Alexander Calder's is best known for his beautiful mobiles but his Cirque Calder, constructed and occasionally performed while he was in Paris from 1926-31 is an achievement of pure joy. Its components are displayed at the Whitney in New York and a film of him recreating its performance was made in the 50's. In it he is seen acting as MC and demi-god breathing life into his creations. Even when his hand is visible tossing and twisting his beautifully-rendered figures into action, the illusion is unbroken. The spontaneous laughter and oohing and awing of his public nearly a hundred years later in 2024 on a Friday night in Chelsea showed how long a tail great work can have. The figures and items of his circus live even when they are unmoving and behind glass. They cannot be sterilized. He solves each problem in a unique and ingenious way. A dachshund trots along happily along a set of square wheels. An elephant's trunk is a piece of bent pipe. His circus performers run and jump and leap through the air. A cowboy rides a bucking bronco and waves his stetson at the crowd. In the crowd of mostly Gen-Zers supposedly devoid of attention spans, everyone stood there transfixed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6jwnu8Izy0