Juggling the Arts: Artistic laboratory at CIRKO Center, Helsinki, Finland, 20th-24th of February 2012

New Nordic Circus Network, NNCN, arranged its forth Juggling the Arts artistic laboratory for professional Nordic circus artists in February 2012. 9 Nordic artists were given the opportunity to work for five days with experienced mentors at CIRKO Center in Helsinki.

This edition of Juggling the Arts was a wider exploration on contemporary arts. What is contemporary arts? How do different contemporary artists work and think about their work? The lab in February focused on artistic processes in general, both in circus and in different contemporary art forms, and the participants were able to draw inspiration and knowledge from that into their own work.

The mentors
Main mentors were Norwegian director Sverre Waage and French director / writer Jean-Michel Guy. Also Finnish artists from different art forms presented their work during the week: choreographer Jyrki Karttunen, magician-video artist Kalle Hakkarainen (WHS), acrobat-choreographer Ilona Jäntti (Ilmatila) and circus artist Aino Hurri.

The artists
Camila Sarrazin (DK), Moa Asklöf Prescott (DK), Chris Pettersen (NO), Diego Belda (NO), Rebecca Westholm (SE), Eliisa Erävalo (SE), Oskar Rask (FI), Leo Holsti (FI) & Salla Hakanpää (FI)

About Cirko
Cirko (association founded in 2002) is Finland’s first and only fully dedicated contemporary circus center. Charged with the task of developing Finnish circus as an art form, and all that this encompasses, we host and support public performances, festivals as well as circus companies making a vibrant contribution to the cultural life of Helsinki. CIRKO’s festival, performance, residency and rehearsal activities help to support and develop the work of circus professionals and supplement the excellent working environment provided by the CIRKO Center.

The newly opened, converted warehouse space of the CIRKO Center in Suvilahti hosts the offices of several contemporary circus companies and also the Finnish Youth Circus Association. The Finnish Circus Information Centre also has offices on the premises, providing information and resource services and access to their reference library and performance video collection.

About Juggling the Arts & New Nordic Circus Network
Juggling the Arts is organised by New Nordic Circus Network with the support of Kulturkontakt Nord / Nordic Culture Point.

The objectives of Juggling the Arts are to:
- support artistic research processes within contemporary Nordic circus art
- offer artistic support to young Nordic circus artists
- support dialogue and building of connections and networks between Nordic contemporary circus artists and programmers
- support the development of creativity and professionalism within the contemporary circus field