Adamsz Circus
2007
Animation (looped) and drawings
About Adamsz Circus
Animation and drawings inpired by freak shows. Freak shows used to provide a place of relative safety for the physically or mentally handicapped. As a rule, it was a method of survival. How do we treat handicapped people in our society nowadays? To what extent are they judged on their limitations, or considered entertainment? The idea for Adamz circus originates from these observations. The animation examines the role of the audience.
Video
Drawings
Background
The tallest man on earth was an in-law of my grandmother. According to my grandmother he was 8 feet tall, but according to the postcard he would have been 9’ 3”. He worked as a vaudeville performer in the Netherlands, Germany, England, and the United States.
My grandfather’s grandfather entertained the military with a selfmade act. In the hanging rings, he would carry another man by his teeth, using a self-constructed bridle bit with a hook. Below is a picture of this object and a picture of the man in action.
Stills
Exhibition
- WijNomaden Kunstroute Beuningen, Winssen, 2007