Circus festival featuring acrobats, bubbles, and innovation
Photographer: Alise Bokaldere
In 2024, Southern Sweden Circus Festival premiered as a joint initiative by Cirkus Syd, Lund Municipality and the City of Malmö. The festival was a great success, with events held in a total of 11 municipalities across Skåne. In 2026, the focus will be on strengthening regional cooperation, with the festival expected to reach 17 municipalities in Skåne.
- The vision for the Southern Sweden Circus Festival is to give everyone who wants to the opportunity to experience classical circus, new circus, and contemporary circus up close, says Lina B Frank, producer and circus director at Cirkus Syd. At the same time, we want to expand the infrastructure for circus in Skåne and create international collaborations and partnerships. Through the festival's broad geographical reach, we promote both regional cooperation and place development through artistic offerings, while supporting local and international cultural practitioners.
The circus festival offers an extensive program at venues throughout Skåne, with over 20 program items in Lund alone. Examples include Beyond, where six artists use ladders of various sizes and heights to build impressive structures at Mårtenstorget; OPA Fashion, which combines contemporary circus and live music, drawing inspiration from both folk traditions and modern technology at Stenkrossen; and Gravity & Other Myths, where eight world-class acrobats explore what skill really is at Lund City Theatre, which will also host the return of Samsam Bubbleman with his spectacular Giant Bubble Show 2026 for audiences of all ages. You can find the full program here.
The circus festival serves as a manifestation of what modern circus can be.
- We see circus as an obvious and relevant contemporary art form – a living practice that thinks in real-time through body, risk, and relationship, continues Lina B. Frank. With its unique ability to portray the contradictory, the unstable, and the as-yet-unformulated, circus art reflects the times we live in. By collaborating with both local and international partners, we can position Skåne as a place where circus is presented, developed, and given space to thrive.
On September 10, Innovation Inspiration will be held in collaboration with Future by Lund, where participants will explore new ideas and launch a new innovation award for circus arts. To participate in this day, you should either register with operations coordinator Susanna.chau@cirkussyd.com to attend Innovation Inspiration at Stadshallen, or register via PRO DAYS to discover more or see a performance in the PRO program.
A pro is someone who is there in a professional capacity, regardless of the specific job they hold.
What do circus and innovation have to do with each other?
- Contemporary circus often serves as a testbed for innovation, exploring the intersection of art, technology, and societal development, continues Lina B. Frank. This can involve pushing the boundaries of gravity in artistic practice, creating new rigging techniques, or finding solutions that contribute to the climate transition. Circus often tackles these challenges in isolation. We see that by working with an innovation platform, we can connect our sector with unique expertise across a range of fields to collaboratively work on solutions for the challenges of the future.
Southern Sweden Circus Festival is run by Cirkus Syd in collaboration with the Municipality of Lund and with support from Region Skåne, Visit Skåne (with both a regional and Öresund development focus), the Cultural Committee, the Swedish Arts Council's international circus program, and the EU. The festival collaborates with several major partners, such as Riksteatern Skåne and Cirkus Brazil Jack.