Châlons-en-Champagne to Launch Circus Arts Hub in 2029
Aiming to become “the European city of circus arts,” the town of Châlons-en-Champagne (Marne) has unveiled the project for a new building entirely dedicated to this discipline, which will open its doors in 2029 in the Chanzy district.
Designed by the architectural firm Moatti & Rivière, who confide that they were inspired by Pablo Picasso’s painting Parade, by reproducing monumental curtains to compose the facades, this building will have a surface area of 6,000 m², spread over five levels. It will house a museum, as well as spaces for creation and diffusion, in an effort to combine the enhancement of heritage and live performance.
In support of the City’s collections, notably the Jacob-William and the Fratellini collections, as well as others, public and private, the future museum will trace the history of the circus by presenting art pieces (sculptures, paintings…), props and apparatus (costumes, musical instruments, toys), and photographs, but also a large number of posters.
The spaces for creation, training, and dissemination will be occupied by the Palc, the national circus center of Châlons-en-Champagne, which will host artists in residence and broadcast its programming. Equipped with a modular stage of 250 seats and a capacity of 700 standing places, the room will be able to offer a wide variety of show formats.
This architectural construction has finally been thought through «so that its different functions can echo, in a porosity between a museum, a place of artistic creation, and spaces for exhibition and presentation», which will allow visitors to have a unique cultural and artistic experience.
Main image rendering is by Moatti & Rivière.
The circus has long been a passion and his interest for this singular form of live performance has led him to create costumes most notably Rainforest and Living Carousel for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Salto Natale for Rolf Knie, Au pays des clowns for Cirque Phénix. He also created the costumes and the set designs of Barnum’s Kaleidoscape for Feld Entertainment as well as those of India for Prime Time Entertainment. Of late, working as an artistic scout and creative director, he contributed to the development of several projects for Dragone Entertainment Group. As such, he was artistic director and production designer for Odyseo, the Chemistry of Dreams celebrating the 150 years of the Solvay group, and for the Dai Show for Dragone Entertainment Group in Xishuangbanna in China. Last year, he was involved as production designer and artistic director for the creation of Era The Spirit of Shanghai in the Shanghai Circus World permanent building.
Alongside his work in design, Pascal acts as art consultant for the Européenne de Spectacles, artistic director for Cirque Phénix as well as for the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain. He is also lecturer in the history of the circus for the Montreal National Circus School and the Fratellini Academy in Saint-Denis.
By tirelessly collecting all things pertaining to the circus arts through the ages, he has worked as exhibition curator for many museums in Europe and in America, collaborating with many institutions such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Tohu in Montréal. He has published more than forty books as well as numerous articles dedicated to the circus, the zoo, and the opera, he also lectures on these topics.
He was born, lives and works notably in Paris.
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