Zippo’s Circus is coming to town this weekend, but for those who prefer to get a taste of the big top without spending any money, there is an alternative. And it doesn’t involve sneaking under the tent flaps at the back when the ringmaster’s not looking. The University of Brighton Gallery in Grand Parade is currently holding a photographic art exhibition by John Goto. Entitled ‘New World Circus’, it features more than twenty colourful images of circus acts and performances.
Within seconds of arrival, however, it becomes clear that this is like no circus you’ve ever seen before. Pictures of an elephant in a hangman’s noose, skeletons dancing by a fiery pit, and intermission ice cream sellers who deal in drugs and assault weapons, soon make you realise that this is not a circus to bring the children to. The collection does feature a couple of Teletubbies, but Tinky Winky’s being thrown into the air by a grotesque figure with no arms, and Po’s dressed as an Iraqi. It’s enough to make Dipsy go Laa-Laa.
The pictures themselves employ modern technology to manipulate images and blend photos of real people with those of models, resulting in digital pictures which appear both real and utterly fantastic at the same time. Most of us have seen ‘Photoshopped’ pictures on the internet; this exhibition takes the concept one stage further, and does it a lot better than the average teenager on MySpace.
The circus big top which features in almost every photo is actually a small replica constructed by John Goto from two model circuses made in the 1970s, yet thanks to the power of computers, this toy sawdust ring with its plastic lions and tigers is also populated by real people, in the form of characters portrayed by Goto’s family and friends. John Goto himself plays the ringmaster, his wife Celia appears as a clown, while his daughters Zoey and Jade dance with skeletons and ride on the back of a toy pig. It makes a change from the usual family portrait.
The meaning behind these pictures may not be immediately obvious (especially if you’re culturally thick like myself), but fortunately the gallery have provided visitors with a student, complete with table and pile of leaflets, who was able to inform me that the exhibition is a comment on the invasion of Iraq.
Once in possession of this knowledge, the images take on a whole new meaning. What was previously a simple photo of two clowns pulling down a plastic figure from a pedestal, is now clearly the famous toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad, while you realise with horror that ‘Illusionist’, a picture subtitled “Imminent jeopardy and a cool head” which features a circus performer on his knees, actually represents the beheading of Nick Berg. Another, depicting a losing prize fighter wearing a black hood as he collapses over the ropes, is reminiscent of numerous hostage videos.
These revelations may be unsettling, but they’re supposed to be. As suggested by the exhibition’s title, the project is intended as a satirical indictment of the so-called ‘new world order’, the Iraq war and the blending of news with entertainment. John Goto’s work is simultaneously disturbing, humorous, grotesque, beautiful and above all thought-provoking. George Bush would be so proud.
