In August 2023, Lion Bischof, Felix Burger, and Otakar Skala set out on a journey through various locations in Upper Bavaria and the Czech Republic. The route included landmarks tied to Burger’s and Skala’s biographies: places where they grew up and set out on their own, places of happiness and sadness, of carefree moments and anger. Village pubs, hiking trails, clubhouses, ponds, and forest clearings. At each location, a small circus tent was set up, and the artists Skala and Burger staged a performance. Bischof, as the invisible third member of the ensemble, accompanied the performance with his camera and choreographed the scenes, which were staged partly in public spaces in front of an audience and partly in complete seclusion in nature.

For example, a piano competition took place in the forest near Großdingharting between 6-year-old Burger and the composer Franz Liszt. Skala, in his role as a drag queen, ran a cotton-candy stand on the Czech border for German sex and food tourists. A Bayern Munich fan riding a Tyrannosaurus rex was trained in the high jump by a BDSM trainer, while a male mermaid was trained as a ball acrobat. At the Skalná Sports and Youth Center, the rules of the Hanky Code were read aloud during the men’s volleyball team’s practice. The tour concluded with an eating contest at the “Schnitzel Franz” restaurant, also in Skalná.

In the performances, Burger and Skala often function as opposites. Coming from different social backgrounds—gay or straight, raised in rural or urban settings—they frequently switch roles, act as doppelgängers, and challenge one another. In addition to the performative sequences, conversations among the protagonists make up a large part of the project. The ensemble discusses their own role assignments within artistic systems, biographical privileges and obstacles, and compares their past life ideals with reality.

Circus Burger & Skala challenges gender stereotypes and, with great empathy and humor, explores the possibilities for an exchange of experiences among very different men. The project has no fixed timeframe; rather, the three artists view it as an ongoing endeavor. It changes every year and is constantly growing. The form of presentation within an institutional setting is equally open-ended. The Kunstpalais is presenting Circus Burger & Skala as an immersive exhibition with an extensive accompanying program.

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Image: Lion Bischof, Felix Burger, and Otakar Skala, Circus Burger & Skala, 2023