Geneva under the big top: Jugglers, fire-eaters, aerial artists, tightrope walkers, clowns, acrobats and magicians: Circus-folk galore join hands with the organisers of Geneva's big annual events, its cultural institutions, and even the Swiss Post and the Swiss Federal Railways, to make the World Circus Year a razzle-dazzler. Swiss News meets the man pulling the strings.

Summary

---

Art & culture

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Geneva under the big top: Jugglers, fire-eaters, aerial artists, tightrope walkers, clowns, acrobats and magicians: Circus-folk galore join hands with the organisers of Geneva's big annual events, its cultural institutions, and even the Swiss Post and the Swiss Federal Railways, to make the World Circus Year a razzle-dazzler. Swiss News meets the man pulling the strings.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

It all began three decades ago, when a Swiss-born artist of Latvian descent, Youri Messen-Jaschin, came across a magazine article that interested him. It was about circus arts. Typically, the world traveller--who has also lived in France, Sweden, the United States, Venezuela and Australia, and exhibited in many countries besides--was en route by train to Berlin at the time.

As he was reading, Messen-Jaschin recalls having a vision of a...

See the full content of this document

---