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

Biographie

Martin von Haselberg and Brian Routh are a performance duo. They met in 1970 at East 15 Acting School. After months of improvisation they invented a 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. Despite having studiously avoided being part of a movement, they found themselves associated with the early years of punk in Los Angeles. Most of their performance work, however, took place in Europe.

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

Routh was married to net.art pioneer Nina Sobell from 1975-1981. From 1981–87 he was married to performance artist Karen Finley. Routh married digital artist, Patricia Wells in 2012. von Haselberg has been married to Bette Midler since 1984.