European Fairytale

The collaboration between Klarabella and Edwin Petrus as artistic duo CJEP, led to the creation of the costumes, in which they personate their alter egoes: UnicornFairy and DeerKnight, two fairy-like creatures, who seem to come from a different world.

Their joint fascination is the world of fairy tales. Very soon CJEP's own fairy tale came into existence: European Fairytale.

Our fairy tale is amongst the people, here and now, to get the public acquainted with fantasy and to confront them with outward appearances and the apparent border between reality and fantasy.

By performing we create a dialogue and ask people to look at things differently. It's a pictorial continuation of the European tradition of story-telling. We call it act out your dream.

In 2005 Ein Märchen in Berlin (A fairytale in Berlin) was the starting point for European Fairytale.
We worked and lived in Berlin for one month. For our performances and photo-and filmshoots we are searching for special locations all over Europe every year. We aim to create alienation in the public space.

Our characters are creatures from another world. At each location we seem to come from somewhere else. Sometimes extraterrestrials who have come from their apparent spaceships, sometimes fairy-like creatures from the forest.

Characters with a seemingly strange behaviour in public space. Either in open air surrounded by contemporary Architecture or mediaeval buildings, or underground in the subway or in a tunnel.

Alienation in the public space is created by us and our performances on the spot. The artpiece is shaped by our bodies in costume as interface, with which we express ourselves. The photographs and films that we also make are being transformed into self-contained artpieces.

European Fairytale is an ongoing project which keeps on traveling throughout Europe