curated by Jörg Heiser & Sarah Khan Event

Jörg Heiser & Sarah Khan
Curator

Artists
Saâdane Afif, Judith Bernstein, Monica Bonvicini, General Idea, Rosie Gibbens, Richard Hoeck, Ronald Kodritsch, Marko Lulić, Katrin Plavcak, Slavs and Tatars, Stefanie Sargnagel, Sue Williams, Young-jun Tak

Erschreckend aktuell | Frighteningly topical

Berlin-based couple Jörg Heiser and Sarah Khan have long been concerned with comedy and humor in art, literature, and film. Because humor can be a method of exposure (indecent or not), just as exposure is a method of humor, the theme of the show was to be narrowed down to forms of “genital comedy.” “Genital comedy” was then also initially the working title. Nudity, body taboos, gender characteristics, and gender oddities no longer seem to be topics that contemporary artists want to deal with intensively or comprehensively. The de-tabooization and the permanent commercial use of body characteristics, especially female ones, seemingly leaves little room to approach the subject in an interesting way. What strategies and responses have yet to be consumed in this field? And what self-statements do artists risk when they turn to the subject?