Conceptual text by “Zaungast” Zara Zandieh
What is the power of being ridiculous? How can we use humor and ridiculousness as strategies to shift visions around experiences of oppression, violence, and discrimination? How can we shift power within dynamics of border politics and experiences of duress?
The curators of Bossing Images: Rather Ridiculous!, Antke Engel and Jess Dorrance, write the following in the invitation for their event:
“In our current moment of profound inequality and violence, it often feels like there is little to laugh about. Laughter may seem irrelevant, irresponsible, or even impossible. At the same time, many on the left are questioning traditional political and aesthetic strategies of resistance, which have frequently relied on modes of ‘serious’ and ‘straightforward’ realism and recognition.”
As I became acquainted with the event’s topic and got to know Jess and Antke, I became increasingly curious about their approaches to creating spaces where the power of art is questioned, where people can experience how art can be deconstructed and used, where the usually consuming audience is asked to leave the role of the observer and take on a role of the participator, and where we can ask about the influence and power of humor and laughter as possible strategies of resistance.
Humor, laughter, satire, irony, jokes about political incidences, etc. have always been around. People who are oppressed have always used humor as strategies to fight against oppressive conditions, states of mind, and statuses. Forms of humor have been used as significant components to overcome collective trauma, violence, and genocides. Traditions of Middle Eastern and Jewish humor, for instance, often address and reflect historical moments of oppression.
Humor can also be an effective tool for self-reflection. Its aims can be highly anti-authoritarian, mocking both religious and secular life. At the same time, humor can also be deployed to make fun of “in” groups rather than “others.” We can see these kinds of performance strategies in queer and LGBTIQ+ scenes, for one as part of camp and drag culture. Especially in our current moment, with all the worldwide violence and devastation and accompanying tensions and fears, it is important to remember the impact of humor.
Bossing Images: Rather Ridiculous! raised these questions and thoughts in many different ways. I entered and saw people lose their protective shields and shields of self-control during Werner Hirsch’s performance. In his performance, Hirsch gathered the audience/participants into a circle and, later, into the center of his performance. His performance aimed to involve and include us: while we were ostensibly the audience, we actually also became participants. For a moment, everybody was performing.
Similarly, in their respective interventions, artists Susan Silton and Ismael Ogando also worked to deconstruct the stage and make it a more involving place for the audience. During Silton and then Ogando’s audio works, the audience stayed, chatted, left, listened. . . . Silton and Ogando’s audio works were played through speakers placed on four sides of a square, prompting the audience to sit or lay down in the center of the speakers. There was no obligation to make smart comments on the pieces. Rather, the audience itself became part of the stage and performance.
We need humor to find new ways of dealing with and referring to the status quo. We need to loosen up and let some of our protective shields down in order to face and encounter one another. To do this—control less, deal with own shields of protection, develop humor as a political strategy—is all an experiment that might not work for everyone. But, nevertheless, it can be an opportunity to try and be open and curious about what can happen, when we dare to. It is important to remember that humor and laughter have the power to direct us to a place within ourselves where we can practice being for our visions and ideas rather than only against oppressive conditions, staying purely in a reactive mode. Bossing Images: Rather Ridiculous! made some great steps in that direction.
Many thanks to Patricia Saad, Mijke van der Drift, and Todd Sekuler for giving me their feedback and proofreading my text.
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