Creating immersive performance design using mycorrhizalstructure methodology and iceberg theory in circusperformance settingsWhat is immersive performance design and what role does ithave in a performance-based setting and frame? Does it holdthe possibility and capability of challenging the frame in whichwe normally perform?The focus of my research is to explore the boundaries of howwe approach devising performance with particular attentionto the relationships in space and the proximity of objects andparticipants within this. I am to create a performance-basedmilieu in which spectators, practitioners, the space andobjects are in symbiosis. A space of symbiosis where no oneperson has a different status from the other, but a space thatallows for people holding different roles. The performer andthe audience, the object and the body. My definition ofsymbiosis draws inspiration from the mycorrhizae funginetwork as a starting point for me to mould a methodologyadapted to a performative setting. To this milieu I incorporateother factors and concepts, such as the role of text, thedialogue of the still and quiet and how our senses-experienceaffect our perception. I attempt to weave these concerns intomy circus practices

This is a thesis - supposedly. It could also be a performance if you want. As an object it is detachable in that you can pick it up. Or download it. This thesis has edges. It has protrusions, indentations, connections and holes. Lots and lots of holes. That is because this is a thesis about and consisting of affordances. That is to say something that offers interaction. We’ll get into that in a bit. Suffice to say, my hope is that you feel free to read it or play with it in any way you see fit. Turn it into a paper airplane to see if it flies or set it on fire to warm your hands. Rearrange the pages if you want. This might affect the red thread that ties the pages all together, but that’s all the thread was there for. To tie things up and as something to hold onto.With that said, somewhere amongst all the following words, I’d like to think that there is something at least nominally related to Circus. That is because this is supposed to be a thesis about Contemporary Circus Practices. Well….about my own contemporary circus practice in any case. It feels kind of empowering to call my circus practice contemporary though, I must say.Com –Latin. Meaning with or together, and Tempus-Latin. Meaning time. With the times then! Though in all honesty it is probably a very anachronistic, sin temporary circus practise at best.Hmmm…remind me to look into the affordances of time.

The thesis could be described as a performative, reflexive review of my circus practice. Followingapproaches to writing that situate text as part of a practice, such as Jane Rendell's Site Writing, thatlooks at art criticism as a form of architecture, I approach writing as a form of circus. I think this holdstrue whether we adopt the position of circus as the place where events unfold (as in the circus tent) orthat it is the events themselves. I would note that this is not a unique proposition, and follows theprinciples of my classmates & the direction of my course leader. Crucial to understanding this thesis is adecision to start from an approach to circus from a point of view that considers circus as theperformance of the relationship between body, object & environment (following Sebastian Kann 2018).In the same way that my movement practice explores and performs this relationship, so does this text. Istarted out writing this thesis as a performance of the relationship between bodies, objects andenvironments. This works towards an expanded view of what circus could be, operating in a similar veinto notions of expanded choreography. I am hesitant to separate the practices of choreography fromcircus (as is sometimes the case with choreography and dance) - so as to avoid producing a Cartesian riftbetween body (dance) and choreography (mind) and a division between art (choreography) and craft(dance) - as discussed by Bojana Cvejic in the introduction to Choreographing Problems. It could beargued that in this instance, there is a body of text, an object of discussion and an environment ofacademia - though, as you will discover, I find the boundaries of body, object & environment areslippery and shift register (in line with my movement practice).

In September 2018 I started my research project at the Master of contemporary circus practices at DOCH, Stockholm. Much has happened since then. 2018 turned into 2021. The school changed its name to SKH. The world turned into a pandemic battle zone. I turned into a mother of two. Little things, big things. Life.The following is a compilation of material from the last 2½ years. It is made like this to provide insight into an unusual process. A research project where the obstacles during the process ended up being the theme of the project.It is structured as followed:Old text material is kept in its original shape, even when it is painful (!) for me to go back and read it. I have shortened some sections and deleted irrelevant parts even though I know that what seems irrelevant today can become relevant tomorrow. Repetitions will likely occur, some on purpose, others not.Old texts taken from school reports are in blue like this. Blue, for me the color of balance. When I balance on my hands, I see myself in and surrounded by blue shades when I maintain balance and in white when I fall.Extracts from a diary written during this writing process are in red like this. Blood red. Written during a lockdown where I felt quite melodramatic hence the color.A script I wrote to my classmates is in green, the color of... hope? Definitely of new life.New reflections are added, some to explain the research further, others to engage in a critical dialogue with my voice of the past. All new thoughts are in black like this. These texts are the narrator of the story, the guide of the exhibition, the detective of the disappeared meaning, the curator of the mess

My research is about Rope Design. The design of, but more importantly, by and with the ropes. I have worked with ropes all my life, in many ways; sailing, circus, rigging, knots, etc. They have had a big impact on me and my life. In my research I am looking at what they can do and who or what they can be. On stage, in my practice and in my daily life. With me, as well as without me. I want to find an equal partnership with them, where I acknowledge that we both have agency and where both of us constantly keep changing and learning from each other. I am discovering how they can change my movement and the way I look at the world.

First of all, my research is not only my research but our research. It has been made together with my long-time art companion Marjut Hernesniemi. The starting point for our research was our experience of the western modern circus, what it does, and how it cares for the cosmos. From our experience, the western modern circus is based on techniques, risk, danger, and spectacle. Human is in the center of it, often presented as superhuman controlling and manipulating everything. By looking at the current situation in the world, human domination has caused us problems in a form of climate change and other ecological crises such as mass extinction. However, there are different ways of relating to the world. In this research we have looked beyond the western modern circus, to the roots of circus in China and Japan, and to the archaic rituals, to find other ways of relating to the world through circus and trying to bring them to the present day. This research was set out with the question of trying to combine circus and other aspects of life as one sustainable or regenerative practice. The theoretical framework of the research has been ritual. The thought behind that has been the efficacy of the ritual in contrast to entertainment. That is circus can make a difference. From an animistic perspective, the purpose of the ritual is to sustain and renew, preserve or bring back the balance between the psyche, body, social, cosmic, and circle of life. With this in mind, we have made use of the anti-structure of liminality as a playground while working in the studio. In this playground, we have not been bound by the custom, convention, or ceremonials of the western modern circus. Instead, we’ve had the possibility to play. Use the definition of western modern circus as a launching pad and try to run as far as possible, but still have the connection point as the one that we left from. The rules of the play were simple, such as we don’t climb the rope, you are not allowed to hurt the rope, instead of objects, materials of becoming, instead of human exceptionalism, appreciation of the other, what if there was no human on stage. All these rules created different possibilities.  While in liminality we have been bound by another thing that can appear in a liminal phase, communitas. Communitas as an unstructured communion of equal individuals working towards a collective task with full attention. In our communitas, the task has been a sustainable circus. Moreover, in our communitas, ropes and nature were included as equals. Together we have been imagining and making different kinds of possible futures. These relations between us, nature, and the ropes have been intimate relations. During the process of making, humans have been ”affected” as much as the significant other.  Our task was to combine circus and other aspects of life as one sustainable or regenerative practice. As performances in circus consist of ritualized gestures that show the relationship between us and the cosmos, we need to rethink what we are presenting. To find a more sustainable and regenerative future, we need collective survival skills instead of individual ones. These survival skills should include all life in its diversity. For change to happen liminality, communitas and play are all needed. Liminality to open up a playground outside of the structured society. Play to come up with solutions to challenges. Communitas to form a special bond between the players, speak for the weak, and not forget that we work for the same cause.  Circus can transform, however it requires that the artists are willing to go through the liminal space themselves and take circus with them.