Thin Skin

Trapeze artist Eliška Brtnická has long been engaged in artistic research in the field of contemporary circus. She asks questions about the essence of a trapeze, the forms it can take, how it reflects the movement of the body and what this movement conveys to the spectator. Her work is characterised by strong visual elements, which is why her new project is presented in a gallery context. In Thin Skin, in which she collaborates with Alžběta Ticha and Filip Zahradnický, she focuses on the trapeze as a kinetic and action sculpture. The trapeze is deconstructed, and its parameters are radically changed. A long thin iron rod emerges as the main protagonist.

We are fascinated by the behaviour of the material; the movement of the suspended rod almost hypnotises us. Certain movements can irreversibly affect the shape of the trapeze bar and create new conditions of instability, to which we must adapt. We come to terms with a fragility and vulnerability that can only be felt through thin skin.

Thin Skin is a meditative movement installation. The world appears as a graphic model, a landscape of lines. Metal rods intertwine in space with the bodies of the performers, who react with sensitivity to the physical responses of the material – their partner. Moving sculptures appear and disappear. Their archetypal skeletons can be wrapped in meanings or just left to flow. The body imprints itself in the material as the image imprints itself on the mind. Time bends. This “intuitive physics” demonstrates the most basic principles of being within the earth’s gravitational field.

About the company

Eliška Brtnická is a performer, choreographer, dramaturg and director. She graduated in non-verbal theatre from the HAMU in Prague, where she completed her PhD in 2018, focusing on contemporary circus. In 2010 she founded the company Cirkus Mlejn, under the name of which she creates her projects. In 2017 she completed a year-long course in circus dramaturgy at the prestigious French circus school CNAC in Châlons-en-Champagne. She has been involved in artistic research in the field of contemporary circus for many years. She is also the dramaturg of the international festival Fun Fatale.