SLOW CIRCUS: VACUUM
SLOW CIRCUS: VACUUM
’SLOW CIRCUS: VACUUM’ explores Ess Hödlmoser’s innovative solo contortion act inside a specially modified vacuum tower. This performance piece asks us to consider the tenuous relationship between risk and spectacle in performing arts; the ways that perceptions of gender are performed and consumed by viewers in relation to contortion; how new apparatuses disrupt the ways we make sense of circus acts; and more.
This beautiful artist’s book is collection of written and photographic essays centre around the research and creation of VACUUM (2020). This special edition is part of a limited print run of only 375 copies. A few copies of the first print run (limited edition hardcover) remain; a softcover second edition will be available in Fall 2024, but this luxury hardcover copy will not receive a second print run.
These writings are complemented by haunting, impactful images from talented Toronto photographers Denise Grant, Irem Harnak, and Paul Hillier.
Printed on super-thick paper with special binding, each double-page spread in SLOW CIRCUS opens up completely flat for a wide, uninterrupted expanse of thought-provoking strange, wondrous beauty. 8” x 11”.
(P.S. Wondering why this book is priced a little higher than it’s sister-book, Slow Circus: Barbette ? This was my first foray into making an artist’s coffee table book: the printer I used to begin learning the ropes with this initial crack at indie publishing was lovely but had a higher cost-per-unit to create each book than the printer I’m currently working with! I also chose to use super-heavy paper (almost board-book thick) for this bad boy – a bold choice I won’t repeat in future books, but which added to the cost to create each book. This first edition is certainly a unique one! There’s about 25 left at the time of this post-script [April 23, 2024]. My goal with each book I make is to continue growing in my quality as a writer, designer, and producer; and find ways to make my books the most affordable to you, the reader, without compromising on my production values [high quality; as green as I can make it; trying to make sure Canadian companies and collaborators are part of my production processes])
*please note that this store is still operating in USD!*
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Photo-books have been described as the perfect marriage between film and still image storytelling. A well-crafted photoessay is like a stop-motion film, telling us a silent story.
This inaugural edition of the SLOW CIRCUS series centres around my innovative solo contortion act, VACUUM: these new 'silent stories' are juxtaposed with writings that explore the core themes of this work – the beautiful and the grotesque, apparatus and performer, perception and emotion – that create new layers of meaning, beauty, horror, and curiosity to sink into. This book is made with a special kind of binding that allows it to lay perfectly flat (no centre crease!) when open: that means that you can have it open flat on a table or displayed upright on a book stand like a rotating collection of the 30+ new images prints contained inside.
Whether you’re an aspiring circus artist looking for inspiration and insight into the creative process for new works, a latex or contortion enthusiast, a Circus Studies enthusiast, or simply love beautiful, high-quality work from independent creators, SLOW CIRCUS offers a new, slower way to immerse yourself in this world.