The urban exploratory circus : infrastructure for corporeality, connectedness, and virtuosity

Abstract

A traditional form of cultural critique, the circus rests its appeal in presenting extremes of the familiar and by removing perceptual barriers between people. Rather than directly confronting problems, the circus generates ideas of living and creating, seeking the unfamiliar to frame a new understanding. This proposal operates at regional, urban, architectural and bodily scales to provide a forum for exploration. Travelling structures facilitate a circus school and a deployable autonomous infrastructure to generate sites. Once set in motion, the ongoing event of the circus cultivates meaning through this connection in scales, sites, and people to create a narrative of action.