Circus and the Avant-Gardes

This book examines how circus and circus imaginary have shaped the historical avant-gardes at the beginning of the 20th century and the cultures they help constitute, to what extent this is a mutual shaping, and why this is still relevant today.

Anna-Sophie Jürgens is an Assistant Professor in Popular Entertainment Studies at the Australian National University (ANU), Australia. She is part of the network of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Her research explores the intersections between circus/comic performance, science and technology, and the cultural meanings of science. Mirjam Hildbrand is a PhD candidate in Theatre Studies at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Her research explores historical circus practice, the intersections between circus/theatre, and the discourse of 'high/low' culture. She also works as a freelance dramaturge and a programmer in the field of contemporary circus.

Preface Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Chapter 1 Arts for all Senses: Circus and the Avant-Gardes - Introduction Anna-Sophie Jürgens and Mirjam Hildbrand PART 1 HISTORICAL CIRCUS, POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT AND AVANT-GARDES - INFLUENCES AND INTERRELATIONS Chapter 2 A Treasure Trove for Avant-garde Artists? Metropolitan Circus Performances around 1900 Mirjam Hildbrand Chapter 3 Circus, Dada, Vaudeville: Historical Avant-Garde - Between Popular and Experimental Theatre Martina Gross Chapter 4 'Attractive Novelties': Spectacular Innovation and the Making of a New Kind of Audience within Colonial Modernity Martyn Jolly PART 2 STAGING CIRCUS OUTSIDE THE RING: AVANT-GARDE EXPERIMENTS IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY Chapter 5 Typocircus and the Czech Avant-Gardes Anne Hultsch Chapter 6 The Present as a Trick or the Assault on the Spectator's Psyche: Circus and the Soviet Avant-Garde Oksana Bulgakowa PART 3 STAGES OF TECHNOLOGY: CIRCUS, AVANT-GARDES AND (NEW) MEDIA Chapter 7 'Like a Three-ring Circus': The Avant-garde Appropriates the Circus in the Battle between Distraction and Attractions Tom Gunning Chapter 8 The Animated Circus and New Arts of Motion Kristian Moen PART 4 CIRCUS-AVANT-GARDE BODIES: CONTEMPORARY ARTISTIC PHYSICALITIES Chapter 9 'Glitter and Broken Bones': Professional Wrestling, Circus, Avant-Garde and the Radical Participatory Body Claire Warden Chapter 10 Glam Clowning: From Dada to Gaga - A Conversation with Le Pustra Anna-Sophie Jürgens and Le Pustra Chapter 11 The Aesthetics of Queer Work: Loïe Fuller's Exhausting Life as Performance Art in Stéphanie Di Giusto's The Dancer (2016) Wesley Lim PART 5 CIRCUS AND AVANT-GARDES REIMAGINED SINCE THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY Chapter 12 Political Clowns, Thrilling Strong Women and Animal-Free Excitement: Circus Reimagined through 1970s Avant-Garde Political Theatre Jane Mullett and Peta Tait Chapter 13 Avant-Garde Gestures and Contemporaneity in Today's Circus Louis Patrick Leroux Chapter 14 'Today for the last time'? On the Cultural Meanings of Circus and the Avant-Gardes - Some Final Provocations Mirjam Hildbrand, Anna-Sophie Jürgens and Aiden Essery Notes on Contributors Index