CIRCUS EUROPE - Poetry and Images, an international collaboration / Jessie Lendennie

The series of works entitled Circus Europe were created by Dutch artist Machteld van Buren in 2012 and are to be exhibited in Ireland and the Netherlands in 2013. Circus Europe consists of eight large collages which illustrate how the struggle for survival is being waged in various European countries. Most of the countries are depicted as an animal: the body consists of a map onto which the realistic head of an animal has been superimposed. Great Britain is portrayed with a number of horses’ heads, which form part of the landscape. The awkward juxtaposition of these figures suggests that the UK is not only struggling with its position within the EU, but is also divided by internal strife. Germany appears to be a bird of prey – not the traditional eagle, but a vulture.The juggling acts which these circus animals have to perform to keep themselves going are indicative of how each nation functions.

Four Dutch poets and four Irish poets were invited to offer their interpretation of these images for publication in a book to go with the exhibition. The Irish poets are Jo Slade, Frank Golden, Jessie Lendennie and Patrick Chapman. The Dutch poets are Arnoud van Adrichem, Martin Reints, Lieke Marsman and Peter van Lier. The book also contains full-colour reproductions of the eight collages from the Circus Europe exhibition.

Machteld van Buren is an established artist and her work is in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden.