This year, the Berlin Circus Festival is taking a different approach and wants to use its space to give artists the opportunity to do things that are otherwise would not be possible, to show what happens when there's no audience:

A look behind the scenes, an insight into a world that is not often seen otherwise: how shows are created, how circus is made.

The Berlin Circus Festival usually lasts 10 days, and that's not going to change. But there will be no finished shows, no streamed events, no popcorn, no festival with people. But there will be something else:

A platform and a sign for the arts. #cultureprevails #rediscovercircus

The stage belongs to one (group of) artists for 48 hours at a time. They are free to do whatever they want. It is their stage and their place to rehearse, perform, try out, explore, experience and share.

From 11/12 to 20/12 the Berlin Circus Festival goes live for 240h, the whole time the stage is brought to your screens. The audience can be part of it: Morning, noon, evening or night. For 10 days you can watch what happens in our tent in a live stream.

In this blog you can also discover background information and small videos. From 25 December onwards, an archive, a media library, will also be created, which will constantly fill up and ultimately result in something whole - a testimony of a hopefully first but last online Berlin Circus Festival.

"Digital art and creation on and off the stage in Corona times"
 
This year the Berlin Circus Festival will take place in digital format. In order to provide a platform for contemporary circus in these difficult times, we would like to use alternative, digital formats to question the space we occupy as artists, curators and organisers.
 
With the online version of the Berlin Circus Festival we want to create a creative-artistic space that reacts to the critical needs of artists and offers the possibility to remain active and experimentally explore one's own creativity. 
 
Within this framework, we are addressing artists with a worldwide open call, who have digitally realised an artistic project of contemporary circus. 

Open Call

We integrate your work into the current stream and the emerging live archive of the festival. Via the media library of our website berlin-circus-festival.de/online-en your creations will be accessible to the public and be integrated into the festival's live stream. 
 
You are...
 
Professional artists in the field of contemporary circus, who have realised an artistic project digitally within this year.
 
You receive.. 

Platforme: 
​
​Your creations will be distributed over our media library, social media and the stream of the festival. 
 
Time and financial scope: 

1 Stream per creation between 11. – 20.12.
Part of the live-archive/mediathek from 25.12. for a minimum of 1 months up until 1 year. 
500€ of salaries
 
The work will be streamed between 11. – 20.12. and the Live-Archive is online from 25.12. 
 
Deadline is the 16.12. at 6.00 pm

"Art and creation on and off the stage in Corona times"
 
This year the Berlin Circus Festival will take place in digital format. In order to provide a platform for contemporary circus in these difficult times, we would like to use alternative, digital formats to question the space we occupy as artists, curators and organisers.
 
With the online version of the Berlin Circus Festival we want to create a creative-artistic space that reacts to the critical needs of artists and offers the possibility to remain active and experimentally explore one's own creativity. 
 
Within this framework, we are addressing artists with a nationwide open call to use the Berlin Circus Festival platform for their work. 
 
Open Call
 
We offer you a space, or rather a fully equipped circus tent in the middle of Berlin to develop your ideas and visions, to create and experiment. It is not about perfecting finished pieces, but to develop new ideas or redesign existing work. A performance at the end of time is not obligatory, but possible.
 
For 48 hours the stage and the festival area is yours. 

Important: It is the concept of this festival edition to allow a look behind the scenes. The audience can follow live via webcam what is going on in the tent and can check out the different formats, experiments and creations in our media library.  
​
You are... 
 
Professional artists in the field of contemporary circus, currently based in Germany. The artists (maximum 5 persons) must belong to one household. 
 
You will receive...
 
infrastructure: 
​- tent incl. light and sound equipment 
- 9x9m stage with black dance floor 
- rigging points at 10m height 
 
expertise: 
- Stage and lighting technician 
- Opportunities for consulting (production, networking, outside eye etc.)
- Documentation and filming
 
Time and financial scope: 
- 2 days between 11 - 20.12 
- 2000€ grant (fees, travel & material costs)
 
Project period is between 11. - 20.12.
 
Deadline is 2.12.

Here you will find the program and all detailed data and recordings from the festival.