In times of climate catastrophe, refugee crises and Covid-19, the question of the responsibility that artists and scholars have is becoming increasingly urgent. What is the role of circus within society? How far does this form of art and entertainment correlate with historical and contemporary social interests? How does circus research position itself as a relevant field of research within academia in the 21st century? Those questions will be explored within the series Adventures in Circus Research–Facing a New Decade, curated by academic Dr. Franziska Trapp. By featuring circus researchers, we give them the space to explain the nature and significance of their research directly to the circus community and to highlight the practical impact of their research on the circus world and its relevance for society.

ghlight the practical impact of their research on the circus world and its relevance for society. Within this first conversation Mirjam Hildbrand, Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Theatre Studies at the University of Bern, and Dr. Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Assistant Professor at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, explain how the circus of the late 19th and early 20th century is forming our present-day art form. Contemporary cultural policies and funding systems are thereby taken into account just as much as contemporary incarnations of (horror) clowns and the experience of our technological future.  ...