Circus, Science and Technology
Dramatising Innovation
Published on 23. June 2020
Book
Hardback
XX, 189 pages
978-3-030-43297-3 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores the circus as a site in and through which science and technology are represented in popular culture. Across eight chapters written by leading scholars - from fields as varied as performance and circus studies, art, media and cultural history, and engineering - the book discusses to what extent the engineering of circus and performing bodies can be understood as a strategy to promote awe, how technological inventions have shaped circus and the cultures it helps constitute, and how much of a mutual shaping this is. What kind of cultural and aesthetic effects does engineering in circus contexts achieve? How do technological inventions and innovations impact on the circus? How does the link between circus and technology manifest in representations and interpretations - imaginaries - of the circus in other media and popular culture?
Circus, Science and Technology
examines the ways circus can provide a versatile frame for interpreting our relationship with technology.
More details
Series
Edition
2020 ed.
Language
English
Place of publication
Cham
Switzerland
Publishing group
Springer International Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
13 farbige Abbildungen, 1 s/w Abbildung
XX, 189 p. 14 illus., 13 illus. in color.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
393 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-030-43297-3 (9783030432973)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-43298-0
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
06/2021
Palgrave Macmillan
€128.39
Shipment within 7-9 days
E-Book
06/2020
1st Edition
Palgrave Macmillan
€117.69
Available for download
Person
Anna-Sophie Jürgens is an Assistant Professor at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. She was an Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellow at the Australian National University, Australia, and the Free University of Berlin, Germany, from 2017 to 2020. Her research draws upon circus fiction, the history of (violent) clowns, and comic performance and technology in culture.
Content
1. Chapter 1: Circus Matters: Engineering, Imagineering and Popular Stages of Technology: Introduction; Anna-Sophie Jürgens.- 2. Chapter 2: Engineers of Curiosity: the Barnum Era; Jane Goodall.- 3. Chapter 3: Unreal Limbs: Erin Ball and The Extended Body in Contemporary Circus; Katie Lavers and Jon Burtt, with Erin Ball.- 4. Chapter 4: Circus as Laboratory: Imagineering Legitimacy; Mark St Leon.- 5. Chapter 5: Circus and Electricity: Staging Connexions between Science and Popular Entertainments; Gillian Arrighi.- 6. Chapter 6: Technologies of Risk, Fear and Fun: Human and Nonhuman Circus Performance; Peta Tait.- 7. Chapter 7: The Circus and the Magic Lantern: A Portfolio of Hand-Painted Mechanical Magic Lantern Slides; Martyn Jolly and Elisa deCourcy.- 8. Chapter 8: The Circus and Technologies of Animation; Ruth Richards.- 9. Chapter 9: Engineering Circus Enchantment: Automagic Technology and Electrifying Performances in Fiction; Anna-SophieJürgens and Robert C. Williamson.