What is clown art?

When you hear the word “clown,” what comes to mind?

Is it the mascot wearing a giant wig outside a fast-food restaurant? The performer in the circus walking on stilts and twisting balloons? Or the villainous character in a film with an eerie smile?

In Taiwan’s medical settings, there is a group of people wearing red noses. They do not make balloons, do not necessarily perform magic, and are not always trying to be funny. They are “Red Nose Doctors,” a group of performing arts professionals who have undergone rigorous professional training. They bring “Clown Art” into highly controlled hospital wards filled with the sounds of medical equipment and the smell of disinfectant.

In this article, we want to shed the public’s stereotypical impressions of clowns, begin with the historical context of the performing arts, and talk with you about this: What exactly is “Clown Art”? Why can this seemingly absurd form of performance grow the most resilient tenderness in cold hospital wards?

To understand clown art, we must turn back time to the eighteenth century.

Clowns first appeared in British circuses. After the audience had watched breathtaking acts, red-nosed clowns would take the stage to ease the tension by “clumsily” imitating the acts they had just seen—for example, falling off a horse or messing up the props. These amusing performances quickly won tremendous applause from the audience and gradually evolved from interludes into the main event. It is worth noting that these clown performers were actually highly skilled; many were retired stunt performers. They possessed exceptional bodily control in order to perform “failure” with such precision.

As time passed, clowns gradually developed into “Theatrical Clowns” capable of standing on their own. Clowns were no longer merely comic relief, but became dramatic characters with depth who could carry universal human emotions.

In the early twentieth century, French theater master Jacques Copeau, in opposition to the exaggerated and affected acting styles prevalent in theater at the time, began seeking inspiration from medieval “Commedia dell’arte” and circus clowns. He discovered that clown performance was full of intuition and curiosity: clowns approached things with the purity of encountering them for the first time, and could establish an exceptionally authentic connection with the audience.

Later, another French theater master, Jacques Lecoq, inherited this tradition and brought physical theater training to its peak. In his teaching system, actors first had to undergo rigorous training with the “Neutral Mask,” shedding personal habits and using pure bodily movement to convey subtle emotions.

For Jacques Lecoq, the ultimate expression of physical performance was the clown.

To truly understand clowns, we must dispel the misconception that “a clown is merely a character.” A clown is actually a “state”: a state of openness, innocence, and extreme sensitivity.

There is a famous saying at the Jacques Lecoq theater school: “The red nose is the smallest mask in the world.” Ordinary masks are meant to conceal, but the purpose of the red nose is to reveal. When actors put on this red nose, they are not playing an invulnerable hero; instead, they release their innermost, purest, unfiltered selves.

In everyday life, we are constantly taught to succeed, to be elegant, and to conceal clumsiness, making it difficult for us to accept our own imperfections. But in a society that pursues victory and success, the clown is a symbol of counterculture. At the heart of clown art lies “flopping” and failure.

When audiences watch a clown trip over a threshold, hold sheet music upside down, or panic over something trivial, their defenses come down. The clown proves to us that even if we bang our heads bloody or make a mess of things, it is okay. Forget unrealistic social pressures; as long as we honestly be ourselves, we can find happiness and hope in the most unexpected places. This freedom from social conventions is precisely the most captivating magic of clown art.

“Who can become a medical clown?” This may be the question most frequently asked of Ma Chao-chi, founder of Red Nose Doctors.

The answer is: someone with a “Simple Mind.” If we had to use one word to describe the essence of a clown, it would be “love.”

Clowns have simple, clear minds. They always live in the present and are full of curiosity about the world. In their eyes, whether sick or healthy, a child is a child. They sincerely believe that everyone is their ally, and even when being teased, they firmly believe they are the best. This is not foolishness, but the ultimate trust in human nature.

In hospitals, clowns are like troubadours on a battlefield. Even in the most difficult and saddest moments, they can still find poetry in the darkness, pick a flower from the ground, and sing a gentle song. They do not hide their emotions, but place their most transparent selves before the audience.

【Sources and References】

• 《In-Depth Study of the Red Nose Doctors Organization》（2025 compilation）, Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• 《Red Nose Doctors—Story Collection》（internal records of hospital ward stories）, Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• 《Red Nose Doctors—Performance Locations and Frequency, and Number of Performers》（statistics through February 28, 2026）, Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• 《2025 Introduction to Red Nose Doctors》annual report presentation, Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• 《Call for Applications for the Seventh Red Nose Doctors Performer Selection, 2025》, Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• 《Supplementary Information on Red Nose Doctors》Legal and Administrative Information, Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• Ma Chao-chi (2021), “The Clown Theater You Don’t Know,” Cross-Strait Children’s Literature Journal.
• Ma Chao-chi (2022), “Returning Children’s Right to Play to Children,” CommonWealth Magazine Independent Commentary.
• Ma Chao-chi (2024), “Laughter Is a Human Right: When We Laugh Together, We Are All in Love.”
• Luc Ducros (2021), “All Actors Need Clown Training—It Helps Actors Liberate Themselves.”
• Luc Ducros, “Why the Clown Should Be in the Hospital” (Pourquoi le clown a sa place à l’hôpital).
• Tseng Ching-wen (2023), “Red Nose Doctors and Drama Therapy: Creating People-Centered, Friendly Healthcare Environments through Clown Performance,” Red Nose Clown Care Association, Taiwan.
• Wu Wei-wen et al. (2023), 《A Quasi-Experimental Study of the Emotional Effects of Medical Clowning Services on Parents of Children Receiving Cancer Treatment》（Medical clowning influences the emotions of parents of children undergoing cancer treatment: A quasi-experimental study）, Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
• National Taichung Theater (2021), 《Summer Fun Time Festival Program Guide》Guidebook (including an introduction to physical theater).