Cathy's Art Diary

Thoughtful small exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the role of humour in debates around identity, empire and power over the past two hundred years. It asked the question “What is Britishness?” and asked how laughing at something demonstrates specific tastes and belonging. It was gently themed under the headings Cruel Britannia, Allies and Enemies, Rulers and Regulators and Country Files. It could have been quite a heavy show but there were some great objects which made you laugh and think. You have to smile at a Dame Edna Everage costume of a fry up! It was also fun to see Manuel’s costume from “Fawlty Towers” and a Splitting Image puppet of Margaret Thatcher. These were shown with fun clips from film and television. Closes 23 December 2024    

Fun exhibition at the Cartoon Museum investigating the psychology behind cartoon humour This mass public experiment led by Robert Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, took the form of pairs of cartoons from which you were invited to pick the one you found funniest and record this on a questionnaire. I had recently done a talk on humour in art at which the curator of this show spoke so I was interested to see how it worked in practice. If nothing else it was a chance to see some interesting examples from their collection and I have registered to see the results when they are released. It was hard to know from the combinations what factors were being investigated so it will be fascinating to see the results. I had not visited the museum since it moved and I must say it is looking good in its new venue. There seems to be more room for the permanent collection which was set out well. There was a friendly welcome which was appreciated. Closes 5 ...

Fun online discussion from the Art Fund looking at the role of humour in art. The event brought together a good panel chaired by Annie McGrath, a comedian and podcast host. She interviewed Emma Stirling-Middleton from the Cartoon Museum, artists Reuben Dangoor and David Shrigley, and Simon Minty, producer and member of Abnormally Funny People. They started by discussing how we don’t associate laughing with galleries and museums and why that might be. They talked about how humour can make art more approachable and that comedy is not the opposite of seriousness. The two artists discussed their work and talked about how it had been affected by Covid. I loved the image I use here by Dangoor. Both artists had turned to social media to share their work during lockdowns. Minty talked about how new ways of sharing art over the pandemic has made it more accessible to disabled people including talks like this one. Stirling-Middleton talked about the current show at the Cartoon Museum wh...