Boundary Crosser – Julian Vogel: Artist, Ceramicist, and tinkerer
By Mirjam Hildbrand
The Swiss artist Julian Vogel / Cie. unlisted is characterised by his artistic approach at the intersection of circus, performance art, and visual art. Starting from objects, their interaction with the body, and the properties of materials, he creates scenic universes. Julian Vogel is a circus artist, performer, craftsman, and tinkerer all in one. With his performative and installation-based works made of ceramics, he has made a name for himself in recent years. Projects such as the China Series (2017–2021), a 20-part multidisciplinary art project, the large-scale walk-in spatial installation Crescendo (2024), or the stage production Ceramic Circus (2024) mark important milestones in his work. Yet it all began—somewhat by chance—with a diabolo.
Julian Vogel’s engagement with the juggling object of his circus discipline, the diabolo, began during his studies at the Academy for Circus and Performance Art (ACaPA) in Tilburg (NL). “Actually, a coincidence,” he says, “because it could just as well have been a completely different object.” In any case, one day in the kitchen, he noticed the resemblance between his diabolos—usually made up of two white rubber cups connected by an axle—and conventional porcelain soup bowls. So what if the rubber cups were replaced by porcelain bowls? That was something worth trying out.
From an initial experiment, a multi-year work process unfolded, which repeatedly led Julian Vogel—also as an artist-in-residence—to the international residency and excellence center for ceramics EKWC in the Netherlands. Vogel offered insights into his work in serial form. In China Series—the English term “China” here referencing porcelain—the artist developed a wide range of formats, from performances to installation-based scenes and even sound and video installations, numbered with hashtags from #1 to #20. Julian Vogel explains that he always started with the question of what a specific object requires—what format, what spatial setting, or what scene an object needs.
Thus, in the various formats of China Series, the ceramic diabolos are at the center—no longer necessarily recognizable as diabolos, at times sculptural and at times extremely fragile. In interaction with his body, sometimes even with that of the spectators, or with the help of small motors and conveyor belts, the artist sets them in motion. In China Series, the objects spin on their own axis, roll, produce sounds (which vary depending on the firing temperature), dissolve back into their original state in water, and sometimes even break. What remains is a pile of shards. The split seconds before breaking let us experience the tension so unique to the circus. It is this tingling suspense that is followed—after the successful execution of a risky trick—by a sigh of relief.
In the context of the circus, we as spectators expect that the performing artists possess the necessary skills to ensure the success of their acts. At the same time, we are always aware of the possibility of failure, and it is from this that the tension and our emotional involvement arise. And when a trick in the circus actually fails, we are affected: we suffer along or are annoyed by unprofessionalism—or perhaps by a lack of safety precautions.
Julian Vogel’s juggling objects in China Series, made from ceramic, are—in contrast to diabolos made of rubber cups—fragile by nature, due to the material itself. In the performative formats of China Series, our awareness of the risk of breakage heightens the circus tension: “Ufffff” or “wow,” roughly the subtext of the audience, “the trick succeeded, the diabolo stayed intact!” But the juggling objects do also fall and break here—that is, of course, intentional. It lends the work its wit. And it also plays with the commonly known rules of the circus. At the same time, the breaking of the art objects in the presence of an audience, the shards, and the spatial settings recall happenings of performance art.
Skillfully, Julian Vogel crosses conventional boundaries of disciplines and genres with his works. Playfully, he combines aesthetics and methods of the performing arts like circus and performance art with those of the visual arts like ceramic art, installation, and happening.
For the artist himself, however, these categorizations play no role, at least not when developing the works. Beyond the stage, Julian Vogel spends countless hours in workshops, rehearsal, and training rooms. His working processes are long, time-intensive, and very physical—they consist not only of the constant training that accompanies all circus artists but also of ceramic casting, drilling and screwing, soldering, and welding. Julian Vogel clearly situates his work within the circus. This may come as a surprise, but looking at the history of the circus, it can be noted that the practice of circus artists has always been characterized by a mixture of training specific physical skills, craftsmanship, and tinkering. Julian Vogel’s works arise from movement and his physical practice and are driven by an insatiable curiosity.
The artist lets himself be guided by the questions or challenges that arise in the process. For example, when it comes to finding technical solutions to set a diabolo in motion without the intervention of physical play. It is a practice that follows open questions and discovered traces. In this context, it is no surprise when the artist says: “China Series is not invented, it is found.”
Likewise, Julian Vogel’s most recent work did not arise in his head or on the drawing board. With his one-hour stage piece Ceramic Circus, he premiered in October 2024 at the renowned cultural center Les Subsistances in Lyon and has been touring internationally ever since. The piece is on the one hand a consistent further development of the artistic work begun with China Series and, on the other, results from the desire to interact with the audience. “Because that’s it,” the artist exclaims in conversation, “that’s what I enjoy!” Besides that, there was also the desire to create a precise drum roll, to ride a bike, and to roller skate.
Julian Vogel followed his desire and, in a months-long working process, trained, experimented, tinkered, and tested—and slowly, with the support of advisors and collaborators, developed a piece. After the performance, many audience members would ask him whether this or that was exactly planned. “Yes, most of it is planned,” is the answer. “But,” Julian Vogel adds, “it is planned in a way that allows a certain openness—namely that in every performance something happens that could not have been planned at all.”
Although this moment—meaning when the expected unexpected happens in the presence of the audience—is uncomfortable and challenging for the stage artist, it is precisely that moment which inspires and drives him: “When suddenly something unforeseen happens, it might be somehow painful, but it’s incredibly exciting—and funny. That’s when it starts to come alive.”
The two cups of the diabolo form two halves of a sphere in this work. In the rhythm of a spinning ceramic ball, Julian Vogel’s Ceramic Circus unfolds slowly and culminates in a tension-filled, drumming roller coaster ride. And even in this case, the encounter of ceramics and circus means: risk of breakage.
This article in Theater der Zeit magazine appears as part of the VOICES magazine series of the CircusDanceFestival Cologne.
Upcoming performances of Ceramic Circus:
CircusDanceFestival Cologne
June 6, 2025
June 7, 2025, with Artist Talk
www.circus-dance-festival.de
cirqu‘ Aarau
June 15, 2025, June 18, 2025
www.cirquaarau.ch
Julian Vogel grew up in Lucerne and studied psychology and art history at the University of Bern, followed by studies at the Academy of Circus and Performance Art in Tilburg / NL, focusing on the diabolo. During his training, he began working on CHINA SERIES, a series of performances, installations, and videos centered around the diabolo, which he made himself from ceramics. With this interdisciplinary project between circus, performance, and visual art, he was awarded in the European funding program Circus Next 2020/2021. Julian Vogel is co-founder of the compagnies Trottvoir (2012) and KLUB GIRKO (2017), with which he realized several projects in the performing arts.
He also worked with Compagnie sh. and Panama Pictures (NL), with whom he has been an associate artist since 2021. In 2023, Julian Vogel founded his company Cie. unlisted. In 2024, he received a commission from Les SUBS in Lyon to design an installation and scenography for their summer festival, resulting in the large-scale work CRESCENDO. In the same year, Julian Vogel created CERAMIC CIRCUS. The projects CERAMIC CIRCUS and CHINA SERIES are currently touring across Europe. The artist lives in Basel and is involved as author, performer, producer, or sound designer in various projects in Switzerland and Europe. He was selected by Kaserne Basel for their Artist-LAB program for the 2025/26 season. www.julianvogel.ch
Images:
Julian Vogel working at the international residency center for ceramics EKWC in the Netherlands
Julian Vogel in Ceramic Circus