All Inclusive Art

Art is not supposed to conceal the commercial aspects of its production today.
Art is not supposed to coneal the means of its production.
It is supposed to intermingle with Kitsch.
It is supposed to be intermedial.
Intercultural - in terms of its producers and the traditions it uses.
Intergenerational.
Interactive.
Performative.

All of this is not to be found in a yet-to-be-invented art form but in the circus performances that have been around for centuries.

Circus Roncalli is in Cologne till June 15. It's awesome. I've been there today.

Why did circuses get out of fashion? Some suggestions:

- at odds with modernist pretense
- identified with children
- at odds with animal rights
- at odds with the all to self-evident assumption that the art of the future will involve flat screens (cinema screens, TV screens, computer screens)
- because of movies about tightrope accidents, financial problems, and depressed artists and animals. As the Ansichten eines Clowns tells us, there is nothing worse than a clown who induces pity.

There will no doubt be a big circus revival soon - with DFG projects, congresses, and book publications.



P.S.
There were two horses, four dogs, and a hippo in the manege. The hippo was played by humans hiding in a costume. I cannot say anything about the hippo players, but the horses and the dogs seemed well.