Jäntti presented two solos: Muualla/Else­where and Footnotes. The performances were discussed by the participants of CARD, lead by Monica Sörensson, Cilla Roos and Nalle Laanela.

The purpose of this study is to unravel, demystify and expose a framework of artistic research, which emerges from an examination of the Hair Hanging technique, by deconstructing its being bound by conventions. I call this “conventional boundedness”*. And in doing so, to suggest the possibilities of practically embodying various modes of energy flow, applied through the practice, as an artistic foundation for the potential development of a contemporary approach to Hair Hanging. Illusion, making space and connectivity are the main pillars to set the context for this study. This work is an attempt to provide a framework for the analysis and development of contemporary HH practices and the qualities of movement it carries, arising primarily from an inner look to oneself and spatial approaches.My research period started on September of 2019 and lasted till December of 2022 during my studies in the postgraduate program of the Stockholm University of Arts, “Contemporary Circus Practices”.My research procedure revolves around the questions: What would it mean to “release hair hanging in space”? How can I find the freedom while doing my discipline? Or in other words, how can I bring the sense of releasing my aerial technique? How can I release the many paradigms within the aerial technique that I see as “subjective blocks”, on its development? What concerned me is how I could unravel ways of expanding the hair hanging’s borders, so I could develop connections and interact with what surrounds me and myself. Here and now and all around. And, to observe what these processes will bring to my body.During my research I found out that there are no borders between me and my discipline, so I refer to it as “we”. I questioned myself several times; could we share common needs for connection and a deeper real bonding with the outside world? Liberty and emotions, interaction and space have become topics of my focus.

The research investigates the transposition of circus performance to the aural and sonic realm asking the question:  How and can circus exist in and through sound? 

There is an object/artefact of circus and a subject/process that makes it. This research considers the subject of the circus-making in order to bring it to the foreground of future discussions about pedagogy, practice and production.  If the shift from Traditional to New Circus brought with it changes in education – the incorporation of theatre and dance – then the emerging Contemporary Circus may need a more refined set of tools to facilitate its creative growth. This thesis sets out how psychoanalytic theories can be adapted and its key practices adopted to bring about this shift from New to Contemporary Circus in pedagogic practice.

                             The practice tends to the subject that is traditionally mute in the face of the demands of circus, to which it complies becoming an object with minimal agency. Psychoanalytic praxis is adapted to give the subject a voice in order to develop a methodology specific to circus; circoanalysis. Following Freud it starts with the analogy of the circus act and the dream, the proposition that both are productions of the unconscious and contain hidden meanings and desires disguised by the formal content. It continues with the analogy of the symptom, which must be repeated for the partial and ambiguous satisfaction of unconscious desire and is at the threshold of the somatic and the psychic. Winnicott's theory of play is utilised to examine how artists explore and work through certain aspects of anxiety provoking psychic content in their work. Anxiety, in its Lacanian formulation, present in both circus and the consulting room, provides the key to understanding the importance of the Other in the act. Circus, like psychoanalysis, needs its other to recount its story to. Over one hundred research participants, students and professionals, engaged in the practices of questionnaires, focus groups, consultations, interviews and extended periods of circotherapy.

                             The thesis describes the development of a technique of talking through the manifest, formal content of the circus act in order to get to the unconscious desires that create it. The act is then seen as a symbolic compromise formation enveloping a kernel of real jouissance. In a series of case studies hysteria, obsessive neurosis, masochism, paranoid fantasy and melancholia are seen both as a series of subject positions with regard to circus and its spectator and as ways of managing an excessive enjoyment. Circus is put into a new context as a healing practice for its practitioners, whether in the form of repetition compulsion that turns bad objects into good ones or as a homeopathic self-immunisation against pain, anxiety and the relation to the Other. It casts new light on the problematic the circus has with the theatrical performance tropes of character and narrative which emerge as disavowals of this latent content and relation to the Other and suggests that a move forward, beyond this Other of the circus, implies a certain form of mourning.

A report on the development project The Melancholy of Lost Movements which used video, circus, hip-hop and spoken word performance to develop visibility of coloured, queer themes and artists in the circus field. The following literary work is one of the outputs.

PDF with three mounted images. Excerpts of three newspaper articles, related to Paul Cinquevalli (1859-1918).

The collective artistic research project Fabulation for Future reflects on the change of perspectives and new ways of perceiving a world shaken by multiple crises in the context of the Anthropocene. In particular, climate change in conjunction with the novel coronavirus has led to controversial debates about the future and exposed the vulnerability of the human-Earth relationship. Considering this background, the project’s artistic research process designs a collective, critical rethinking of the human condition with the goal of finding artistic ways to create post-anthropocentric worldviews for a sustainable future in which human and non-human species can coexist in sympoiesis.

The goal is to build a worldwide network of thinkers, artists and filmmakers who likewise affect and involve other actors. The envisioned network is to operate in the form of a fictive International Committee to Save the Earth through Speculative Fabulation, preparing discourses, artistic actions, fabulative concepts, speculative narratives, and videos that are presented in the digital online exhibition How to Become a Posthuman. The project emphasizes the new significance of digital proximity for our increasingly posthuman way of life.

Christine Reeh-Peters and Fee Altmann started Fabulation for Future in September 2021 with an international online summer school Masterclass Artistic Research in Film and Philosophy hosted by the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Conceived as a combination of a five-day symposium Intra-Activity: the Posthuman, Fabulation and Matter and a five-day workshop, this summer school was the creative basis for the development of artitstic projects that will soon be presented in form of a joint online exhibition.

Sex, death, seduction, trauma and an intimate yet distanced relationship to an amorous other: circus and psychoanalysis have much in common. This book looks to the story circus tells when it is on the couch; a love story of impossible desires, improbable fantasies deeply indebted to masochism and utopian longing. However, trapped as it is in its conservative and narcissistic aesthetics of infatuation – stunning, erotic and impressive – its queer core of anti-normative and anarchic desire has been co-opted as the poster-child for neoliberal success. This work looks to its fundamental and disavowed romance with failure to show how progressive its thinking could be.

Some of these pieces were made to explain something. Some were made as therapies, as pieces of closure. So I could move on and make other things. Some of these pieces were made so that other things could be made, by others. Tools then, although they have the look of artifacts. Hidden in the artifact is a tool and that is the process, which is where the writing comes in, as a means to mop up the unwarranted excess that is not permitted at the site of performance. (Appendices 1 and 2.) Many of them, I hope, expose process. Since I’m not that interested in final product. Which means they have the texture of the unfinished, because it probably will not be me that will finishes them. There was an exhibition element which you experience on entering. There was a lecture element which I guess started the second I said hello. Also a performance element, and I'm not quite sure when that started, if at all, since part of the ambition of this project was to break down the barriers between artist and other. A writing element too, that informs it all but really only comes into being when you read and finally a fairground element which emerged slowly as spectators were asked to participate in our actions. These elements were sometimes not discretely parceled in this piece, a form of which you are reading now. They formed compounds, some of which were stable some of which are not and so continue to have life. This amounts to a 32-day research project taking off from the concluding paragraphs of my PhD in psychoanalysis and circus - in those paragraphs I hoped that within circus practice, within each circus practice there was an ethics at play that the circus itself, as an apparatus of the market repressed and excluded. That in the product, (this does not only go for circus) the ethical dimension was unwanted or unwarranted, an excess and therefore the possibility of any political dimension or potential was foreclosed. Let me be clear - I'm saying that ethics are the precondition for politics, they are meta-politics or proto-politics. So, an exploration of ethics, this comportment or orientation towards the other, came to be the focus, as if I could not even begin to explore the socio-political dimension of circus before I had dealt with its potential ethics. To get at this ethics one would have to phenomenologically bracket what one could term the manifest values of circus – the ones it proudly displays – to extract a practice that was no longer circus, whose central, organising motivation was not circus. What else could be that central organizational point that would draw into its orbit the appropriate signifiers with which to write an ethics? Well, the human beings that do it might be a good start, I thought. If some of this seems naïve to you, it could be that I have tried to cultivate a momentary wonder at what appears to us as simple things, simple processes. I place a lot of emphasis on child-like desire in circus, on a simplicity and directness of experimentation and reality-testing that is difficult to complicate or problematise due to the sheer gain of pleasure. So, having done the psychoanalytic account of that pleasure I decided to focus on the materials that get produced, the materials that get the thing produced. I became fascinated again with the human body, and the kind of ethics it might imply. The report that follows aims, like the presentation, at a popular readership and is the ground work for a Research application and is therefore not fully referenced.