Julie Béna's Traveling Circus at MSU Zagreb

Julie Béna presents a traveling circus spectacle at the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (MSU) as part of the Organ Vida festival. The site-specific installation, anchored by a tent-like structure, features her signature characters—Rose Pantoponne, Strakati, Dirty Shirley—across films, performances, sculptures, and installations. Béna's work, rooted in her childhood with a touring theatre company, explores mobility, collective creation, and the blurring of reality and fiction. Family members appear in films like Strakati and Dirty Shirley, engaging in grotesque choreography. The exhibition includes black metal sculptures, illusionistic drawings, music boxes, and theatrical automata. Curated by Organ Vida (Barbara Gregov, Lovro Japundžić, Lea Vene) with associate curators Morana Matković and Ana Škegro, the show runs at MSU Zagreb. Béna lives between Prague and Paris; her work has been shown at Magasin CNAC, Villa Arson, Jeu de Paume, and Centre Pompidou.