On Thursday 9 February at London’s most prestigious arts venue, The Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury, The Howling are pleased to present their first new work of 2023.
The Clown House is our latest performance for spoken word and reel-to-reel tape – and Howlround and I are delighted to be sharing the evening with the fabulous Tears | O V. Together we are presenting a bill of clown-based horror and absurdity to celebrate the Horse Hospital’s latest exhibition ‘Drole’, a selection of mind-blowing archive material and curios torn from the history of clowning.
I have always, like any sane person, looked upon clowns with a mixture of fear and loathing. They always think they’re so goddamn funny, for a start. However, working with material or themes with which you have no natural connection can often be extremely productive.
Hence, The Clown House, our latest performance, which reveals all you need to know about The Clown Inside – a neurodivergent condition with which I have been feeling a growing sympathy.
The Clown Inside is always crying. The Clown Inside isn’t there for your amusement. The Clown Inside keeps you in your place. The Clown inside wants to be your friend.
The Clown inside is always angry.
The Clown Inside knows how to bear a grudge. The Clown Inside knows what you did. The Clown Inside remembers everything.
Combining media samples, field recordings, spoken word and analogue tape effects, Howlround and I take you inside the Clown House, letting you to hear everything that’s going on in there – everything the Clown Inside hears and sees.
The Howling is a collaborative project started I started with sound artist Howlround devoted exclusively to our shared love of text, audiotape and trash aesthetics. Our debut album All Hail Mega Force, released by Tapeworm in the summer of 2022, was described by The Wire as a ‘mesmeric disorientation.’ And who are we to argue?
The Howling +
Tears | O V
Thursday 9 February
7.00 pm to 11.00pm
The Horse Hospital
Colonnade
Bloomsbury
London WC1N 1JD
For tickets and more details click here.
Pictured above
KH and Howlround at the BFI, photographed by @lahollings
HH at the HH
Grilled Cheese 30 seconds
HH at the HH
Clown Graphics by Tears | O V
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