The first presentation of the immersive art installation Living Circus took place during Montreal All Nighter 2009 and the 25th anniversary of the Palais des Congrès and the SITQ. The event was called “Palais Circassien”. This installation was placed under a brand new project called “Art Souterrain” whose aim is to open part of the underground city of Montreal to the visitors and convert it into a huge contemporary art gallery.

In this context, Exeko was invited to work with one of his staff artists in Los Angeles, Wayne Schoenfeld, to create an exclusive immersive art installation.
The whole concept is built around the American photographer Wayne Schoenfeld and his photographs of the Icons/Iconoclasts collection. The multidisciplinary installation/performance adds itself to this magical, burlesque and strange universe of the circus of the Depression Era. Circus artists, theater, dance, video and sound come together to give life to the characters of the pictures, who literally leave their canvas to perform in real time.
“Palais Circassien” was pointed one of the highlights of Montreal All Nighter.

“[…] the installations and the art work exhibited at the Palais des Congrès (a selection of Art souterrain), gave the All-Nighter its true meaning.” LA PRESSE.

About an audience of 10.000 people took part in the “Palais Circassien” event.

Setting the stage

In the tableaux vivants genre, Wayne Schoenfeld’s photographic compositions are inspired by the whimsical and bizarre world of the North American circus in the 1930s, its symbolic figures and over-the-top environments. Frozen in time and space, sad clowns, animal trainers, acrobatic Amazonian women, dwarves, Siamese twins, fire-eaters and other colourful characters come together in carnival-type settings to witness a bygone era and a fantastical world imprinted in the collective consciousness of North Americans.
Schoenfeld’s creations stir the imagination. Filled with rich colors and textures, at first glance, his photos seem like paintings. By gazing into these living frescoes, the viewer is surrounded by a story, a spectacular scene, the sound of trumpeting elephants, cracking whips, crackling fire and the laughter of impish clowns. A single scene of the circus of the 1930’s was completely recreated by the artist for his photographic eye.
In the years 2006 and 2007 the artist creates the Circus of Life and the Circus of the past, two photographic collections grouped under one single exhibition called Icons/Iconoclasts. Icons/Iconoclasts represent the circus universe of the 1930s. For the purposes of the photographer, a full circus was recreated: 3 circus tents, 30 circus performers, 30 extras and crew who were all busy recreating a world now gone.
A festival, symposium, event or gallery can provide an opportunity to recreate once again a world removed from our imagination and give life to these characters now frozen in the photographic moment. The variety of frameworks in which the event takes place and the combination of multidisciplinary art performances will always give the event a unique aspect.

A unique installation

The multidisciplinary installation complements the photographic exhibition. Carried by the phantasmagorical universe of the circus, it takes the shape of a living fresco inspired by the live performances of the circus artists, theater and dance. Dj's and Vj's working with audio and visual materials are also added to the whole installation. A new work is created; Living Circus is a work transposing the photographic work into a space of live creation. It’s a living multidisciplinary exploration laboratory which interacts with the audience.

• A dozen ambulatory performers dressed with costumes inspired by the circus of the 1930s and other circus accessories will create different islands of circus atmosphere. The audience can enjoy a variety of performances such as circus acrobatics, wire, juggling, clowning, contortion, hand-to-hand, stilts, theater and dance. Each artist creates live. He mixes conceptual performance with his respective discipline, using stamina, space and interdisciplinary dialogue in a wisely way. He oscillates between already constructed shows and improvised deconstruction of acquired characters;
• DJ and sound designer will also take part defining the musical atmosphere based on rhythm and sound elements of the circus world which they remix live. This will offer an ambient soundtrack for the performance of the circus artists;
• Two video performers will deal with the visual parts that add an extra touch of illusion to the atmosphere using several screens, projectors and cameras. In addition to their own databases, the "VJ's" mix several sources of videos live. Some are from subsequent shooting on a green screen with circus artists, others from the making of Icons/Iconoclasts shot in Los Angeles and others are taken with cameras during the event. This method gives the performing artists the opportunity to use the space as a video playground and the audience to enter the work.
• Of course the exhibition of Icons/Iconoclasts will be added to the whole event. Icons/Iconoclasts by Wayne Schoenfeld is composed of 36 large format works, and a video presentation of "The Circus comes to town" (making of the shooting of Icons/Iconoclasts)

The team :

Art director: Nadia Duguay
Production director: François-Xavier Michaux
General coordination: Giovanni Trono

Photo Gallery :