Moebius Pact:
The Weight of a Whisper
Exploring digital isolation and the physics of trust through an outdoor circus installation.
The Vision
We have to admit, we are all a bit addicted to our screens. Like a lot of people, we can spend hours just staring at our phones. We feel socially satisfied by the screen, but we are completely ignoring the people physically standing right next to us. We are so connected online, but research shows over 1 in 4 adults in the UK feel lonely in real life.
The goal of Moebius Pact is to physically show this digital isolation. We want to make an outdoor contemporary circus show and kinetic installation for festival touring. Visually, the set is inspired by the German 'Klangbaum' (Sound Tree) toys we saw growing up. It will stand in a festival field as a tall, freestanding wooden and metal sculpture. It looks beautiful on its own, but it only really comes alive when the public interacts with it.
The Mechanics
Building on our past work of designing freestanding rigs, we want to build a new, fast-assembly structure. The core idea is a continuous, endless loop of specialist rope running through giant pulleys. Instead of a normal aerial setup where the rope is tied to the ground, the aerialist's dynamic movement is completely dependant on other performers or even audience members stopping the rotation of the rope. If the people on the ground don't grip and stop the rope, the acrobat can't do their drops. They literally need the physical effort of the people next to them to make the trick work.
The First Step: Blueprint R&D
Because this endless rope system changes all the normal aerial physics, we can't just make a show straight away. This funding is to help us take the first step: doing movement, access, and structural research to figure out a safe way to do this before we build the full production.
Access & Inclusion
Real connection means everyone is included. We are working with an access consultant to design an 'accessible platform' into the rig. Wheelchair users, older people, or neurodivergent audience members can move onto this platform. Their body weight and presence become the counterweight that stops the rope and flies the acrobat.
Structural Prototyping
We will work with a certified structural engineer to calculate the dynamic loads of the spliced rope. They will help us design the freestanding rig so it is safe to hold people's weight without needing destructive ground anchors or massive water ballasts. This makes it very easy to tour to green spaces without ruining the grass.
The Choreography of Onboarding
We will experiment with how to safely guide a festival crowd into the mechanism without talking. We need to find theatrical ways to teach the public how to hold an acrobat's weight without stopping the show for a boring health and safety briefing.
Who We Are
Brainfools is a grassroots circus collective led by Jared and Toffy, with the vital help of Rika. Over the past few years, we have devised, rigged, and performed dynamic outdoor circus shows for audiences across the UK. Through producing shows together, we’ve built the skills to manage a team, innovate sustainable touring models, and bring a shared vision to life. Now, we want to use our collective experience to step off the stage and make a genuinely inclusive outdoor show alongside a structural engineer and access mentors.
The 2027 Vision
We won't have a finished show at the end of this R&D, but we will have a working blueprint. We will finish the project with a live work-in-progress sharing. We will use the engineer's calculations, the access feedback, and video from this sharing to finalise the rig design. This proof of concept will help us secure our final commissions and build the full 2027 touring show—creating a piece of touring architecture that brings audiences back into the physical world.
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