Theatre – Music – Acrobatics
CIRKULUM in 2026 becomes a place where the world opens up to dreams. The Ostrava Multifunctional Hall Gong transforms into a world-class big top full of live art. This world is entered as if into another time – into a space where music floats in the air and images and the human body transform into poetry through movement.
With the change of date and space, new doors and challenges open up, which we will gradually reveal to you. CIRKULUM has come a long way – from Porubská Main Street, through our poetic circus village at Slezskoostravský Castle. I remember both places with great affection. They are the places where the festival grew, where it met its audience, and where it found its identity.
Just as a travelling circus has been moving for centuries, so too is CIRKULUM always on the move. Now we come to the largest industrial cultural centre in Central Europe – to Gong. Every place has been a challenge for us, each has pushed us further, and each has taught us something. The journey has not always been easy, but thanks to you, our loyal audience, we have never given up.
Your words that you cannot imagine Ostrava without CIRKULUM hold great power for me. And that is why we have decided to take on another challenge. To open a new chapter of CIRKULUM and once again create a space for dreams, joy, lightness, and new cultural experiences together.
The year 2026 will also mark the opening of the celebrations of 20 years of new circus in Ostrava under the auspices of BoCirk Company. Twenty years of imagination, courage, exploration, and new aesthetics that have grown right here in Ostrava. And CIRKULUM will be their living celebration – not a step back, but a leap forward, and we believe, ahead. Yes, we are concerned about how it will turn out, how you, the audience for whom we create the festival, will react. It is the same as when preparing for a premiere in the theatre, and for us, CIRKULUM is one big premiere, where up to 100 artists perform in one day at one place, and you can be part of it.
The entire Gong will transform into one pulsating stage. Into a space where contemporary circus, theatre, live music, and a visual world meet, which will engulf you. Exceptional projects, international participation, strong emotions, images that will not disappear right after the applause – they will stay with you, like when you wake up from a dream you do not want to forget.
CIRKULUM 2026 will not just be a festival. It is an entry into a world where anything is possible.
Václav Pokorný – director
