Symposium: seriousness & humour in art writing
Saturday November 3rd 2012
Eastside Projects
Featuring David Burrows / Andrew Hunt / Gavin Butt
The symposium considered a number of topics in relation to seriousness and humour within art writing:
Why is seriousness the dominant register of choice within art writing?
What are the alternatives to seriousness?
Why is non-serious art writing necessary?
How do we attribute value outside of serious culture?
What are the implications of using humour within art writing?
Comference: Missed Connections
What’s the difference between Andy Kaufman’s ‘Mighty Mouse’ and Gilbert & George’s ‘Singing Sculpture’?
Saturday October 6th / The Hare & Hounds Kings Heath
Featuring comedienne JoJo Smith, comedy scholar Dr Paul Mcdonald, academic Rattigan T. Mullarchy & performance expert Dr Morgan Murphy.
The starting point for the comference is a short essay by Philip Auslander entitled Missed Connections (available online here, 1/2 way down page). In this Auslander asks questions to do with: ‘Cultural distinctions, particularly that between fine art and popular culture, and boundaries of inquiry. Why are particular performances and other art works discussed in some contexts and relationships but not in others’. The comference asked comedian’s, academics and artists to respond to the ideas raised in Auslander’s article.
The Comference formed part of the Birmingham Comedy Festival 2012.