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WATER FLEA CIRCUS 2010

is a bio art influenced multidiciplinary performance suitable for both children and adults. The Water Flea Circus combines elements from performance art, postdramatic theatre, DIY*) circus, video art and live installation. Through an easygoing flow the audience is immersed into the environment of shadowy landscapes and water, meeting a posthuman creature and exploring the world of water fleas through real time microscopic and other video projections.

The performance questions the relationship between humans and our environment in a artistic, moving, and sensitive manner. Underlying the performance is the intertwined co-existence of humans and water fleas on the same biosphere of planet Earth, where different kinds of life forms interact and have complex networks which support each other, so that one small incident can have an unpredictable effect on everything else.

Global warming has a strong impact on arctic nature. Clear water and low-nutrient rivers, lakes and ponds are exposed to increased ultraviolet radiation and at the same time water temperatures are raising. Changes in water ecosystems will follow. New species may reclaim space from existing species while some populations will collapse or disappear all together.

The Water Flea Circus was born in the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, Helsinki University, Lapland, Finland. It has been created in close contact with international water ecosystem research in Kilpisjärvi.
*)DIY = Do It Yourself