Re-imagining Apparatus*: Apparatus Design as a Dramaturgical Tool in Devised Contemporary Circus Performance

This artistic research explores apparatus* design as a site of dramaturgical inquiry within devised circus performance.

*Apparatus (n.) is widely used in the English-speaking circus field to refer to the equipment, objects, or structures employed as essential components of circus performer’s artistic practice.

What does apparatus design ‘do’ as an active, co-creative agent in devised circus performance? How does working from apparatus design shape performer-object relations and meaning-making processes? What happens when apparatus’s inherent properties inform and direct dramaturgical choices?

The project hopes to enrich the circus fields’ discourse on apparatus design-led processes and contribute new insights to understanding the potential of material-led performance creation. It will enable new perspectives on object-led scenographic and dramaturgical processes in devised performance-making beyond the disciplinary boundaries of Contemporary Circus.

The project is carried out in collaboration with different artists from the field of Contemporary Circus, Dance and Physical Theatre, structural engineers, riggers, set-builders and makers.

The project moved to Stockholm University of the Arts in May 2023, and its last stage is currently supported by institutionally funded research time. Further acquisition of funding is in progress.

The project is expected to end in 2030