MUSEUM IRELAND 2020
Throw your hat in the ring. Why museums and circus work so well together Dea Birkett
Unicycling, cartwheels and custard juggling in
significance, its history and its science. The
a museum? You must be joking. What curator,
Science Museum, London, held one of its well-
or even the most eager learning officer, would
known ‘Lates’ on the science of circus, and the
allow such antics in their esteemed galleries? The
entertainment at the Museum’s annual Director’s
answer is: more and more of them.
Dinner was provided by aerial hoop, stilt walkers and jugglers. The Circus250 year opened in January
In the last few years, there’s been a remarkable
with a 4-metre-high handstand act taking place
shift in museums in welcoming performance,
under Hope, the giant blue whale in the Natural
and circus performance in particular. It began in
History Museum London’s stunning Hintze Hall.
2018, the 250th anniversary of the very first circus,
We called it ‘Handstand for Hope’.
which was marked by over 500 events Ireland and UK-wide, coordinated by the not-for-profit
My own background is both as a circus performer
Circus250 production company. Of these, about
and museum advocate. I began life as an artiste
a fifth took place in museums. They included
in a traditional tented touring circus and am now
the Circus Work exhibition of Peter Lavery’s
director of Circus250. In between, I founded and
photographs of life behind the ring doors at the
ran Kids in Museums, the UK based charity, part
Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire and Royal West
of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio,
of England Academy, Bristol; Performers, Politics
that agitated for and supported better family
and Pop Culture at the National Centre for Craft
and child inclusion in museums, in particular for
and Design in Lincolnshire; The Art of the Show at
those who hadn’t visited before. So when I ran
the National Gallery in Dublin showcasing their
back to the circus four years ago, to run Circus250
circus poster collection; and Circus. Show of Shows!
and coordinate the year-round anniversary
at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, which toured
celebrations, I took with me a passion for
to Time and Tide Museum, Great Yarmouth and
museums and a knowledge that they were spaces
Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne. Live
open to challenge and change.
circus performance and circus skills workshops were often programmed alongside many of
Why have many museums rolled up to circus?
these exhibitions, doing cartwheels and custard
Circus is live performance, often in a temporary
throwing among them.
space, involving a great deal of movement. Museums, in contrast, are stuffed with static
Museums that had never before seen a clown’s
things, their objects mostly displayed on walls
nose or sparkly leotard, embraced, explored
and pedestals and in glass cabinets. Unlike the
and enthused about circus, its art, its social
sensory-rich circus, museums have no smell and
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