The 2023 Biennale Internationale des Arts du Cirque (BIAC) will take place in the South of France from 12 January to 12 February.  For its 5th edition, the BIAC contemporary circus festival will present 240 performances of 73 different shows at 49 cultural spaces across the Region Sud in the south of France.

The Tent Village, the beating heart of the Biennale

The Tent Village returns to the magnificent Prado beach in Marseille! Four circus tents will host 45 performances of 12 different shows created by renowned French companies and acclaimed international circus artists from Sweden (I Love You Two), Africa (Yé!), Brazil (23 Fragments of These Last Days), Switzerland (Mr Skeleton), and Chile (9.8). There will be something for everybody at the Tent Village! Looking for laughter? There’s Presque Parfait. The spectacular? Try Cœurs Sauvagesor Low Cost Paradise. The undefinable? That’s Les Fauves. And then there’s the visual poetry of our featured artist’s unique creative universe as seen in Hêtreand Phasmes. For a month this winter, the Tent Village will be a place of dreams, adventures, and excitement!

Along Fanny’s Road

This year, there are even more women on the Biennale’s program! One of them is the featured artist of this 2023 edition, Fanny Soriano from the Compagnie Libertivore. A Marseille-based artist, Soriano will present her repertoire of five shows in six different cities in the Region Sud in the South of France. The Along Fanny’s Roadspotlight will allow audiences to discover the remarkable creative universe of this talented author and internationally renowned circus director.

Switzerland is coming to the Biennale

Another special feature of the BIAC’s 5th edition: Switzerland is a guest of honor. In coordination with Jean-Marc Diebold, the director of the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris, BIAC and its cultural partners will present the work of innovative Swiss contemporary artists. In total, there will be performances of seven shows by the artists Martin Zimmerman, Julian Vogel, Marc Oosterhoff, Arno Ferrera, and the La Horde dans les Pavés company.

A retrospective look at the circus

Before becoming a national circus center dedicated to the writing, sharing, and development of the contemporary circus repertoire, Archaos was an international touring company with more than 20 shows to its credit. Now, Archaos is the guest artist of the Conservatoire de Toulon for a project that includes a revival of its repertoire, masterclasses, conferences, exhibitions, and a book release… There will also be a carte blanche given to the photographer Phillipe Cibille, who has been working with Archaos since the company’s earliest days. Five exhibitions of his work will be held at five different locations in Aix-en-Provence, La Seyne-sur-Mer, and Marseille.

The circus, a mirror of its time

Thousands of creative companies in France and around the world are inventing and developing the contemporary circus repertoire. This body of work serves as a mirror of its time and uses the language of the body and performers’ physical achievements to reflect society’s evolutions on questions such as gender or our relationship to other living things. BIAC’s program embraces this creative diversity and makes it available to as many people as possible.

The Line Up

Main image: Mobius – Cie XY © Christophe Raynaud De Lage