:how can one provoke laughter using photography? How can one perform jokes in visual arts without being taken for granted, without being considered odd or silly? It is true that while looking at the photographic images or paintings, we unconsciously expect to have room to observe something substantial, become more sensitive, and see what artist managed to reveal and to expose through the artwork. Standing silently in front of a photograph or painting, we usually open up to the narratives that are taking places in parallel to our own lives, things that we’ve missed, that we’ve forgotten or never even experienced before. We are ready to contemplate, to reflect or admire. Rarely do we laugh at the museum or gallery. But here we are, at the conference, in front of David Helbich's selfie series titled “Trying to Look Like a Building”. Artist shows no intention to please the spectating eyes with elaborated aesthetics of his pictures. The image composition is rather accidental and we are not offered something visually new as photos are taken in famous spots of New York. What is different, it's a performative stance of Helbich: each selfie is accompanied by a private story and a humorous commentary, illustrating that the new trend of smart-phone photography is probably not only focused on showing and seeing oneself in lovely spots around the globe, but rather suggesting that there’s a vast field for artistic experimentation related to this medium. Under the imperfections of the self-images, semi-accidental compositions (the places where Helbich's photos are taken were advised by his friends on Facebook) and bizarre facial expressions, lies the refusal of the normal touristic behaviour, as well, as denial of generally accepted, non-written, “selfie” codes. Did these selfies entertain the conferences audience? Yes. In fact, everyone was laughing. The joke went through. The refusal of the serious, normative, canonical in the visual arts is not something striking. Humor and visual jokes were and are performed, but in order to perceive this degree of “funny” instead of “silly” , one has to learn mediums ubiquitous language, know how to read its conceptual, inside code. During the prerecorded audio presentation, earlier in the morning of the same day, Alexandra Olivia Tait analyzed self-portraits of Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter, which appeared in the artistic book under a name of polke / richter – richter / polke (1966). According to her, the ambiguous snapshots, casual, familiar scenes from the living rooms, kitchens or even the bathrooms, combined with a certain amounts of blurriness and overexposures to light – similarly to today selfie genre - these images spoke of a new visual code, as opposed to traditional rules of self-representation in photographs and painting. What one could clearly notice is that it’s through the performative acts of appropriation - provocation, exaggeration or playfulness – that artists can reach the point of making up a new visual code. In case of David Helbich, we can notice that artist builds a medium specific language which spectators, presumably immersed in the same technological context ( usage of internet, smartphone, or computer), are able to grasp and understand quite instantly. The admiration of his self-portraits does not lay in the aesthetics of the photographs, but in his capacity to make use of any situation, in order to surprise the viewer, instigate a different use of technology, and maybe, finally, to make the him or her smile. On the other hand, Helbich was not hiding, that through images and sometimes odd visual statements he could relate to every day issues that everyone has encountered or experienced. So it’s easier if one finds a way to laugh about it too.
The conference Photography Performing Humour gave an opportunity to glace at a large scope of existing artistic and academic approaches around the topic of humor in photography. It was interesting to witness how many different approaches a simple theme like “humor” could have. Afterthoughts from conference Photography Performing Humor, Brussels 13-14 April, 2016 *humor me, in slang language is used in exchange for “agree with me, make me laugh”
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“Our bodyis not in space like things; it inhabits or haunts space. It applies itself to space like a hand to an instrument, and when we wish to move about we do not move the body as we move an object. We transport it without instruments as if by magic since it is ours and because through it we have direct access to space. For us the body is much more than an instrument or a means; it is our expression in the world, the visible form of our intentions.” Categories
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