„It was a very simple work. After visiting a few art fairs, such a text writes itself… And visually, I always had to think of Steve Jobs announcing the new iSomething. It was the first collaboration with the screenwriter Sebastian Orlac. We had a lot of fun! And Gottfried Richter, with whom I did a lot before and after, fits perfectly into this role…“ — Sven Johne

Greatest Show on Earth, 2011
single channel HD video, German with English subtitle, 22:56 min.
ed. 5+1 a.p.

While the traditional image of traveling circus might have become an anachronism, what it stands for still remains: sweet promise of happiness. Greatest Show on Earth reveals the ridiculousness of these promises by presenting a compere, who announces an endless series of sensations but when listened to closely, who sets the audience at unease. What is revealed here is the world we are living in: the world where the ‚higher, faster, further‘ has long become the leading slogan; the world where the lust for the sensation, luxury and speculation of benefits only induces a feeling of emptiness in us.