The Mechanical Circus

A touring exhibition of art and science

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About

The Mechanical Circus touring exhibition is a collaboration between Museum Boerhaave and Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

The Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, is the Netherland’s state museum of science and medicine, and is the only Dutch museum listed in The Times Top 50 museums of the World (2013). Cabaret Mechanical Theatre is based in the UK, and famous for its touring collections of beautiful, humorous hand-made automata.

The Mechanical Circus is aimed at a broad family audience. Young and old enjoy the automata exhibits, while the historical objects may appeal to older visitors. The hands-on replicas and interactive exhibits are instructive and entertaining for ages 5 and older. A workshop area for making automata can be included if required.

The exhibition is styled as a summer holiday fairground, using tents and brightly coloured plinths to display the objects. Billboards and circus style posters announce the attractions: amazing animals, human wonders, optical illusions, the wonders of electricity.

Central to The Mechanical Circus is the time-honoured tradition that science and technology are entertaining. Throughout time, Kings and emperors have enjoyed amusing their guests with clever mechanical toys. Audiences at fairs, carnivals were forever on the lookout for new and wonderful miracles of science to astound them. Combining the optical, mechanical and electric ‘toys’ from the Museum Boeerhaave’s collection with the enchanting and often hilarious automata of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, The Mechanical Circus brings the carnival atmosphere of scientific wonder and amazement to your visitors.

 

 

 

 

Lion Tamer

This entertaining, circus-style exhibition, combines modern mechanical sculpture with centuries-old physics games and puzzles proving that science and technology are alive and absorbing
– there is never a dull moment here!

Copyright Cabaret Mechanical Theatre and Museum Boerhaave © 2021