**The Sphere** concludes its first cycle with **KARMIC OBJECTS**, a unique collection of six artworks (five in editions of 150, one in 250) blending circus, dance, and performance art with blockchain. **KARMIC001** is comprised of two primary seeds: **Materia** by Andrea Salutri, **C8H11NO2** by ROOM100, and three derivatives by Cecilia Manfrini, Marija Baranauskaité, Utka Gavuzzo, chosen via Cygnet Quadratic Voting. Lene Vollhardt's film **Swirls of Fortune** completes the collection, showcasing its web3 art ecosystem.

The 1,000 NFTs from **KARMIC001** were distributed among artists, backers, institutional partners, and The Sphere’s Common Treasury multisig. As these NFTs enter circulation in The Sphere's **Karmetplace**, NFT holders can keep supporting artistic projects through secondary sales proceeds’ donations and royalties.

Ether

SWIRLS OF FORTUNE

THE SPHERE KARMIC OBJECTS — FIRST CYCLE

Karmetplace

**SWIRLS OF FORTUNE** is a speculative meditation on collective consciousness, decentralized governance, and the poetics of emergence in an age of algorithmic control. The film unfolds where boundaries between digital and physical realms dissolve, challenging fixed notions of subjectivity and organizational paradigms.  
Through a series of interconnected vignettes, we follow the emergence of **"The Sphere"**—a decentralized autonomous entity born from the convergence of clowns, jugglers, and "NPCs" (non-player characters) that exists simultaneously as metaphor and material reality. Set against the backdrop of cybernetic capitalism's perpetual future-haunting, the film traces how this collectivity establishes new forms of social coordination beyond traditional hierarchical structures.  
The narrative oscillates between three distinct perspectives: the embodied experience of labor (represented by Clowns), the decentralized network (embodied by Jugglers), and the omniscient cosmic viewpoint (channeled through Swirl, a godlike narrator who both observes and manifests the collective). These perspectives ultimately converge around the question of how to foster transindividuation—the process by which individuals constitute themselves through their technical and social relations.  
**SWIRLS OF FORTUNE** does not offer utopian answers but instead performs the very experimentation it depicts: a spiraling exploration of governance as aesthetic practice, where bureaucracy becomes a site of creative intervention rather than administrative capture. The film itself functions as a proposal for new forms of collective sense-making, embedding its theoretical concerns within its formal structure.  
At once playful and philosophically dense, the work draws on traditions of experimental cinema while speaking directly to contemporary questions about decentralized technology, collective organization, and the possibility of agency within increasingly complex systems of control.  
**ABOUT THE ARTIST** 
**Lene Vollhardt** / The Sphere (*NYC, USA) is a German-American transmedia and performance artist based in London, UK. Working at the intersection of art and technology, Lene explores how bodies, collaboration, and systems of value intertwine. As a key collaborator with Sphere DAO, Lene designs protocols that reimagine artistic labor as living systems of care and creation. Their projects have been presented internationally, including at the 13th Sharjah Film Forum; Royal Academy of Art London; Serpentine Arts Futures & RadicalxChange, Kunstraum Kreuzberg; Athens Digital Arts Festival, and ConTempo Festival Kaunas. Their writings appear in Outland; Arts of The Working Class; Munitionsfabrik; Field of Study, and Royal Academy of Arts Magazine. They have received the Scholarships of Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, and Chisenhale Dance Space. They received the Fokus Award of Nikolaj Kunsthal Copenhagen and the Hong Kong Art House Award.  

**CREDITS** 
Director, Screenplay: Lene Vollhardt 
Sound Design: Tom Haelstead 
Visual Art & Worldbuilding: Tym Novy  
Performers: Marija Baranauskaite, Ulla Baranauskaite-Liberman, Markas Liberman, Erik Bordeleau, Pedro Victor Brandão, Cem Dagdalen, Utka Nehuen Gavuzzo, Antonia Kuzmanic, Cecilia Manfrini, Lean Ruegg, Andrea Salustri, Lene Vollhardt  

**TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS** 
Medium: Video 
Length: 13’33’’ 
Year: 2025 


Wrapped Ether

**C8H11NO2** is a starkly physical vision of the world of schizophrenia: intense, disturbing, yet intimate and hypnotic – a deeply personal piece inspired by the director's brother and his 35 years long battle with the disease.  

**C8H11NO2** is a dark ambient mixture of contortion, dislocation, butoh, break dance and experimental electronic music produced by analogue oscillators which opens the door of the schizophrenic world to viewer’s perspective as a specific kind of extremely elevated, creative consciousness, neither making the condition of the disorder scandalized nor pathetic.  

The encrypted title of performance is a chemical code for dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that goes wild while a person is in a psychotic state of mind. The audience is led into the performance by an intimate confession of the director's brother, who is suffering from schizophrenia, which is followed by physical reaction of the director. Live human bodies become the main material for modeling and creation of kinetic forms. The director sees them as incubators for the development of schizophrenic disease that devastates, distorts and tears them apart to a complete loss of identity.  

Usage of water on the stage gives a special dimension to set design where water *breaks* the space and creates an illusion. As a symbol of life, water revives the object that reflects on its surface – body without identity. Boundaries between reality and illusion fade out as the body gets in touch with the imaginary creature: the director himself. Making this contact helps him to answer: who is he? Is he real? What makes him and defines him as real? While looking for answers he unites with imaginary creatures, freed from human forms.  

**C8H11NO2**, the first performance by contemporary circus collective **ROOM 100** from Split, Croatia, stunned the jury members of the *Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe 2010* project and earned them a title of most prospective young contemporary circus company in Europe, being critically acclaimed as an *”exceptional example of an intelligent, accurate, deliberate and intensive work”*.  

**C8H11NO2** premiered in Paris in September 2011 and until 2015 has been performed at contemporary circus, contemporary dance and performing arts festivals in France, USA, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Lithuania and Croatia.  

**ABOUT THE ARTISTS** 
**Antonia Kuzmanić** established the company **ROOM 100** with **Jakov Labrović** in 2010. **Room 100** researched the topic of schizophrenia since 2008, to deepen our understanding of neurodiversity and to raise the awareness and sensibility of the public about its different dimensions and  complexities. With their performance **C8H11NO2** they were 2009-2010 laureates of *Jeunes Talents Cirque* (later renamed *circusnext*). They went on to perform the piece in the USA, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Lithuania and Croatia. Today, **ROOM 100** devises projects to strengthen the contemporary circus scene in Croatia, and runs the residency space **HALA 100**.  

**CREDITS** 
Interpretation: ROOM 100 (Antonia Kuzmanić and Jakov Labrović) 
Direction: Jakov Labrović 
Music and sounds: Davor Gazde 
Video: Jakov Labrović 
Set design and lights: Jakov Labrović, Antonia Kuzmanić 
Costumes: Jakov Labrović, Ivan Labrović 
Artistic collaboration: Angela Laurier 
Outside eye: Ivan Labrović 
Stage assistant: Jere Kuzmanić 
Production: Positive Force / ROOM 100 
Coproduction: Les Migrateurs – associés pour les Arts du Cirque + Le-Maillon – Théâtre de Strasbourg, Scène Européenne, Perforations – Week of live art Residencies: La Cascade – Maison des Arts du Clown et du Cirque, Les Migrateurs – associés pour les Arts du Cirque + Pole Sud, Scène Conventionnée pour la Danse et la Musique, Akvarij + Split City Puppet Theatre 
Support: Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe, Paris' City Hall, Republic of Croatia Ministry of Culture, Split – Dalmatia County – Department of Education, Culture and Sport, City of Split – Department for Culture and Arts 
Acknowledgments: Ivan Kralj  

**TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS** 
Medium: Stage Performance 
Materials: Bodies, water, and analog oscillators 
Length: 60’ 	
Year: 2011 
Presentations: C8H11NO2 premiered on September 29th, 2011 at Academie Fratellini (Paris, France). Since then, it has been performed in renowned venues and festivals worldwide, including Queer New York International Arts (USA), LAVA in Valladolid (Spain), WHS Teatteri Union (Finland), La Folia in Belgium, and Zadar Snova in Croatia. Highlights also include appearances at IETM Plenary Meeting and Perforations in Zagreb, Mirabilia Festival in Italy, ZOOM sur Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe in France, Montpellier Danse, as well as residencies and selections across Europe.  


C8H11NO2

A choreography for several polystyrene shapes and one human.  

**MATERIA** explores the possibilities of one material, polystyrene, to the point it becomes alive and protagonist of the events on stage. The role of the performer shifts towards the one of the facilitator, and the focus is constantly negotiated between object, manipulator and manipulation.  

A path leads and follows the material from the hesitating movement quality of a delicate encounter to the loud soundscape of a self-sufficient apparatus. Drifting between calmness and darkness, between discovery and destruction. The piece tries not to force a narrative but rather let the audience project their own narrative on the images presented on stage. Within a set score, objects are free to perform and take initiatives.  

**ABOUT THE ARTIST** 
**Andrea Salustri** comes from Rome, where he learned contact juggling, fire manipulation, and has worked as a street artist. In 2013 he graduated cum laude in philosophy at La Sapienza University in Rome, then moved to Berlin to pursue an education in contemporary dance. He first completed the Dance Intensive program at Tanzfabrik Berlin, and successively studied dance and choreography at HZT Berlin University. Currently, he is creating multi-media circus installations, and touring his work MATERIA. Andrea is a laureate artist for circusnext 2018-2019.  

**CREDITS** 
Creation & performance: Andrea Salustri 
Lighting design & technical direction: Michele Piazzi 
Technical team: Michele Piazzi, Chamsedine Madec, Mattia Bonetti  
Sound design: Federico Coderoni 
Original music: Ah! Kosmos, Federico Coderoni 
Creative advisors: Kalle Nio, Roman Müller, Darragh McLoughlin, Alex Lempert, Benjamin Richter, Matthias Buhrow 
Production management: Migle Morkunaite 
Diffusion: Aurora Nova 
Videography NFT: Christoffer Collina 
Co-production: PERPLX 
Residencies: Chamäleon Theatre, L’Espace Périphérique – La Villette, La Maison des Jonglages, La Briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Cirqu’Aarau, Katapult Berlin, HZT Berlin, kunstencentrum BUDA, PERPLX 
Further support: circusnext European Platform co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, Chamäleon Productions, Cirqu'Aarau, circus re:searched, Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, TelepART programme of the Finnish institute in Germany  

**TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS** 
Medium: Stage Performance 
Materials: Polystyrene, ventilators, microphones, sound and light effects 
Length: 55’ 
Year: 2021 
Presentations: MATERIA has been performed worldwide across more than 20 countries. Among others, it has been presented by the Singapore International Festival of Arts, the Venice Dance Biennale, the International London Mime Festival, and the Taipei Performing Arts Center.  


MATERIA

**ES – sweetly disturbing** is an ode to the strength needed to reflect in the abyss and become aware of what it means to be human. We talk about cracks in the mind, body and soul, about the resilience and the strength needed to accept who we are, observe our wounds, recognise them and live with them.  

This performance speaks about neurodiversity by questioning the boundary between personality and disorder, we play with the limits of the disturbance with sarcasm and a dash of illusionism. The main objective of **ES** is to recreate a universe in which the rules of perception are not the ordinary ones. We push the audience to question the essence of being human. We work with the concept of disturbance and through images and sound we play with limits, (ours and the audience’s ones). We encourage the audience to think about their boundaries and definition of disturbance.  

What at first seems too harsh and disturbing became acceptable and even poetic, if not sweet. We live torn between the desire for freedom and the desire to be able to define ourselves, to recognise ourselves in something.  

The body moves and breaks down to the rhythm of shattering glass and dripping water.  

The information is disjointed, like tangled memories; there is no linearity of events, no chronology.  
 
The sound universe is created on stage using sounds taken live from the scene and from the materials of the water and glass fragments. These sounds, taken, processed and edited, sometimes in combination with other previously recorded samples, create the soundtrack of **ES**. The stage is our instrument. We work on the dissonance between sound and stage action, playing with the audience's visual and auditory perception to make them doubt reality. To these discordant and welcoming sounds we add the use of the voice, which is present like a litany, a broken record, a shattered memory that is sought and sustained, a symbol of a delicate and strong resilience.  

We accompany the audience into a mental world where the connections between sound and matter are fluid and where metaphors take concrete form, together we descend into a mind that walks on its own shards of glass, in the eternal struggle to make sense of life, to accept and love oneself, seeking the answer to the fundamental question: **Who am I?**  
 
This performance is inspired by  **C8H11NO2** created in 2010 by the company **Room 100**,  and is co-produced by The Sphere with support from Creative Europe.  

**ABOUT THE ARTIST** 
After dedicating her life to gymnastics, **Cecilia Manfrini** developed a passion for circus art, graduating from the Academy of Circus and Performance Art (ACAPA) in 2011, specializing in Flying Rope and Acrodance. As a founder and co-founder of various circus companies, including Cie. Kimera, Les Mantis, and I Miracolucci, Cecilia has worked globally in diverse venues. Her journey led her to study dance in Brussels and the martial art Kalarippayattu in Kerala, India, in 2013. Despite facing challenges as a circus artist, including becoming a single mother in 2015 and experiencing three accidents between 2016 and 2022, Cecilia remains dedicated to circus and performance art as a means of digesting and expressing life's experiences. She eagerly embraces the challenge of creating a new iteration of C8H11NO2, named **ES**,  in collaboration with the circus artist  Aivjà Pezza, under the circus company name **Cie. Kimera**. **ES** is set to debut in Autumn 2026.  
  

**CREDITS** 
Collaboration with: Aivjà Pezza, circus artist and musician in the piece 
Video Maker: [Urban Fakir Films](https://urbanfakirfilms.com) 
Light technicians: Paolo Danesi and Guillermo Leoni 
Costume designer: Arianna Mariel Razzini 
Psychodynamic creation consultant: Alberto Giorni 
Sound Dramaturgy/Vocal Consultant: Nicoletta Magalotti and NicoNote 
External eye: Philine Dahlmann 
Supported by: The Sphere, Cordata For, EsactoLido, La Grainerie, Antitesi Teatro, L’Obrador  

**TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS** 
Medium: Fakirism, hand and head balancing, acrobatics, dance, and sound manipulation. 
Materials: bodies, voice, microphones, shattered glass, lights, and audio cables. 
Length: 50’ 
Year: 2026  


C8H11NO2 2.0 – ES 

Artists **Marija Baranauskaitė Liberman**, **Mark Liberman** and **Filip Jacobson** are creators of the very first film for non-human public. The audience of the film is polystyrene. The goal of the film is to explore possibilities and its effects of creating art for the unconscious and even nonliving public.   

The film is not made for humans. It is not made to be liked, understood, criticized. It is not provoking or solving anything. But it slightly changes the history of the polystyrene that is being brought to the screenings. This slightly changed history of polystyrene might not be important to humans, but this non-importance might create some feelings or provoke some thoughts in the human minds. That is why this film is human-friendly and people are allowed to sneak into the screenings. Allowing humans to enter the screenings also makes it possible for the film to tour art events which in turn supports the possibility for polystyrene to be(come) part of this happening.  

As an NFT owner, you will receive an excerpt of the film. This shortcut is the most relatable to humans as it speaks of the similarity of polystyrene and a not-yet-born human baby and to the baby’s mother. The role is played by Marija Baranauskaitė Liberman with her first-born inside of her.  

The creative source is found in relationships. These connections are not only between humans, humans and objects, but also between things themselves. We, as humans, cannot experience or understand what is truly going on between a thing and a thing, for instance, between polystyrene and the sound and light waves of the film. But our minds can experiment with and playfully imagine what happens when films, performances and other kinds of art are made for things and only for them.  

This performance is inspired by Andrea Salustri's **MATERIA** and is co-produced by The Sphere with support from Creative Europe.  

**ABOUT THE ARTIST** 
**Marija Baranauskaitė** is the first Lithuanian who has completed clown theatre studies at the international clown school of Philippe Gaulier in France. Prior to that, she completed her studies in contemporary dance at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since 2013, she has worked as a professional performer and artist who also hosts creative workshops. She is an actor of organization Red Noses Clowndoctors, also the organization’s artistic director (2018-2020). Marija’s practice is oriented towards the non-human element in contemporary circus. Her first solo performance was created for sofas. With her partner Mark Liberman she created a performance where ducks were performing for humans.  

**CREDITS** 
Creators and Performers of the Film Script: Marija Baranauskaitė Liberman and Markas Liberman 
Director of Photography and Editing: Filip Jacobson 
Music Composition: Markas Liberman 
Spectators: Polystyrene 
Supported by The Sphere, La Maison des Jonglages, Arts Printing House, Saloranta & de Vylder, and Creative Europe  

**TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS** 
Medium: Video performance for non-human audience 
Materials: Polystyrene pieces, seats, video projection 
Length: 20” 
Year: 2024 
Presented at: Flic, Turin (12-14/01/2024)

MATERIA 2.0 – FILM FOR POLYSTYRENE

**MATERIA 3.0 – AEROGAMI** focuses on exploring polystyrene and its aerodynamic capabilities in a space where air currents are an integral part of the work. Expanding horizons in the manipulation of objects, they come to life for a moment. The objects, the actor and the music are protagonists and interact naturally, as if they belonged to the same universe.  

Music is not simply a sound, but an essential part of the performance. Through the use of advanced technologies and sensors, real-time data is collected from the stage that becomes music. In other words, the objects themselves contribute to the creation of the musical experience, offering the audience a unique sensory journey that fuses sight and sound together.  

This performance is inspired by Andrea Salustri's **MATERIA** and is co-produced by The Sphere with support from Creative Europe.  

**ABOUT THE ARTIST** 
**Utka Gavuzzo** was born in Argentina and formed himself as an artist while traveling in over thirty countries. His first encounter with artistic movement came from practicing martial arts from an early age. When he started doing circus and saw how it was evolving, he realized that everything you do serves to create an artistic language. So, since the age of 17, focused on being versatile in art and in life, he has traveled the world attending masterclasses and training courses in circus disciplines and all kinds of arts. Finding a strong affinity with juggling, dance and theater, his research has focused on movement, physical training and object manipulation.  

**CREDITS** 
Music: Maximiliano Quiñones 
Technic and Engineering: Corrado Edoardo Sartori 
Supported by The Sphere, Cordata F.O.R., Maison des Jonglages, Flic Scuola di Circo, Zirkusquartier, and Creative Europe.  

**TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS** 
Creator and Performer: Utka Gavuzzo 
Medium: Stage Performance 
Materials: Polystyrene, air currents, sound, and electronic automation. 
Length: 45’ 
Year: 2024 
Presented at: Flic, Turin (14/01/2024)

THE SPHERE KARMIC OBJECTS — FIRST CYCLE

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THE SPHERE KARMIC OBJECTS — FIRST CYCLE

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