This issue of Alternatives théâtrales, a magazine about all the performing arts, honors various forms that are too often neglected or misjudged: circus, puppetry and art in public space. It explores the history of these practices, and looks at cultural policies, their evolution and the politics that influence them, both in Belgium and in France. In a larger-than-usual section of the magazine, the floor is given to the free and innovative creators who, from the avant-gardes to the present day, continue to contribute to the re-oxygenation of theatrical forms.

With contributions from Yngvild Aspeli, Georges Banu, Marjorie Bertin, Constance Biasotto, My-Linh Bui, Compagnie La Corneille bleue, Anna Czapski, Gwénola David, Marthe Degaille, Mathieu Dochtermann, Isabelle Drubigny, Wapke Feenstra, Esther Friess, Caroline Godart, Françoise Houtteman Flabat, Isabelle Jans, Mathilde Lebas Maillard, Évelyne Lecucq, Aurélien Leforestier, Agnès Limbos, Catherine Magis, Sylvie Martin-Lahmani, Chloé Moglia, Alain Moreau, OpUS, Compagnie La Pigeonnière, Collectif Rafale, Karolina Svobodova, Cyril Thomas, Anne Thuot, Karel Vanhaesebrouck, Graziella Végis, Emmanuel Wallon, Les Zerkiens.

Editors: Sylvie Martin-Lahmani and Caroline Godart

With the co-publishing support of: Aires Libres Wallonie-Bruxelles, Cifas Bruxelles, ENACR-Rosny-sous Bois, Themaa-France, Tof théâtre/ Maboule/Monty-Genappe, Centre de la marionnette de la Fédération Wallonie-Tournai

The "Cifas-Arts vivants dans l'espace public" dossier features stories, interviews and chronicles on our key projects Feral and Constellations. It also looks back at artist Micha Goldberg's Mobile Light Poem XL Deluxe, an action in public space which took place in December 2021. Texts by Wapke Feenstra, Anna Czapski, Aurélien Leforestier and Anne Thuot.

To read the dossier → this way

The launch in Brussels

Issue number 148 will launch on Wednesday June 14th at 11am, at UP Circus & Performing Arts.
  With the guests listed below, we'll be looking back at the main thrusts of the issue, and our collective desire to honor what were once minor performing arts forms, in the fields of puppetry, circus and public space creation.
  Together, we will reflect on the perpetual renewal of these popular art forms, on their specificities, and on their increasingly numerous links with theater and dance:
  - hybridization of the arts (circus theater, puppet dance, etc.)
- multiplication of performance spaces (street theater in urban or natural settings, in telephone booths or cellars...; inanimate figures outside the castelet; indoor and bifrontal circus...)
- incredible diversity in audience relations, particularly inclusive and generous in public space...
  These shifts reflect a great porosity between all fields of contemporary creation, and a well-deserved process of legitimization. So much so, in fact, that we may well wonder whether we still need to create separate boxes for these highly inventive forms, specific lines within our respective institutions, dedicated magazine issues...?

In the presence of :

Françoise Flabat, Director of the Centre de la Marionnette de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles-Tournai
Isabelle Jans, coordinator of Aires Libres Wallonie-Bruxelles
Marine Thévenet, Director of Cifas-Brussels, accompanied by Federica Fantini
Cyril Thomas, Director, Enacr-Rosny-sous-Bois
Karolina Svobodova (member of the Alternatives théâtrales editorial board, ULB-Brussels lecturer)

Moderation:

Caroline Godart, member of the Alternatives théâtrales editorial board and dramaturge at Bellone-Bruxelles, Sylvie Martin-Lahmani, editorial director of Alternatives théâtrales and associate professor at Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris.