research group on the theme art&humor with maria clara villa lobos, lieven segers, bojana bauer, thomas conway, christophe meyerhans, coralie stalberg, sometimes with davis freeman and moderated by lilia mestre
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tanganyka
for people who are interested to work on the laughter epidemics, the text is available in BC's office. cheers, coralie
The starting point for the theme Art and Humor was to look at humor as a strategy to communicate difficult social and political statements. The interested is in focusing on the roles of opinions, taboos and controversial subjects in society. The concept of the “political correct” is a very polemic one and is a large source of discussions and contradictions. Humor criticizes and points at uncomfortable social issues in a very blunt way. It is a very provocative and seductive art tool, it (maybe) makes you laugh and think at the same time, upsets, destabilizes and opens difficult discussion subjects concerning ethics and aesthetics.
The notion of humor brings us as well to think about the role irony and the cynicism in contemporary society and art. The difficulty of criticism and the absence of ideology creates the field of cynicism as a “strategy for self-preservation when the social, political and aesthetic alternatives appear bankrupt; the refusal of the nostalgic past and the dystopic future.” (Sarah Morris)
It seems that embracing the error makes the error visible and possible to live with. Is humor a strategy of survival?
From visual arts, to stand up comedy, clowns, cartoonists and dance there is a large artistic field we would like to confront and bring together while searching for their position in contemporary art and society.
The scope and significance of the study of humor is reflected in the multi disciplinary nature of the field, we can find insights from philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, paintings, film, literature, theater, performance, etc. This theme bares direct relevance to our daily lives, our social interactions, and our nature as humans. Why and how do we create the ridicule? How do we think when it gets terribly serious?
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