The Circus
The origin of the modern circus has been attributed to Philip Astley, an English cavalry officer who set up the first modern stage for the display of horse riding tricks in Lambeth, London on 4 April 1768. Astley did not originate trick horse riding, nor was he first to introduce acts such as acrobats and clowns to the English public, but he was the first to create a space where all these acts were brought together to perform a show.
I always had to deal with a question: What happens in a particular space when is being occupied by the circus. Where this space belong? Typically, it continues to be part of the state or the city which hosting the circus. But, simultaneously, the circus sets up a new regime, a new order in which reality and fiction are not separated nor distinguished. Within the space of the circus, it doesn’t matter what is true or what is false, what is real and what is not.
The circus is being populated by no men or women. Its inhabitants are characters without gender, characters whose origin is lost in time but we all recognize them. Characters with big smiles, out loud voices, colored clothes, and glitter hair. Characters with strong muscles and erotic bodies, who can fly without wings or fall without being hurt.
These characters have nothing to do with the actors in the theater. In theater, we all know that any character is temporarily present on stage. After performing the character ceases to exist and the actor will get rid of its costume and makeup and leave the scene.
But in the circus, the clown is always the clown nor somebody behind the red nose. The Acrobat continues to ignore gravity after the show. The Juggler is sleeping with his arms up, the Ringmaster never stops talking, everything within the circus is in constant movement.
The circus is the world of no heroes nor ordinary people, is a world of possibilities, of collective memory, of legends and myths, of visions and dreams. Once you enter into this world, you will never be the same again.
I took pictures in circuses several times. But each time I had this deja vu feeling that I am in the same place even though the surroundings were not exactly the same. I am sure that there are no different circuses around the world. Just one with different forms, just one.
