Founded in 2010, the project group CiNS deals with the history of circus during National Socialism in Germany. With a travelling exposition and a multidisciplinary performance we aim to inform about the topic and tell the rarely told stories of persecuted and murdered circus artists. The base of our work is the exposition CIRCUS.FREIHEIT.GLEICHSCHALTUNG. [Circus Freedom Enforced Alignment] Accompanying the exposition is our performance that is a play reading including elements of lecture, reading, acting, circus arts and live music. It consists of fragments of the life experience of Irene Bento, a Jewish circus artist who could save herself and parts of her family from the Nazis by hiding in Circus Adolf Althoff. In cooperation with historians we are continuing our research and in contact with surviving circus people and their families. Continuing our research we aim to raise the awareness about blind spots in circus history and discrimination today – in academic, pedagogical and artistic contexts.
We have performed amongst others at Museum Europäischer Kulturen Berlin, CARD 2 conference DOCH Stockholm, Synagoge Enschede, ZirkArt Festival, Ernst-Deutsch-Theater Hamburg, At.tension Festival, Theater NWEvorst Tilburg, FAKI Festival Zagreb, Forum Flötenteich Oldenburg, Kulturelle Landpartie and others.
Exposition in German and English BROSCHUERE-CiNS
For more information on the topic see our cooperation project www.divergingfates.eu
Documentary on Dutch TV from an older version (2013)
documentary CIRCUS.FREIHEIT.GLEICHSCHALTUNG.