BNCN Project news - meet our participants

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We are happy to announce the participants of ARTiculate Nordic and Baltic Circus Arts project! During 2026 and 2027, we are organising multiple activities focused on articulation and recognition of artistic circus knowledge emerging in the Nordic and Baltic region. During August, September and November, 4 artists have been chosen to participate in peer-to-peer exchange and residency shadowing. Here is an introduction to these 4 artists! Results of their research will be available in the first part of 2027.

Peer-to-peer exchange participants

In the case of this activity, participants will spend one week focusing on artistic methodology knowledge and research.

Anna Bech (DK)

My practice explores the meeting point between dance and circus and the space of possibilities that appears when these exchange, complement, and challenge each other. I work with a movement vocabulary that combines virtuosic, explosive dynamics with softness, attentiveness and openness. I am particularly interested in how performance arts can communicate everyday human experiences that resonate with the audience in a way that words sometimes cannot.

Jakob Jacobsson (SE)

Jakob Jacobsson is a Swedish circus artist specialised in aerial rope who works both collectively and solo, and who recently premiered his debut solo show 'Insomnia'. Jakob found contemporary circus by coincidence while working in a jazz bar, and shortly after left Sweden in order to explore it. Besides creating and performing circus shows, he also takes part in artistic research programs, studies dramaturgy, and drinks alarming amounts of coffee.

Residency shadowing participants

In the case of this activity, the mentioned artists will shadow and observe other artists in residency.

Marija Baranauskaitė-Liberman (LT)

Marija is a Lithuanian contemporary circus artist, trained in contemporary dance at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and in clown theatre at the school of Philippe Gaulier in France. In her work, Marija explores the non-human, non-anthropocentric potential of contemporary circus - creating performances that put objects, animals, and environments into leading positions. In works such as The Sofa Project, The Duck (Show) Performance, and World Around Sofa, she explores how performance can exist beyond human perception - inviting audiences to encounter other forms of attention, agency, and presence. Through this research, she develops a distinct artistic language that blurs the boundaries between human and non-human bodies.

Marija will shadow Hanna Moisala's residency taking place in Cirkus Syd, Lund.

Simon Granit Ossoinak (SE)

Simon Granit Ossoinak is a director, producer and performer from Sweden combining acrobatics with theatre, parkour and dance. His pieces have toured in Sweden, Finland, Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands, reaching theatre stages and art museums as well as outdoor festivals and social initiatives. As a teacher for 13 years, he's honed his pedagogical skills and analytical eye, teaching at institutions such as Codarts, Fontys, Crac de Lomme and Danscentrum Stockholm. Artistically, he has a big fascination for oddness, in using the individual uniqueness present in all of us, and tries to bring forth that special creativity through his teaching and directing.

Simon will shadow Blind Gut Company's residency taking place in Cirko, Helsinki.

More about the project

ARTiculate Nordic and Baltic Circus Arts is a project that aims to recognise and articulate the artistic circus knowledge emerging in the Nordic & Baltic region. It offers opportunities for circus practitioners to share perspectives on artistic methods, approaches, and values. Find out more about the project here - https://www.balticnordiccircus.com/articulate-nordic-and-baltic-circus-arts

Project is supported by the Nordic Culture Fund.