SPAZIO E IMMAGINI

A special collection of over 400 original vintage photographs and ephemera dedicated to the performance and popular art of Circus and Variety Theater in Europe from the 1930s to the 1960s.
It is an extraordinary visual heritage dedicated to the ephemeral art of circus performances, played between popular art and performative action and captured through photography. Today, thanks to a cross-discipline approach made of Photography, Art History, Performing Arts of Theater and Entertainment, originals vintage photos not only take on the role of documentation but also that of autonomous works of art.
The photographs outline a geography of the main European theaters including the Wolf Variété in Zurich, the Friedrichstadt Palast- Das Variété in Berlin, the Hansa Theater in Hamburg, the Apollo in Dusseldorf, the Kaiserhof Variété in Cologne, the Casanova of Essen, etc.
Among the photographers and photo agencies, Sigfried Enkelmann, Hanno Wohlfarth, Enea Mangini, Arno Kurten, Foto Postius, etc. stand out. In numerous photographs from the 1930s we find knowledge of the artistic currents of the avant-garde ranging from the aesthetics of Deco photocompositions, to the photomontage of Berlin Dadaism, to the graphics of the Bauhaus.
Among the artists immortalized in these photographs we find Felovis, Paul Arland, Inge Pedro, Herbert Lhose Bertini and Bela Kremo, to name a few.

​The collection is the subject of the exhibition:
- IN BALANCE - Acrobats, Jugglers, Mountebanks between Circus and Variety Shows in Europe 1930 - 1960. Original vintage photographs of an ephemeral art, 25 November 2023 - 24th February 2024, Spazio e Immagini, Bologna.
 
THE EXHIBITION IN BALANCE, CONSISTING OF A SELECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN FROM A SPECIAL  PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION DEDICATED TO THE CIRCUS AND VARIETY IN EUROPE, IS AVAILABLE FOR EXHIBITIONS.
CONTACT US FOR DETAILED INFORMATION.