The Kipper Kids

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The Kipper Kids
The Kipper Kids--von Haselberg (left) and Routh (right)
Born	Martin Rochus Sebastian von Haselberg Brian Routh
Occupation	Stage, film, television actors
Spouse(s)	(Routh) Karen Finley (von Haselberg) Bette Midler

The Kipper Kids (Martin Rochus Sebastian von Haselberg, born January 20, 1949 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Brian Routh, born March 9, 1948 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom) are contemporary artists who live and work in New York, USA, and Hull, United Kingdom.

[edit] Biography

Martin von Haselberg and Brian Routh, are a performance duo. They met in 1970 at East 15 Acting School. After months of improvisation they discovered an identical character they called Harry Kipper and began experimenting with different theatrical formats to use him in. Upon being expelled for being "too experimental" they took to the road touring constantly. In 1974 David Ross, later director of The Whitney Museum Of Art and the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art saw them in performance at Gallerie Rudolf Zwirner in Cologne and invited them to do some shows in California. Having studiously avoided being part of a movement they found themselves, nevertheless, associated with the early years of punk in Los Angeles. Most of their performance work, though, still consisted of working in Europe.

In 1982 they stopped actively collaborating, performing as The Kipper Kids only occassionaly.

Routh married, amongst others, Karen Finley. Von Haselberg has been married to Bette Midler since 1984; they have one daughter, Sophie Frederica Alohilani.

[edit] Performance artists

Quoting from an announcement for the Berkeley University Arts Museum: "Through actions that at times stress the visual, and the violent aspects of social rituals, the British Team of Harry and Harry Kipper perform in a fashion that combines the zany theatrics of Spike Jones with a scatological slapstick that is all their own". Routh and von Haselberg created elaborate but purposely low-tech installations in which they would perform "ceremonies" using mostly found objects. Examples are "Tea Ceremony" (1972) a Japanese Tea Ceremony inspired piece and "Boxing Ceremony" (1972) in which one performer beats himself until bloodied whilst the other acts as referee. Japanese rituals, English Music Hall, Viennese Actionism, and the work of Samuel Becket were amongst their influences.

The Kipper Kids made two projects for television. For HBO they produced Mum's Magic Mulch, and for Cinemax, K.O. Kippers. Von Haselberg made a number of films at American Film Institute with Routh in the lead role: "Quiet Lives" (1991, "People Are No Damn Good" (1991) and "Your Turn To Roll It #54" (1992). They also appeared as characters in the 1980 film Forbidden Zone and the 1989 film UHF.