This project and collaboration emerged from a basement. It began with an archivist noticing that he was carrying the same clown boxes on the same day to two different tables, and eventually moved these tables together, thus introducing two curious researchers… While researching on historical circus practice around the turn of the 20th century I was wondering where I could find the book on the relations of the avant-gardes with circus. And when I met Anna-Sophie for a drink after we were introduced to each other by a librarian in Berlin it became clear: We actually need to make this book.

Thus, the result of this encounter is a book, an edited collection with contributions of 15 authors and artists: Circus and the Avant-Gardes, History, Imaginary, Innovation. This book examines to what extent circus and avant-garde connections contribute to a better understanding of early twentieth-century artistic movements and their enduring legacy, of the history of popular entertainment, and the cultural relevance of circus arts. The book also draws inspiration from two conferences that we organised in 2020 on „Circus and the Avant-Gardes“ at the Cluster of Excellence 2020 „Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective“ of the Freie University Berlin, Germany and at the Institute of Theatre Studies of the University of Bern, Switzerland. „Circus and the Avant-Gardes“ thus created itself through the spellbinding power of its historical material, which, it seems, wanted to be studied, mapped, traced back (and forward), analysed and interpreted.

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Publications:

Jürgens, Anna-Sophie & Hildbrand, Mirjam: Circus and the Avant-Gardes, History, Imaginary, Innovation. Routledge 2022.

Hildbrand, Mirjam & Jürgens, Anna-Sophie, „Somersaulting Out of the Archive: Facets of Circus Studies in German-Speaking Countries“, in: Circus Talk, 04.05.2020  

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Conference reports:

Hildbrand, Mirjam & Jürgens, Anna-Sophie, „Circus Arts and the Avant-Gardes“, in: w/k – Zwischen Wissenschaft und Kunst, 09.04.2020 

Hildbrand, Mirjam & Jürgens, Anna-Sophie, „Circus & the Avant-Gardes: Between Science and Art“, in: w/k – Zwischen Wissenschaft und Kunst, 14.06.2020 

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[credits]

The two „Circus and the Avant-Gardes“ conferences were co-funded and supported by the Fund for the Promotion of Young Researchers and the Institute of Theatre Studies of the University of Bern, Switzerland, as well as the Cluster of Excellence 2020 “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective” of the Freie University of Berlin, Germany.  

The book benefited enormously from the critical comments and editorial support of Dr Rebecca Hendershott and Dr Bert Peeters, as well as the intellectual contribution of our brilliant Research Assistant, PhD candidate Aiden Essery.

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