Q & A

Here we have gathered common questions and answers about CirkusMania and this year’s festival.

CirkusMania is a festival celebrating circus as contemporary performing art. Over 10 days, 13 venues in the Stockholm region showcase new genre-defying performances by both international and Swedish artistic companies. CirkusMania was initiated and is coordinated by Subtopia in Botkyrka.

The 6th edition of CirkusMania takes place 7-16 February 2025 at 13 venues in the Stockholm region. Read about all the venues by clicking “Festival venues” in the top menu.

Today, circus encompasses both traditional and contemporary expressions. When traditional circus disciplines are intertwined with other art forms into experimental explorations, with elements of performance-art, installation, or audience interaction, performances that can be placed in a context of contemporary art are created. Often, circus artists collaborate with musicians, visual artists, and directors to create interdisciplinary performances that push the boundaries of what circus can be. As in other contemporary art forms, the aim is to capture the present by reflecting, engaging, or provoking. Yet, exceptional physical skill and risk remain fundamental to the art form, thereby allowing the circus to create its own symbolisms or, if you will, its own languages.

Shattered glass bottles, seas of losses, afrofuturistic space vessels, and autobiographies. Flying melodies, floating stones, swirling journeys, and a bit of nudity. Norm rebellion, pop-rap-punk-trash, dreamy rituals, and a lot of sheets.

CirkusMania´´s 2025 program offers a cross-section of contemporary circus expressions with 15 works that premiered in the past year, some very recently, and a few that haven´´t even had their premiere yet. A recurring theme is perspective shifts. Many of the performances address existential or cultural critique issues. Click around the festival website, and explore!

On this festival site, we present the different performances. Browse, click, read. Choose something that feels like a safe bet – or take the risk to experience something unexpected. In the worst case you will suffer through one hour of your life; in the best case you will have a thought you have never had before.

Like all other art, a circus performance can be intended for an adult audience, or for young people, sometimes for children. Sometimes for different ages groups at the same time. In CirkusMania there is program for different ages. On each performance page, there is an info box which tells you which ages group we recommend the performance for.

Many of the performances in CirkusMania are with no speaking at all. If there is speaking or text in a performance, information about this is given in the info box on the performance page.

Tickets are bought from the venue that presents the performance. You find links to ticket sales and info on each performance page here on this website.

No, we don´t sell festival passes. You buy separate tickets from each venue for the performances you wish to see. Ticket links can be found on the performance pages. The festival´s venues differ in audience capacity, why a festival pass would not be able to guarantee seats for all performances. Instead, you buy tickets for the performances you want to see – and are therefor always guaranteed a seat. Some performances are for free, but you still need to book your spot.