The core of my performance work and practice comes from clowning: entertaining a crowd, making people laugh, making mistakes, finding problems, being incompetent, failing triumphantly, working with other clowns.….

“This clown begins with nothing, is in fact ridiculous but is innocent of this fact, innocent of the impossibility of hope. To be ridiculous is normal, ridicule and loss is part of life, flopping, messing up, is inevitable” (Julia Salverson, 2006: 147).

I’m also interested in clown theory and in particular how clowning can help us unlearn and reframe our existing preconceptions and world views.

Joseph Beuys offers yet another perspective on what we might consider to be notions of a contemporary clown: ‘…when I appear as a kind of shamanistic figure, or allude to it, I do it to stress my belief in other priorities and the need to come up with a completely different plan for working with substances. For instance, in places like universities, where everyone speaks so rationally, it is necessary for a kind of enchanter to appear’ (Beuys, 1979: 3).

Contemporary uses of the word ‘clown’ has multiple connotations, and is frequently used to include politicians and bankers and those in power who have become figures of ridicule and derision. I prefer to explore and experiment with Salverson’s and Beuys’ notions and to reclaim the subversive tradition of the clown, arguing that it is these notions of clown that are particularly interesting for those of us who wish to explore alternative methods of learning and understanding.