Dark Circus

Dark Circus is a durational performance piece that centered on the actions of a large machine run by three performers. The components included an 8-foot walking wheel with words carved into the base of the circle which were illuminated one at a time by a light that the performer powered; a 10′ cranky rotated by a performer whose action of climbing a ladder rotated the worn material; and a hand crank that powered the audio recording that told a section of a story of escaping to survival during the Armenian genocide. The machine’s dynamics and the nature of how the piece was told was subject to the endurance of the three performers and the piece ended when they were exhausted.