To promote contemporary circus creation, from 2019 till 2022 we offered an artistic residencies program.
Here the selected artists and companies have the opportunity to further develop their artistic projects for two weeks at different locations in Cologne. An overview of all residencies can be found here.
Breno Caetano and Sergi Parés‘ artistic works span the fields of circus, dance and installation. Their choreographies are an expression of a curious practice of exploring bodies and their possibilities. In their new work under their own authorship, the two now meet as a duet. Cornerstone is influenced by cultural, social and historical perspectives on human evolution. Breno Caetano and Sergi Parés use their bodies as instruments and in this way question the basic principles of power as well as our positioning and bias towards it. The means of choice are fine ropes that create connections and dependencies between two bodies and make them visible. Their piece becomes a physical manifesto for a necessity of consideration and trust that must always be remembered and renegotiated. About this work we also created a documentary and had a talk with the two artists.
Sinking Sideways, that’s Xenia Bannuscher (DE) and Dries Vanwalle (BE). They work at and with the interface between circus and dance. Dries‘ roots are in circus, Xenia’s roots are in dance. And her discipline dance acro is inspired by both art forms.
Sinking Sideway’s first production called René is based on a single movement that is repeated over and over again. Two bodies in space, moving in the same rhythm, never standing still. It invites the audience to follow their movements, to discover them anew each time, to engage with the details. The artists want to openly share their process and the result, as well as their difficulties and fascination.
The first creation of artists Leïla Maillard and NuR, Arachnur shows a fusion of contemporary circus and experimental music with a strong preference for the obscure. “ Arachnur “ is beyond evil or good, definitely cathartic, yet poetic. A sustained hymn to the dark and what lies beyond, directly inspired by the quote of painter Pierre Soulages: „Mon instrument n’était plus le noir, mais cette lumière secrète venue du noir.“ (My instrument was no longer the darkness, but the secret light from the darkness…).
A deep dive into the abyss of the human soul through acoustic borderlines and dark imagery. A macabre ritual that embodies a spiritual crawl to the gallows via despair and the harrowing loop of dark thoughts.
Maria and Laura both studied at the Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Tilburg. They are concerned with the border area between circus and dance, as well as the creation of spatial bodies with the means of dance. The focus of this first residency is body-based and visual sensory research to connect physical and visual stories. Based on their shared interest in visual arts, movement and video/photography, the idea for their joint project was born.
We perceive time in a different measurement than before. The present is no longer short, but seems to be more elongated and expansive. We want to explore the present with the sensations of our body and the images of our mind. Perhaps we are in the middle of the fusion of fantasy and reality?
Erin Skye, who graduated from Codarts in Rotterdam in 2019, focuses on the relationships between strangers and the delicate art of talking on the phone with cans and strings in A Circle of Exchange. Conversation, communication and mutual recognition are part of human nature. ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response) is a pathway to subconscious relaxation that can create intimacy we rarely experience with anyone outside our closest friends. Erin Skye encapsulates all of these themes in an intimate and abstract show with the working title „A Circle of Exchange“.