Ausstellung-Detailseite

04/24 – 06/26/2016

Evil clowns _reloaded

The international group exhibition explores the often disquieting figure of the clown, which has made an ‘uncanny’ career in recent years. Today, (evil) clowns appear in a wide range of contexts including (anti-)advertisement, political activism, TV series, horror films and Hollywood productions, pop music, and contemporary art. The masked jester makes us laugh—but with a laughter that quickly gets stuck in our throats: ‘Thereʼs Nothing Funny About a Clown in the Moonlight’ (Lon Chaney).


The show features artistic positions that approach the topic of the clown in very different ways. Beside paintings, sculptures, and photography Kunstpalais presents site-specific installations and performance(-documentations) that were produced especially for the exhibition. These multifaceted works are complemented by exhibits from popular culture, movies, music, and political activism.


On the occasion of the International Comic-Salon Erlangen one chapter of the exhibition is dedicated to the history of one of the vibrant evil clown-personalities: to Joker, opponent of Batman—green-haired, permanently grinning and psychopathic.

Participating artists: Anonymous, Marion Auburtin (FR), Beni Bischof (CH), Barbara Breitenfellner (AT), The Cacophony Society (US), Jake and Dinos Chapman (GB), Deichkind (DE), Birgit Dieker (DE), Guerrilla Girls (US), Uwe Henneken (DE), Insane Clown Posse (US), Joker, Killer Klowns from Outer Space (US), Krusty, Jani Leinonen (FI), Erwin Olaf (NL), Pennywise, Der Plan, Abner Preis (IL), The Residents (US), Claus Richter (DE), Pussy Riot (RU), Ronald McDonald, Roee Rosen (IL), Aura Rosenberg (US), Cindy Sherman (US), SUPER A, Jeffrey Vallance (US)


Evil Clowns was produced and shown for the first time in the HMKV, Dortmund in 2014–15 after an idea of and curated by Dr. Inke Arns.
Evil Clowns_reloaded in Kunstpalais was curated by Amely Deiss and Milena Mercer.
The exhibits of the Cacophony Society were selected by Marie Lechner (Paris) and the room featuring the figure of the Joker was curated by Herbert Heinzelmann (Nuremberg).

Vernissage: 23.04.2016
back