International Conference
Le cirque bouge, bougez avec lui!
France in the 1960s and 1970s:
The traditional circensic code becomes outdated in the performances of the developing genre New Circus. The artists in this new form of circus are no longer offspring of circus families, but rather graduates of accredited schools; animals are banned from the programs and the tent is no longer the sole place of performances. The performances of New Circus are based on the foundational circus discipline—acrobatics, object manipulation, and clownery—which are elaborated through theatric and choreographic elements. The goal is no longer to use a Babylonian buildup—which arranges the elements according to level of difficulty—to showcase the superhuman achievements of the artists and the exceptionality of the tricks; rather, with a symbolic system, the performance strives to become a kind of happening—a narration. The fundamental method of the constitution of meaning of circensic art is reconstructed.
The goal of the conference Semiotics of the Circus is to uncover—utilizing semiotics—how and under which conditions New Circus generates and conveys meaning independently of traditional circus.
Publication
We are currently working on the volume Semiotics of the Circus (working title).
Conference program
| 15.4. 2015
| WWU – Aula im Schloss
15:00-17:00 Registration
17:00-18:00 Opening: Prof. Dr. Moritz Baßler, Frédéric Zipperlin and Franziska Trapp
18:00-19:30 Opening Keynote: Jean-Michel Guy | Cultural Ministry France: Le cirque, ça n’existe pas!
19:30 Champagne Reception
| 16.4.2015
| Cirque Bouffon – Zirkuszelt am Schlossplatz
Topic I: Semiotics of the Traditional Circus
9:00 Welcome-Coffee
09:30-11:00 Keynote: Prof. Dr. Paul Bouissac | University of Toronto: The Traditional Circus as Trade and Art
11:00-11:30 Coffee
11:30-12:00 Katharina Rein I Humboldt University Berlin: Entertaining Violence: The Illusion of „Sawing a Woman in Half“
12:00-12:30 Sara Benoist | University of Paris – Sorbonne: „Is there a MC on this Show?“: The Semiotic Recycling of Classic Circus Archetypes of Performers in New Circus Performances
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break
Topic II: Semiotics of the New Circus
14:00-14:30 Gaia Vimercati | Trinity College Dublin: Chaplin, Brecht, Fo: Toward a Concept of ‚Epic Clowning’
14:30-15:00 Sandy Sun | Circus Aerial Choreographer: Mutations of the Meaning and Aesthetics in a Trapeze Act
15:00-15:30 Coffee
| WWU – S8 im Schloss
15:30-16:00 Ante Ursic | New York University: On the Tightwire
16:00-16:30 Elena Lydia Kreusch | University of Vienna: Contemporary Circus and Spatial Implications
16:30-18:00 Keynote: Prof. Dr. Philippe Goudard | University of Montpellier: What does the circus mean? A cross-disciplinary scientific approach
| Cirque Bouffon – Zirkuszelt am Schlossplatz
20:00 Cirque Bouffon: Quilombo
| 17.4.2015
| Cirque Bouffon – Zirkuszelt am Schlossplatz
Topic III: Possibilities of analysing New Circus Performances
8:30 Welcome-Coffee
09:00-09:30 Franziska Trapp | University of Münster: The Functioning of a Circensic Text – Jimmy Gonzalez ‘Clay’
09:30-10:00 Katharina Görgen | University of Cologne: Completing the Circle: How Traditional Semiotics Reappears in the 30 Year Celebration of the Cirque Plume „Tempus fugit? Une ballade sur le chemin perdu“
10:00-10:30 Coffee
10:30-11:00 Jonas Eklund | Stockholm University: Longing for Something that Never Was
11:00-12:00 Louise von Euler Bjurholm and Henrik Agger | University of Dance and Circus Stockholm: Extreme Symbiosis
12:00-13:30 Lunch Break
13:30-15:00 Keynote: Prof. Dr. Camilla Damkjaer | University of the Arts Stockholm: The Circus Body Articulating
15:00-15:30 Final Discussion
| WWU – Festsaal am Schlossplatz
15:30-16:30 Coffee
16:30 Zirkus | Wissenschaft – Strategic Planning Session
20:00 Dinner