Written by Alice Woodhouse MA Culture, Criticism and Curation at CSM and Beckie Cove BA Performance: Design and Practice at CSM
From 27 June to 1 July 2018 Arch 5, Bohemia Place in Hackney Central will be transformed into an art show for anyone who’s ever ‘stifled a snort’ in a gallery.
Low Entertainment will prod the often awkward relationship between contemporary art and hilarity through the work of 14 established and emerging artists willing to take the unserious seriously, of which most are UAL Alumni. Via airhorn-or-gans, Derek Akora impersonations and corporate meditation spaces, Low Entertainment plays with the expectations you have about humour in art. Because like all the best jokes, it’ll be better after a bit of explaining..
The exhibition is the first public presentation of the Low Entertainment project, where the participating artists and curators meet and discuss questions, concerns and issues surround-ing the topic. This is not the final stage in this process, it is a pause to publicly reflect.
Is art’s ‘meaning’ and intellectual importance is deemed more valuable than its hilarity? Are we trapped by a certain etiquette of spectatorship (polite, quiet, inspection and reflection); that demands a certain type of ‘respectful’ art? Why are you thinking about humour? Our topic of ‘humour’ is broad and undefined. It is also not a guiding principle of most of the artists’ practices. As an element, as a device, a by-product, or dedicated approach, we feel that humour has been under-valued, and therefore simplified, ignored and not looked at closely enough.
Now could be a ‘moment’ for seriously humorous art: it is cropping up in discus-sions. But these seem shallow or populist. We think it is time to give art and humour and its multifacets some serious attention. The exhibition is accompanied by ‘The Opening’ and ‘The Symposium’, where invited guests from the art and comedy ‘worlds’ will perform, respond to, and critique the concept so far.
“The Opening”
Tue 26 June, 6PM till LATE: Register for free
Featuring performances, guest appearances and sets from: My Dads Strip Club, Rosie Gibbens, Scarlett Hirst, Korallia Stergides, Raphael Schulenburg, HMT Hard Crü, Honk Hofman (aka Jonny Drewek) and more.
“The Symposium”
Sat 30 June, 4PM – 9PM
Louise Ashcroft, Graham Dickson and The Free Association, Ursula Martinez, Joanna Neary, Ben Target and Q+A
lowentertainment.com
Alessandro Carboni, Charlotte Young, Dolly Kershaw, Edward Herring, Eleanor Pearch, Ingrid Berthon-Moine, Jonny Drewek, Joseph Craig, Katja Verheul, Korallia Stergides, Louise Ashcroft, Raphael Schulenburg, Scarlett Hirst, Shinuk Suh and Taliesin Lewis.