Laughing in an Emergency: Weaponising Humour in Contemporary Art

Abstract

Over the last two decades artists around the world have turned to humorous aesthetic strategies to document and re-assess diverse experiences of political and humanitarian crisis. Although this shift in art practice is evident across a broad spectrum of both geography and forms of ‘crisis’ (from military occupation in Palestine, to the struggle for indigenous sovereignty in Australia, and economic crisis and austerity in Greece), there remains a dire lack of substantial critical engagement on the ethos behind, and impact of humour on contemporary art practice. Comedy in Crisis aims to address this vital gap in research. It proceeds by analysing how humour operates as a weapon that negotiates expectations from art markets, whilst mediating the collective trauma that takes shape today in a period of protracted crisis. Bringing together in-depth articles, artist statements and interviews with renowned international artists, this book aims to make clear how humour operates as ‘political aesthetic’ (Holm, Humour as Politics: The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary Comedy, 2017) that plays a central role in contemporary cultural politics.