For the 17^th time, the Arts Printing House invites the citizens of Vilnius and city guests to the contemporary circus festival. The festival changed its name a few years ago and is now known as HELIUM contemporary circus festival, which will take place on September 5-10 in the exhibition halls of the Arts Printing House, Vilnius Academy of Arts and in the spaces of Vilnius Theatre Lėlė!

The program of this year‘s HELIUM festival will present diverse and versatile contemporary circus performances from Switzerland, France, Belgium, Lithuania and Italy. Almost all of the performances will be unified by the theme of this year‘s festival – contemporary circus and visual arts!

“All performances in this year‘s HELIUM festival foreign program are unified by the themes of search for new opportunities and transformation. The performance-installation China Series by Swiss creator Julian Vogen combines visual arts and the possibilities of contemporary circus in a very organic way. In the creative work Portraits by Belgium company Side-Show, new forms of performance expression are discovered by skilfully and sensitively intertwining circus technique and the art of drawings and monotypes. The newest work of the company Collectif sous le Manteau, which is returning to the festival in Vilnius, once again confirms that the inexhaustible opportunities of Chinese pole in the contemporary circus performance can harmoniously create scenography as well as the choreography of the performance. What is more, the impressive construction-scenography NYCTINASTIA, created for the performance In Bìlico by the French company La Sociale K becomes the space where artists can explore and rediscover the possibilities and constraints of balance”, Jolita Balandytė, the director of the Arts Printing House speaks about the festival program.

Swiss artist Julian Vogel is the first one to arrive at the HELIUM festival, as for two weeks he will be residing in the Arts Printing House and working on his new project Ceramic Circus. On September 5, 7 and 9, in the festival program, he will present a creative work China Series, which has many different variations! This time in the Vilnius Academy of Arts exhibition Hall “Titanikas” it will be possible to visit the artist’s exhibition, and, during the three days of the festival, the exhibition hall will host performances of a unique interdisciplinary project, where contemporary circus meets dance, performance art and sculpture.

On September 5 and 6, the Arts Printing House will invite you to teleport to a dystopian world inspired by science fiction and futuristic ideas, created by the French company La Sociale K. In Bilico is a performance full of contemporary aesthetics and electronic musical atmosphere, where the performers invite the spectators to dive into the poetry of each situation staged on a wire.

On September 6, the Arts Printing House will present a work in progress: a contemporary circus performance Accompany Me, performed by the duo of Lithuanian Monika Neverauskaitė and Italian Elena Damasio. In the performance, the creators will primarily address the LGBTQ+ community, and the project itself will aim to leave a message that love is for everyone and everyone deserves love!

On September 7 and 8, in the HELIUM program, Vilnius Theatre Lėlė will invite the festival visitors to the performance Portraits by the Belgium company Side-Show, where the contemporary circus creators will use different circus techniques, drawings and monotypes to create surprising portraits of the unforeseen situation.

On September 9-10 the festival will be crowned by the performance by French company Collectif sous le Manteau – MIKADO! This performance is the small tales of falling that explore the relationship between us and our environment. A giant MIKADO game will be held in the Black Hall of the Arts Printing House: unstable but manoeuvrable mass of Chinese poles will represent the repetitive choreographic collapse.

The program of the HELIUM festival is constantly updated at menuspaustuve.lt

The program of the HELIUM festival is supported by: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius city municipality, French Institute in Lithuania, Swiss Cultural Foundation, Spanish Cultural Foundation.