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26/1/2007

All About Laughter

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Humor in Contemporary Art

Over 50 Artists from Around the World
Give you Something to Laugh and Think About at the Same Time

Curator: Kataoka Mami, Senior Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

We all tend to submit to the whims of the world that surrounds us, and in particular to the so-called “powers that be." Yet we also share an utter fascination with the invisible powers of nature and science, with the unfathomable nature of our sensations and emotions, and with the notion of creating something that is new. One of the roles of contemporary art is to bring these attractive yet inexplicable phenomena to our attention, enabling us to experience or visualize them directly. Sometimes art might point out new ways of looking at our world, or new approaches for ascertaining otherwise elusive truths. If contemporary art is sometimes disquieting, it is because it shows us things that we usually can not see - things hidden beneath the surface, things outside the bounds of convention or acceptability.
When considered this way, art plays a similar role to that of the jokes, parody, satire, irony and absurdity that make us laugh. Laughter defuses tension, and humor challenges the "straight" view of things by undermining the "common sense" or conservative tendencies of the “powers that be." Humor is highly personal and subjective, often pushing up against the limits of our private “comfort zones." This exhibition explores the laughter that plays a supporting role in art, throwing light on the messages conveyed through humor in each of the exhibits. Here a completely new world awaits the visitor - the world revealed when laughter is enlisted to loosen the constraints on our sensibility and make us more receptive to new experiences.

Comprising four parts, and including works that make us laugh in addition to works that make us think about laughing, "All About Laughter: Humor in Contemporary Art" brings together over 200 videos, photographs, installations and other works by 50 creators of contemporary art from around the world.

Anti-Art and Avant-Garde Laughter

After World War I, the Dada movement targeted the aesthetic elitism of modern art and swept the globe with irreverent energy. This was the beginning of Anti-Art, a stance that was taken up again by avant-garde art movements after World War II, notably by George Maciunas and the international Fluxus collective that grew up around him. Its artists employed performance, wordplay and other game-like tactics to weave jokes and humor into their work. Meanwhile in Japan, artists such as Hi-Red Center brought humor to bear on the staid framework of the existing art world.

Artists:
Akasegawa Genpei
Ay-O
George Brecht
Robert Filliou
Hi-Red Center
Scott Hyde
George Maciunas
Nakanishi Natsuyuki
Ono Yoko
Jock Reynolds
Willem de Ridder
Shiomi Mieko
Ben Vautier
Robert Watts
Emmett Williams

Everyday Laughter

From the 1990s, contemporary art has tended to focus on discovering new values and tiny explosions of positive energy in everyday life. Tracing back to 1960s anti-art experiments in fusing art and life, it attempts to incite minor revolutions of awareness. The slant here is toward shifting or altering everyday norms only slightly, but in a way that undermines preconceptions, enlivening sensations and sensibilities that have become weighed down by convention and daily routine.

Artists:
Marcos Chaves
Isozaki Michiyoshi
Jeon Joonho
Matt Johnson
Patrick Killoran
Kimura Taiyo
Kurashige Jin
Peter Land
Mads Lynnerup
Trine Lise Nedreaas
Porntaweesak Rimsakul
Will Rogan
Peter Rosel
Roi Vaara
Watanabe Eiji
Erwin Wurm

The Flip Side of Laughter

The pluralistic societies resulting from globalization of the 1990s produce ever-growing opportunities for artists and viewers to encounter a wide variety of cultures. As well as needing to understand different peoples, cultures and beliefs, individuals are gaining greater awareness of their own cultural backgrounds. Laughter and humor play a substantial role in facilitating cross-cultural understanding, as artists take light-hearted swipes at their own cultures and the communities to which they belong.

Artists:
Aida Makoto
Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla
Carlos Amorales
Tamy Ben-Tor
The Blue Noses
Chen Shaoxiong + Ozawa Tsuyoshi
Gimhongsok
Jeon Joonho
Tim Lee
Robin Rhode
Torimitsu Momoyo
Wang Gongxin
Wang Nengtao
Sislej Xhafa
Zhou Tiehai

Deviant Laughter

Anything is possible in imaginary worlds! Here alternative universes - perhaps impossible scenes and stories - play out across diverse mediums from painting and drawing to video and installations. Animals and fictional beings often play a part in creating humor that enables us to laugh off the constraints of the mundane world. Visual and physical sensations turn our focus to the edges of possibility, encouraging us to think about what can be considered "real."

Artists:
John Bock
Olaf Breuning
Simon Evans
Gimhongsok
Rodney Graham
Carsten Holler
Imamura Tetsu
Isozaki Michiyoshi
Kaneuji Teppei
Peter Land
Christian Marclay
Okayama Naoyuki
Tanaka Koki
Erwin Wurm
Yamamoto Takayuki

Performance: “Roi Vaara: Balloon Man"
Performer: Roi Vaara (artist)
Date: January 27 (Sat), January 28 (Sun), from 13:00 (for both days)
Venue: Roppongi Hills

Performance: “Robin Rhode: Drawing performance"
Performer: Robin Rhode (artist)
Date: January 28 (Sun), from 14:30
Venue: Roppongi Hills
*Please see the museum website for details.

Artists’ Relay Talk
*Japanese-English consecutive interpretation
Date: January 27 (Sat), 15:00-17:30; January 28 (Sun), 16:00-18:30
Artists: January 27 (Sat): Olaf Breuning, Patrick Killoran, and others
January 28 (Sun): Kimura Taiyo, Trine Lise Nedreaas, and others
Venue: 53F Gallery, Mori Art Museum
Admission: Free (exhibition ticket needed)

Image: Matt Johnson Breadface 2004. Oil paint on cast plastic 9.5×2×10 cm. Courtesy: The artist, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
and Taxter & Spengemann, New York

MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Tel : +81-3-6406-6111 E-mail: pr@mori.art.museum

Mori Art Museum
Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
106-6150 Japan, Tel: 03-5777-8600 (Hello Dial)
Hours: 10:00 - 22:00 (Tues: 10:00 - 17:00)
* Open until 22:00 on 20 March and 1 May.
* Admission until 30 minutes before closing
Admission: Adult: Y1,500
University/Highschool students: Y1,000
Children (4 years to Junior Highschool students): Y500
*Ticket also valid for “The Smile in Japanese Art," “MAM
Project 005" (from 28 February, 2007) and Tokyo City View
observation deck (Tokyo City View opening hours differ to Mori Art Museum)

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