O | CIRCUS
CLAUDIA REICHE
Circus, spelled with a C, round, open, like the cirus ring, not a circle, perhaps like a world full of possibilities that are a stumbling venture to believe in. “The revolutionary can do anything,” is how Alexander Kluge once it up, drawing parallels between the French Revolution and the emergence of the modern circus. It is hard to deny the impression that there is a lot of talk about ‘circus’ today, but only when a word is sought for ‘the ultimate’, and about ‘clowns’ when it comes to ‘dehumanizing’ groups.
In addition to many old black-and-white photos from reprocessed negative scans and new color photographs, texts by Claudia Reiche deal with media and political constellations: FUNNYSORRYANGRYANONYMOUS. Clowns. from 2017 takes the “Great Clowns Panic” of 2016 in the USA, with ramifications on other continents, as a starting point for reflecting on the horror and rapidly established enemy image of the clown. Not long before Donald Trump's first presidency, colorfully costumed and made-up individuals were spotted wandering around suburbs or country roads, especially at night, carrying balloons or potential weapons, often exhibiting strange movement patterns. The “clown sightings,” which were filmed and shared like trophies on social media, including the wild escapes and screams of the “victims,” led to spontaneous vigilante groups and “clown chasing” mobs that seem to foreshadow images of the storming of the Capitol. “Every era has the clowns it deserves.”
Claudia Reiche is an artist, media scholar, and curator. She deals with questions of mediality, psychoanalysis, film, and visual cultures, as well as the epistemological, aesthetic, and political implications of digital technologies. She has been teaching in the theoretical and artistic fields and publishing for many years. She also works on web projects, film and photography, exhibitions, and is active in feminist and queer projects.
The Typography
All texts are set in Muster Grotesk by Florian Runge.
Texts by
Claudia Reiche, Brigitte Helbling, and Gerd Roscher
2026
ISBN 978-3-930924-26-4
22×16,5 cm
188 pages
114 illustrations
Softcover
German, English
