The Time-Travelling Circus: The Dossier Concerning Pablo Fanque and the Electrolier

Commissioned as a text work by the Henry Moore Institute for a dedicated edition of their Journal, Essays on Sculpture no.78 Summer 2017. This illustrated work begins with reference to Pablo Fanque (1810 – 1871), a celebrated equestrian who became the UK’s first black circus proprietor. Fanque’s wife, Susannah Darby, died in 1848 during a performance at his circus. The fictional Time-Travelling Circus proposed in this narrative repeatedly travels through spacetime to find an alternative version of reality that resolves the loss of its performers. The revolving acts and the temporary edifices, are a refuge for people displaced from their homes. Readers are invited to draw an analogy between a library reading room dome and a circus ‘big top’. They are provided with a set of instructions that enable them to begin a sculptural reading process of constructing objects in their minds. The research enquires into the itinerant but recurring nature of the circus edifices and performances as well as contributing to an expanded understanding of sculpture. The subversive circus context is also exploited as an opportunity to experiment with different tempos and colliding voices. The Journal includes an introduction on Palmer's work by curator Lisa Le Feuvre and an conversation between Lisa Le Feuvre, Layla Bloom and Palmer.