Humor, globalization, and culture-specificity in modern and contemporary art
Symposium

Organization: Mette Gieskes (Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands), Anneke Schulenberg (Open University, the Netherlands)

In these times of globalization, we are increasingly confronted with art from other cultures and countries, a significant portion of which has humorous elements. Humor is known to subvert expectations and conventions; it pushes boundaries and is, consequently and paradoxically, culturally specific, operating both within and beyond borders. This symposium explores the tensions that arise when humorous artworks that are made in a specific socio-cultural context, in some cases intentionally made for a global art world, are viewed in another cultural environment.

Speakers from countries as diverse as Chile, South Africa, Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia, Turkey, and the Netherlands have been asked to present papers that address one or more of the following questions: What types of humor in art might be understandable to a global public? Which subjects in humorous art might be considered transcultural and inclusive in that they transcend borders of all kinds: humor that engages family relations, the body, collective memory (world news, film or rock stars); humor that builds on stereotypes; humor that undermines hierarchies or the global art world? Does humorous art created within a specific cultural context but adjusted to be successful in a global art world become homogeneous and take away the opportunity of viewers to acquaint themselves with truly other modes of thinking and viewing? Is the type of humor that ridicules an ethnic, racial, or sexual other dying out in a globalized art world where postcolonial discourse and political correctness reign? Are there instances of artworks that have triggered cultural sensitivities in a negative way through humor, either advertently or inadvertently? How do migrated artists use humor as a tool to examine their homeland and/or country of residence, and is their humor adapted for wider accessibility? How might culturally- or spatially-specific humor in artistic practices be related to historically- or temporally-specific humor? Does culturally-specific humor or humor that mocks local issues require textual elucidation (wall texts, exhibition catalogues) in a global art world, or do explanations level and ruin the effect of humorous artworks? Is visual humor more readily and widely understood than textual humor? How does verbal humor integrated in visual art operate on a global level? Contemporary art is often perceived as difficult, accessible only to a limited number of people with a particular background. Does humor in art in a globalized world exacerbate this problem, especially when it is culturally-specific, or can humor lower the threshold and invite those that are normally put off by contemporary art?

Registration: humorartglobalizationsymposiumru.nl


PROGRAM

10:00-10:30
Introduction (Mette Gieskes, Anneke Schulenberg)

10:30-11:00
prof. Roberto Hozven - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Self-deprecating visual humor: pharmacopeia for Patrimonialism and Casuism in Chilean visual art

11:00-11:30
Coffee and tea break

11:30-12:00
dr. Katja Gentric - Centre Georges Chevrier and University of the Freestate
Sugar & Salt, like licking your mother-tongue: translation and intergenerational humor in the work of South-African artist Lerato Shadi

12:00-12:30
dr. Alice Planel - Kingston University and Bristol School of Art
Humor me. An alternative interpretation of the work of a select number of MENA region artists

12:30-14:00
Lunch break


14:00-14:30
dr. Monica Steinberg - University of Southern California
Humor and Activism in Contemporary Azerbaijani Art

14:30-15:00
dr. Sophie Knezic - Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne
Droll "Observations": Roman Ondák's Comic Displacements

15:00-15:30
Coffee and tea break

15:30-16:00
Lora Sariaslan, M.A. - University of Amsterdam
(No) Laughing matter: Humor and contemporary artists from Turkey

16:00-16:30
dr. Janna Schoenberger - Amsterdam University College
The Ersatz Art School and Councils of Councils: Playful Dutch Institutions of Critique in the 1960s

16:30-17:00
Plenary session

17:00-18:30
Reception and opportunity to visit the exhibition "Now that's something! – Humour of 100 years of Dutch art" at Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen, Haarlem