Get smart curated videos delivered to your inbox.   SUBSCRIBE
The Kid Should See This

Calder and the Circus, a Tate Kids animation

Watch more with these video collections:

Calder’s Circus, or Cirque Calder in French, is a toy-size mechanical circus created by American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898–1976). The whimsical sculpture consists of more than 70 miniature figures and animals, as well as almost 100 accessories, all made with wire, wood, metal, cloth, cork, fabric, and string.

Calder's Circus at The Whitney Museum in New York City
Calder would often perform the circus for friends, family, and colleagues (like Piet Mondrian, Joan Miró, and Marcel Duchamp), complete with music, sound effects, acrobats, and animals. From The Whitney:

“In Paris, Calder’s audience would sit on a low bed or crates, munching peanuts and using the noisemakers while Calder choreographed, directed, and performed Calder’s Circus, narrating the actions in English or French. Accompanied by music and lighting, performances could last as long as two hours.”

Today, the piece, created from 1926 to 1931, is widely recognized as a masterwork of 20th-century kinetic sculpture. In the Tate Kids animation above, figures and shapes pay homage to Calder’s signature Circus.

calder's circus by tate kids

TEACHING RESOURCES
• Who is Alexander Calder? from the Tate.
• Make Your Own Circus with Tate Kids.
• Alexander Calder: Calder’s Circus at The Whitney.

See Calder and his circus in action in these videos next.

Plus: More excellent videos from Tate Kids.

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.

🌈 Watch these videos next...

Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room – TateShots

Rion Nakaya

White and Yellow by Marlow Moss, a Tate audio description

Rion Nakaya

What is Impressionism?

Rion Nakaya

What is Cubism? This Tate Kids animation explains.

Rion Nakaya

Rachel Jones, a Meet the Artist video from Tate Kids

Rion Nakaya

How did Yinka Shonibare become an artist?

Rion Nakaya

How did Yayoi Kusama become an artist?

Rion Nakaya

How did Petrit Halilaj become an artist?

Rion Nakaya

How did Paula Rego decide to become an artist?

Rion Nakaya