A Christmas message from President of Circo all'inCirca

Quoting Dostoevsky is the most spontaneous way I find this year to write something sensible about one of the most difficult years we have lived in our lives. The pandemic was not enough to upset our existences, so at the beginning of the year we lost the house that hosted the headquarters of the Circo all'inCirca: razed to the ground by a fire that erased years of notes, documents, books, memories, clothes and objects; everything. We began 2021 with a sort of ascetic exercise, which in the midst of the anguish generated by the forced stop of our cultural activities and our work, erased the only security we could still count on, our home. Indeed, asceticism is often painful, but just as often it manages to purify the gaze on the world, to glimpse where the meaning of life is hidden within the worldly folds of a civilization that by running has frayed the foundations of humanity.

In the aftermath of the catastrophe, two things happened: a sea of ​​people came close to us, telling us with their own gestures about the "beauty that will save the world" that the Russian author talks about; at the same time, the cumbersome dehumanizing machine built around money was set in motion with the primary objective of extinguishing, together with the fire, that same beauty that makes us profoundly human. Banks, insurance companies and bureaucracy are designed to eliminate every human relationship from the equation; today this is so true that their system manages to cloak the consciences of their officials, bankers and insurers with rationality, whose compassion seems completely serene in affirming that the vision of the world produced by algorithms is the most correct possible, even when, looking you in the face and shrugging their shoulders, they quote -unknowingly- an old and worn-out Enlightenment thought: this "is the best of all possible worlds".

And where are we on? Of course, in the situation we still find ourselves in today – still homeless and with few prospects – it is easy to say. Money certainly does not define our existence. However, the Christmas message we want to share with all the friends who have supported us and are close to us in this difficult year goes beyond and resonates in the character of Prince Myškin. The idiot, an absolutely good man, is the only point of access to the splendid humanity that saved our lives this year. The only way to see and experience beauty without falling into despair is the idiot's gaze on things. It is a Christmas where gifts are not made of objects – which then catch fire – but of important life choices and bonds. Once again we are here to testify that it is possible to think and live differently and remain serene even in the face of the loss of an entire house with everything inside. We wish you a Merry Christmas by telling you that what we have created, the Circo all'inCirca, which for us is not just a gym, but a style of thought and community, has saved our lives. We hope that we can save your life when you need it! Thanks to everyone who helped us and especially thanks to you, who are idiot enough to have gotten to the end of this letter.

The president of Circo all’inCirca together with the entire board of directors.