STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
public spaces, in open spaces, etc. However, it is important to decide on a generic name for
these many different forms of entertainment; they have to be given a higher profile. In Britain
the word art seems too elitist in its connotations and it is often suggested that new terms should
be found so as not to define the image of the theatre companies too narrowly 92 .
The fact that so many different names are used raises questions about the notion of art and also
about the notion of the street, which varies according to whether one is in northern or southern
Europe (cultural habits are dependent on climate in particular), in the east or the west (for
reasons of tradition or politics) 93 .
2.2. A dominant form
In 2000 the French Ministry of Culture made grants to around a hundred companies that worked
mainly in the street. Because of the diverse techniques they use, the government subsumes them
all under the general heading of street arts. Almost half of them are linked to the theatre, but
there are also many musicians, dancers, mime artists, puppeteers, jugglers, acrobats, trapeze
artists; some work with plastic art installations, special effects or pyrotechnics, or even combine
several of those forms. At festivals where they are brought together in various combinations, the
audience do not always distinguish between styles. Fire-eaters, parading clowns and stiltwalkers
have taken the place of strong men and bear leaders in the squares and markets. When
they are not holding out the hat for themselves, these ‘pavement pounders’ (Michel Crespin uses
the term ‘cogne-trottoir’) are invited by local councils to perform at festivals, parades, son et
lumière shows, historical reconstructions 94 . Although they still perform in a traditional style, for
other artists the city becomes a theatre with the street as the stage, the buildings as scenery and
passers-by as spectators, or even participants.
In this ‘general topology of the field’ 95 , Philippe Chaudoir emphasises the pre-eminence of the
theatre and, more generally, identifies two main sub-groups employing two different techniques.
One group uses the body as the main vehicle of expression; the other uses technical methods.
The first group includes circus acts, aerial acts, acrobats and theatre; the second, plastic arts,
special effects (fireworks and pyrotechnics), sound and music. Although these classifications
and labels are only a social construct, they nonetheless reflect one of the most important
characteristics of this field: its diversity 96 .
Goliath, the directory of street arts and circus arts published by HorsLesMurs, a national
association for the development of street arts and circus arts subsidised by the French Ministry
of Culture, has carried out a survey of street performance companies, asking them which artistic
category they belong to.
The range of descriptions shows how diverse the field is, but ‘theatre’ is the largest group; 26%
of companies define themselves as theatre groups (see note 2 at the end of the report).
92
In ‘Table ronde Formes du théâtre de rue’, Rencontre internationale Théâtre de rue: État des lieux, Festival
international de théâtre de rue d’Aurillac, August 2005.
93 Y. Floch (coord.), Enquête préliminaire sur les politiques culturelles en faveur des arts de la rue et des arts de
la piste en Europe. Study by the Centre de recherche sur la culture, les musées et la diffusion des savoirs
(CRCMD), Université de Bourgogne, HorsLesMurs, Paris, 2006.
94 Clidière, Sylvie, preface to Goliath, op. cit.
95 Chaudoir, Philippe, Discours et figures de l’espace public à travers les arts de la rue, op. cit.
96 Gonon, Anne, Qu’est ce que le théâtre de rue, op. cit.
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PE 375.307