Clowns'Ler

About

Tiffany Howe / Lozt / James Sirrell / Emma Starkey / Robin Woodward / Bitchez Get Ratchet

Clowns’Ler [noun] The theory that absurd activity will only result in foolish truth. Coined from Murphy’s Law “what can go wrong, will go wrong”.

Clowns’Ler investigates notions of Contemporary Absurdism or Neo Absurdism, the grandchild of Dada.  Clownish behaviour can be a form of open expression, of liberation from hegemonic Vegetal state control: play as an invocation of uprising against the threat of oppression. 

Clowns’Ler attempts a dynamic environment in which the audience can escape and lose themselves in the spirit of revolution against those in power: they can take our freedom of movement, our money and our educational opportunities but our subjectivities are ours to radicalise, and cannot be bought.

No longer do we sit in the chamber of James Whistler’s chapel, a superiority complex we are all too familiar with: sanding back pretence we dissolve the line between audience, artist and artwork and invite the public to discover alternative subjectivities. 

The exhibition celebrates heterodox forms of ‘I’ as potential modes of liberation from repressive orthodoxies, codes of social shame and normative behavioural regimes. It comprises work in a range of media, including live art, video-streaming, painting and print. There will be seemingly nonsensical performances from Lozt and Bitchez Get Ratchet induced by our confusing and farcical political climate. Artists Tiffany Howe, James Sirrell, Emma Starkey, Robin Woodward and Lozt - all recent graduates of UAL colleges - present new and restaged work. Ines Frieda, currently studying at UAL, presents her latest work.

Clowns’Ler also invites performances and interventions from the public for live streaming. There are no restrictions on dress code or performance persona and we are open to what might be considered provocative or strange. Some masks and other props will be provided however inventiveness and self-expression is encouraged.