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travel / great places / explorer / mj06
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Circus city
Expressive environment
Tohu was born initially with the single goal of making
Montréal an international circus arts capital. Combining
the prestige of the National Circus School and the awe-inspiring
international reputation of the city's resident showstoppers
- Cirque de Soleil - Montréal possessed the potential
to create its own microcosm of a circus "city."
The building that houses tohu acts as a performance and training
space, with Canada's only round performance hall and room
for a temporary 1,700-seat big-top tent in the summer months. But
it also houses an exhibit called "Terra Cirqua" that
visually expresses the roots and inspirations of the circus art
form. The exhibit includes 100 pieces from the Fonds Jacob-William
collection, one of the world's largest private collections
of circus artifacts. This part of the exhibit ties the present incantation
of the circus arts to the form's long colourful past and history
of tradition.
The exhibit also tackles the tenuous relationship between
humans and their environment. This leap is made by the precarious
nature of this relationship, just as the circus performers
use their expressive form to make the most of the creatively
constructed spaces, always striving for physical and artistic
balance. The circus often portrays the symbiotic and destructive
relationship between people and the world that surrounds them.
This is explored through a hanging installation that represents
the elements that make life on Earth possible. An interactive
screen also combines art and technology to explain the concept
of the Saint-Michel Environmental Complex and how it addresses
issues of urban environmental protection and renewal.
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