Not just Clowning Around: Clown Characters and the Transgressive Transformation of Urban Space

The dissertation considers the transformative potential of clowns within urban space and examines the becomings of space, human-bodies and clown-bodies through movement (folding) and gesture. I focus specifically on theatrical clowns who have undergone clown through mask training in the Pochinko style and who maintain connections to the clown community of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Throughout it is argued that the clown is an inherently affective being that is ideally placed to transformatively transgress space(s) through processes of folding and turning. The theoretical contributions of this dissertation are twofold. First, this dissertation considers the position of affects within the discipline of human geography and contributes to a growing body of interdisciplinary research on theories of affect. Second, it contributes to discussions of how knowledge is produced through the fold (or origami) and to how multiplicity is experienced for individual-clown subjects. I consider the affective potential of the clown by looking at how the clown folds itself, the audience and space together and then turns space, thereby disrupting power dynamics and affects and (re)configuring spaces as it does so. I also consider the latent affects of individuals and clown performance by focusing on the legacy of the late Richard Pochinko (1946-1989) and the continued influence of the Pochinko clown through mask technique for clown training. By drawing on Deleuzian affect theory (Deleuze and Guattari 1998) and, to a lesser extent, Jungian psychology this dissertation considers the clown and its relationships to individuals, subjectivities, and individual and collective networked agency with particular attention to transformation (alchemy), transgression, power and the red nosed mask. Empirically, the research project is structured around three research questions: (1) How can spaces be conceptualized as dynamic processes rather than grounded objects? (2) What can human and clown bodies do in and to physical and material space? (3) How can the placement of affects be theorized? Invoking one of the functions of the modern clown—to mirror cult ure back to itself—I mirror my research questions with the insertion of clown: (1) ¿sǝɔɐds ɯɹoɟsuɐɹʇ suʍoןɔ op ʍoɥ (2) ¿ǝɔɐds ןɐɔıɥdɐɹƃoǝƃ oʇ puɐ uı op sǝıpoq uʍoןɔ uɐɔ ʇɐɥʍ (3) ¿pǝzıɹoǝɥʇ puɐ pǝɔɐןd ǝq sʇɔǝɟɟɐ uʍoןɔ uɐɔ ʍoɥ. To address my research questions I take inspiration from the Deleuzian rhizome and use nodes of methodological engagement (e.g., interviews, observations, stop-motion photography) to adequately capture the affects of both humans and clowns. The research methods speak not only to the specifics of this project—research on clowns—but also to the challenges associated with conducting affect based inquiry using standard social science research methods. The dissertation concludes by offering insights into the rhizome of interconnections that affects (and makes affective) the clown-subjects as they (un)fold and are (un)folded into space.