{"id":38573,"date":"2016-10-04T11:41:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T09:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=38573"},"modified":"2016-10-04T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T09:41:00","slug":"artists-humour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/artists-humour\/","title":{"rendered":"Die K\u00fcnstler, die wirklich lustige Kunst machen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Elmgreen Elmgreen and Dragset. Gay Marriage, 2010. Courtesy of Astrup Fearnley Museet, 2016<\/p>\n

 
\nWant to hear something funny? Here goes: How long does it take Marina Abramovic<\/a>\u00a0to change a\u00a0light bulb? The SLEEK team has no idea, but we bet she wouldn\u2019t ask Jay-Z for help.\u00a0Okay, so not all gags are successful. Some other stinkers include:\u00a0Paul McCarthy<\/a>\u2019s butt-plug-cum-Christmas-tree in Paris, which was unsurprisingly swiftly defaced,\u00a0and Cindy Sherman<\/a>\u2019s clowns, which are so evil they make children cry. But when executed\u00a0with wit, attempts at humour can challenge taboos, something art has an acute awareness of, having\u00a0used it as a way of distorting, concealing and criticising aspects of society for centuries.
\nFrom the painters of Florence to the YBAs<\/a>, painters, sculptors and conceptualists of all stripes have\u00a0been integrating comedy into their work to elicit a laugh from the word go. Today, many artists are\u00a0playing with the sensibilities of our LOL culture\u00a0to make stuff that\u2019s so funny you\u2019ll crack your rib\u00a0laughing while confronting the harsh realities of our age. In a world becoming ever darker and threatening,\u00a0laughter is proving to be the best remedy.
\nOne of the chief influences on this satirical bent in contemporary practice is of course Dada, the\u00a0subversive art movement that believed it could change the world with their seditious yet hilarious\u00a0artworks. And since it\u2019s celebrating its centenary this year, we\u2019ve profiled five contemporary figures\u00a0whose output is making us giggle while shaking up the status quo with a sly wink.
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\"Elmgreen Elmgreen and Dragset. Prada Marfa, 2005. Courtesy the artists, Art Production Fund, New York and Ballroom Marfa, Marfa.\u00a0Photo: Simon Bierwald<\/p>\n

ELMGREEN\u00a0AND DRAGSET<\/h3>\n

\u201cOne of the first things I learned with Michael was to not be so fucking submissive to authority,\u201d says Ingar\u00a0Dragset about his partner in crime, Michael Dragset. Together they form Elmgreen and Dragset<\/a>, one of the\u00a0world\u2019s most popular artist duos. Having met in Copenhagen in 1995 with no formal art education, they\u00a0were inspired to abolish all formal restrictions and norms by their desire to destabilise the art world \u2013 something\u00a0they achieved using their subversive humour.
\nIndeed, their wit oozes deadpan delivery with a queer, socio-political edge. In their 2010 installation \u201cGay\u00a0Marriage\u201d they linked up the pipes attached to two neighbouring urinals. A nod to Duchamp\u2019s \u201cFountain\u201d, it\u00a0also satirised how Western societies still treat homosexuality as something dirty, secretive and illicit despite\u00a0the introduction of gay marriage in many countries.
\nUsing this iconoclastic approach they\u2019ve turned the mainstream on its head, resulting in works such as 2006\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThe Welfare State\u201d, a performance that appropriated the aesthetics of a glitzy chat show to comment on the\u00a0sensationalist demonisation of the working class. Yet they don\u2019t see themselves as moral crusaders. In 2005,\u00a0they made a piece of land art in the form of a Prada shop filled with items donated by Miuccia herself in the\u00a0middle of the Texan desert. While \u201cPrada Marfa\u201d is seemingly intended as comment on consumerism, the\u00a0duo\u2019s role in the capitalist system they question remains ambiguous. \u201cWe never really believed in this almost\u00a0Protestant or Puritan belief of being true to yourself in art,\u201d Michael says. \u201cI find that unbearably old-school and\u00a0moralistic.\u201d
\nDespite making hundreds of similarly humorous interventions, their funniest piece, in SLEEK\u2019s opinion,\u00a0remains \u201cThe Collectors\u201d. Shown at the 53rd Venice Biennale, the installation resembled the home of a gay art\u00a0collector and all his luxurious belongings, examining the fine line between art appreciation and decadence.\u00a0Filled with amusing gestures, the final exhibit, the collector\u2019s lifeless body floating in a swimming pool, was\u00a0a flawless punchline. Gallows humour at its most glamorous.
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