Maybe you know him as the balloon guy. Or the knife guy. Or the guy who bashes vegetables with his own clean-shaven head. If you’ve misspent any time stuck in the visual treacle that is Instagram Reels, chances are you’ve found him, this bald man with the cucumber glasses or the carrot visor, the gherkin halo, the corn-on-the-cob unicorn horn. Maybe you’ve been icked out, maybe entranced. Quite possibly you’ve laughed out loud, said a big “Sorry, what?”, but then you’ve watched it again and again and again.
Since 2017, Norwegian artist Jan Hakon Erichsen has carved out a distinct niche on socials with absurdist performance art videos. They’re almost always shot in a corner of his studio. They feature foodstuffs, confetti and all manner of other household items. And they’re set in motion by way of simple systems built with basic timber, pulleys, rope, hinges, pegs, hangers, hammers, and whatever appliances he has that can make something move (a drill, a fan, his own body).
