Tiny Circus is a collaborative project whose members engage communities to develop a show entitled: "The Other Histories of the World," a series of short, stop-motion animated films. The films are projected in public spaces from a vintage airstream trailer, a rolling magic lantern. The animations present fanciful imagined histories of a variety of subjects, like rain, smiles, or constellations.

 

Tiny Circus was piloted as a creative collaboration in the summer of 2008 in Grinnell, Iowa. The experiment was largely successful: by exploring various subjects through stop-motion animation, the Circus developed a creative storytelling structure that serves a range of voices.

 

Artistically, the Tiny Circus animations are simple and accessible, as they have been created with a broad audience in mind. We hope to inspire audiences to reconsider the ways that we use assumptions, beliefs and storytelling to order our world.

 

Tiny Circus will roll from place to place in small vintage trailers. In 2008 we began to create a fleet of 12' long living spaces that will serve
double duty as projection pods, outfitted with solar panels, digital projectors, and a sound system. We started with a 26' long trailer, originally built in 1965. The body was deconstructed down to the frame and reconfigured in the smaller size. The interior is finished in birch, with a wood floor, convertible sleeping space, plumbing and solar electric power. Click on the thumbnails above to open a new window with a full size image.

 

Tiny Circus works collaboratively. This means that we plan and create our animations as a group. Our process includes a session of imagination and creative storytelling that leads to consensus around the scenario that we choose for a particular history. Next, we make a storyboard - a sort of step by step plan for the the animation that shows how we will make and film the story. Sets and characters are then made by members of the group, each participant adds a different and special aesthetic to the mix. We'll be working with this same structure to create animations with community groups this summer. Various stages of this process are illustrated above.

 

Animation is a time-intensive process. Each frame of the film is shot as a photograph, then the characters and set are manipulated carefully by hand, and another photograph is taken. Afterwards, the photographs are put together to make the film. It can take hours of shoooting to make a few seconds of the animation, but it is a fun and group-oriented process. Some of these moments are pictured above. Click to enlarge.

 

Our films are short and entertaining. We mean to make animations that re-open eyes and minds to the world of imagination and stories, to suggest that behind every thing you see in this world, there is a beautiful, or funny, or scary story. The images above are still photographs from our films. Click to see larger versions.

 

Tiny Circus summer session life: we live in tents, grow a garden and chickens, eat shared meals. Iowa is lovely and lush in the summer.

 

Tiny Circus Presents: "The Other Histories of The World" --- Click above to see five of our completed animations on our youtube page.

 

 

 

This summer, Tiny Circus will continue work to create an outdoor performance of handmade stop-motion animations and develop a community art curriculum with local kids and seniors. Circus members represent an array of creative disciplines, and share the belief that all people should benefit from the personal growth and community-building value of art. As Gary Larson observed in his 1997 "American Canvas" report on the state of the arts community for the NEA, most Americans have become disengaged with art in their day to day lives:

[By] enshrining art within the temples of culture-the museum, the concert hall, the proscenium stage-we may have lost touch with the spirit of art: its direct relevance to our lives… Art [has become] something that we watch other people do, usually highly skilled professionals, rather than something we do ourselves.

Tiny Circus seeks to take art from Larson's "temples of culture" and place it squarely in the public spaces. In conjunction with this goal, we will work to facilitate art-making by community members, providing creative experiences and empowering imaginative thought.

This project is community based. Going forward, we will begin to work with community groups to share our love for imagination and storytelling with the general public, who will, in turn, become part of Tiny Circus themselves. Our artists are donating their time to this project, we are self-funded.

If you believe in the idea of art for all, Please consider a donation of any amount.