Photos by Jason Krüger Ekvidi Photography

A week in the bustling neighbourhood of Kreuzburg in Berlin; 14 participants from across Germany, the UK, Portugal, Turkey, Austria and Belgium join Hilary Ramsden and I for our second Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy. Hilary and I are developing a teaching methodology that explores the meeting point of clowning, creative activism, street arts and the politics of public space. Our first training took place in Stockholm last year. But seconds can be difficult. I spent the first couple of days comparing the process and outcomes of exercises and invitations but soon (wisely) had to let that go. Every group is different. There’s a different combination of people, experience and energy. We are in a different place, a different country with its own cultural context, its own responses to the arrival of clowns in the street. So we can just keep the teaching consistent and see what the results are.

The process
Our days are made up of a combination of inside and outside work. Our home is the bright, creative space, Tatwerk, with giant windows that open fully. I realise that we would never have that in UK for the fear someone would fall out. We are 3 stories up and we look into a tree, speckled with the new buds of spring. There are flats across the way and we can glimpse the lives of people inside; an unmade bed, a dining table with coffee, a sleeping cat.

The Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy training process draws on diverse practices including clowning, physical theatre, dance and choreography and street performance, and it journeys the performer from the inside out. From our inner desires into action. And literally from inside the building into the outside world. We are exploring the possibilities of clowning to transform the performer, people, place and perhaps even power.

Stepping outside can be a daunting so we try to make each step small and safe. On day one we begin a playful trust exercise – blind leading – as each takes their partner, whose eyes are closed, on a journey around an expansive courtyard, alive with a myriad of sounds, light, textures and smells. By doing this we ready the participants for the outside world, and set the expectations that we cannot remain in the safety and security of the inside workshop space.

The approach is to locate our bodies in the street. So what is already at play in the streets? What are the rules of public space? There are legal boundaries and regulations as well as social norms governing our behaviour. This exercise puts a spotlight on these explicit and implicit rules. Through playfulness we invite the participants to test the elasticity of the rules and norm, making contact with the space and the public through play, connection or simply disrupting what is normal and expected.

In such a short period of time it is impossible share the full spectrum of what clown is and how we can use it for personal and political transformational ends. So we choose exercises designed to highlight aspects of clowning we find most useful in this work including; finding the game, saying ‘yes’, making connection, play, naivety (not stupidity) and simplicity. Some games also teach us how to work together, to make collective decisions quickly or get out of our heads and into the body. Each of these lead participants towards creating collective, playful interventions in public space related to issues that are important to them.

Using choreographic structures we name fishing, flocking and socking and games like ‘Let’s all’, the participants quickly create a physical score related to an issue. Diving into the costume elements we have on hand they head out to the streets near Hermannplatz to play. One group makes a commentary on cars, by drag racing idling cars in the street. Another group plays games to elect their leader, who sets up scenarios that questions coercion and control. A third group explores the housing crisis by setting off to find a home. Each group navigates public space, with those who stop to watch or film, curious and confused onlookers and others who want to avoid and don’t enjoy the disruption of their day, their journey or their work. The eternal optimism of the clown persists to help participants move past moments of rejection, with the hope of finding a meaningful interaction with the next person.

The participants toolkit is expanding. We scatter our workspace with resources; stories, photos and other examples of creative actions. With this new inspiration, and new burning issues to explore, two groups of clowns enter the sprawling Alexanderplatz; one of the busiest thoroughfares in Berlin. One group remain as a tight group, moving slowly, seeking connection with passers-by; the potential for a moment, an interruption, a simple game. They are exploring ‘doing nothing’, offering a powerful counterpoint to the narratives of busyness, consumerism and movement dominant in the space.

Another group of clowns are obsessed with waste. They playfully collect rubbish from people; each deposit in their bags are greeted with a cheers and delight by the clowns. Their intention was to sell the ‘rubbish’ back to the people; shedding light on the ecological cost of the packaging that surrounds our products, that is given so little thought and simply thrown away.

The work is intense. The information, the explorations and each action we undertake is part of the research. On the fifth and final day we want to bring the participants back to themselves. To the changes they personally want to make in the world. The small acts devising task invites them to create an interruption, encounter, intervention or installation that expresses this deep yearning. We create a map, a journey we’ll go on as a group, stopping to watch each others action in the locations they’ve chosen. Each individual bravely steps into public space with their action and the the results are truly touching. Gathering the group and a few passers-by one clown attempts to take the perfect picture. Another participant is blindfolded. A sign around their neck invites onlookers to give them directions, physical and verbal to find their way around a park. To catch people’s attention one clown glues little notes with fish drawn on them around a busy square. A participant invites people to sit down and break bread with him, encouraging unexpected encounters in a busy subway station. In the same station, a lone clown walks up to strangers and asks them what they’re looking forward to.

Each beautiful interruption invites connection. A delightful and radical reordering of public space and our everyday interactions with each other. The clown as the perfect Situationist. The disruptive force of the clown has an effect on each participant too. Wearing the red nose or in the clown state, participants shared moments their personal boundaries and expectations shifted. Perspectives were widened to take the world in and even colours became more vibrant. There is certainly a profound transformative power to the clown.

Photos by Jason Krüger Ekvidi Photography and Hilary Ramsden