Cirque-de-BCA: A Festival of Artists at Cyclorama on Friday

The circus is coming to the . Well, sort of… plenty of sights and sounds, but no trapeze or defecating elephants.

It’s called , and it’s running at Cyclorama from this Friday, February 18 to Sunday, February 27.

CycSpecific, which the BCA describes with the tagline, “Two Weeks, Zero Boundaries,” was developed in response to a reasonable request on behalf of local artists to use the facility more often.

If you’ve never been, Cyclorama is quite something to see in itself. The building, erected in 1884, is a circular brick-and-concrete structure with a glass dome above a rotunda. The resulting skylight is rivaled only by that of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

And though it gets used for a number of large-scale events each year, BCA Executive Director Veronique Le Melle seized what she recognized as an opportunity to further the BCA’s overall mission of integrating the arts, artists and local community in new and thought provoking ways.

Voila, CycSpecific was hatched.

“When I joined the BCA two years ago, I absolutely fell in love with the Cyclorama and wanted to see more artists using the space,” she said in a recent press statement. “To finally have an eclectic array of installations, performances and collaborations produced in the Cyclorama brings our mission of supporting artists full circle.”

Eclectic is right. In CycSpecific’s center ring will be EgoArt Inc.’s “Requiem,” an hour-long piece developed by choreographer Nicole Pierce who founded the multi-media dance theater company in 1999. “Requiem” is inspired by the classic Mozart composition but transcends the standard dance concert format with video projections, 24 costume changes and customized seating. The piece is actually performed inside a white box, allowing for further installations to adorn the outer walls.

The outside “Requiem” stage and Cyclorama walls at large will house the work of artists Peter Hoss and Eli Keszler. Hoss, an adjunct professor of painting and drawing at the Lesley University’s Art Institute of Boston, is known for his thought-provoking portraits of found objects and the natural world while Keszler enjoys a dual career as a visual artist and recording musician. Keszler's abstract drawings often utilize metallic inks to create complex networks of line and shape.

But that’s just the center ring… CycSpecific will also feature Grand Master Tsuji’s Samurai Taiko, a unique blend of drumming and martial arts, the music of Neptune, which culls its unusual sound from instruments built of found objects, and multi-instrumentalist/actor Stan Strickland who will perform a jazz show. Spoken word segments will be supplied by published poet, Marc Zegans.

CycSpecific certainly sounds like a feast for the senses and runs for a total of 10 days. The Hoss/Keszler gallery portion of the event is free and open to the public, while the above mentioned performances are ticketed separately. In addition, free talk-backs and workshops will be offered at specific times.

Please consult the BCA website for further details so you can better plan your visit – this is a BCA first and is definitely not to be missed!