In the performance ‘Circus, Boden & Gas’ (Circus, Carters & Gas), WERC and theater maker Sijas de Groot told the story of the city of Groningen with reference to the former CiBoGa site, which then existed for 400 years. In this performance, not only the history of this area was told, but also the personal stories of people who have worked and lived there. The CiBoGa site is located on the northeastern border of the center of Groningen and has been a symbol of the city’s industrial and technical progress for years.

For this project, WERC was asked by Noorderzon to make a performance together with De Verhalen van Groningen (The Stories of Groningen, expertise center and project organization) and Format Gava (Groningen Audio-Visual Archive). De Verhalen van Groningen and Format Gava came up with the idea of working with the Groningen archive material to depict the stories of the past. WERC then approached theater maker Sijas de Groot, who became responsible for the narrative of the performance. Musician Wilco Alkema made the soundscapes for this performance.

In creating the performance, WERC took the collected stories of the past and their own experiences of CiBoGa site as a starting point. This made the performance a combination of old and contemporary stories, which were used to tell a new story. Based on this new story, WERC made a model of the CiBoGa site. In this model, buildings from the past stood right next to contemporary buildings, whereby WERC created an entirely new area.

The constant change of the area since 1616 was mapped by WERC by means of live projections on this model. Together with Sijas de Groot as a storyteller, the audience was taken on a journey across the CiBoGa site through the past and present.

With “Circus, Boden & Gas”, WERC created a new reality based on memories and stories and made their first big step in creating their own theater performances.