a trickster laboratory @ COP26

between clowning + activism: a trickster laboratory @ COP26

CALL OUT FOR ACTIVIST TRICKSTERS, REBEL CLOWNS, DISOBEDIENT FOOLS, BADLY BEHAVED BUFFOONS & MISCHIEF MAKERS OF EVERY FLAVOUR TO JOIN US FOR COP26

This is an invitation to join Jay Jordan founder of Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (C.I.R.C.A) and Robyn Hambrook (Bristol Rebel Clowns, The Online Clown Academy) for an exciting 10 day research project developing new methodologies of clowning and activism to be tested in public space in Glasgow as part of COP26.

We begin with an embodied practice; developing an ensemble through clowning, bouffon and butoh training. To ground our practice into a particular place and time we will use Samhuinn/Halloween, which coincides with the opening day of the COP, as the moment context. The themes of magick and mayhem, divination and pranks, reverence and silliness, disguises and the dead, rites of renewal and witchcraft will provide a rich source for material to overlay on the forms. And what happens when forms lead to action when we release these clown covens on the street. C.I.R.C.A emerged in a moment of war and military. Maybe its success is emerging in a time of rising interest in magick, ritual and healing.

Our research aims to elevate the work beyond aesthetic and spectacle into to more complex, effective and beautiful forms of direct action.

Who is it for?

We are looking for 12 participants to join us in the research.
We interested in hearing from clowns and those with experience of clowning, physical theatre, circus and dance training who are interested in exploring new forms of activism as part of COP26 and expanding their understanding of clowning as a form of political expression.

How to get involved?

We ask that participants can commit to the full ten days.
Deadline for applications: Friday 8 October
You will know if you have a place by Monday 11 October
We are waiting to hear the results of funding applications. At present we are unable to cover food, travel or accommodation.

APPLY

What should I expect?

Mon 25 Oct – Fri 29 Oct – Studio-based physical research at Surge
Sun 31 Oct – Thurs 4 Nov – Street actions, experiments and play around COP26
This project is supported by a Surge Residency so we will be based at their space 2/2, 1 Cadogan St, Glasgow G2 7HF

More about The Trickster Laboratory

Accepting and learning from failure is surely one of the great lessons of clowns and so 17 years later some of the original founders of C.I.R.C.A together with the founder of Bristol Rebel Clowns, have decided to set up a new experiment, to critically reflect on the past history and methodologies of C.I.R.C.A in order to develop new forms of rebel clowning.

This September, 22 activists and clowns joined us in Bristol to plot and play, reflect and invent ways to merge the deep power of the clown with the forces of resistance. We aimed to invent forms of action that are both effective in the streets and healing on our inner body-minds.

The research continues as we explore new methodologies for direct action to be tested at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

About the facilitators

Jay Jordan
Labelled a 'Domestic Extremist' by the UK police, and 'a magician of rebellion' by the French press, Jay Jordan is the co-founder of the creative direct action movements the ‘Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army’ and ‘Reclaim the Streets’ and now works with the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, a collective that merges art, activism and permaculture. They have 25 years experience using creative forms of rebellion to address climate justice and they love betwixt and between spaces of all sorts, especially where creativity and resistance, culture and nature, the masculine and feminine entangle. www.labo.zone @labofii

Robyn Hambrook
Robyn is a director, teacher, performer and clown. With 20 years experience, her passions lie in street arts, circus, clowning and activism. Since 2018 she has been exploring the meeting point of Clowning and Activism through her Masters research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, at Extinction Rebellion protests and on the streets with The Bristol Rebel Clowns. During the pandemic Robyn took her work online, setting up The Online Clown Academy with Holly Stoppit, and has developed The Activist Clown Toolkit co-lab series to continue conversations and research with international collaborators.
More info: www.robynhambrook.com

ABOUT ROBYN

Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Bim Mason, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma, Lucy Hopkins and John Wright.
Over the past five years she has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This specialism has developed through her Masters Research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, on the streets and in protests with the Bristol Rebel Clowns and in research residencies with The Trickster Laboratory.
Robyn’s Activist Clown research has led to collaborations with Jay Jordan (Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, France), Clown Me In (Beirut), LM Bogad (US), Hilary Ramsden (Greece) and international Tricksters; ‘The Yes Men’ (US).
During the pandemic in 2020, Robyn set up The Online Clown Academy with Holly Stoppit and developed a series of Zoom Clown Courses. Robyn’s research, started during her Masters, has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and activism, online, in the real world and with international collaborators. With this drive to explore political edges of her work she has also dived back into the world of the Bouffon; training with Jaime Mears, Bim Mason, Nathaniel Justiniano, Eric Davis, Tim Licata, Al Seed and the grand master Bouffon-himself; Philippe Gaulier.
Keen to explore the intersection of clowning and politics, Robyn is driven to create collaborative, research spaces, testing and pushing the limits of the artform to create new knowledge and methodologies for her industry and strengthen partnerships for future work. Some of her most recent collaborations and teaching projects have included the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists & academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era)

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Photo by HeardinLondon Photography