Pursuing a new and timely line of research in world art studies, Humor in Global Contemporary Art is the first edited collection to examine the role of culturally specific humor in contemporary art from a global perspective.Since the 1960s, increasing numbers of artists from around the world have applied humor as a tool for observation, critique, transformation, and debate. Exploring how humorous art produced over the past six decades is anchored in local sociopolitical contexts and translated or misconstrued when exhibited abroad, this book opens new conversations regarding the functioning of humor and the ways in which art travels across the globe. With contributions by an impressive array of internationally based scholars covering six major continental regions, the book is organized into four distinct geographical sections: Africa and the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, South and North America, and Europe. This structure highlights the cultural specificity of each region while the book as a whole offers a critical perspective on the postcolonial, globalized art network.Reflecting on present-day processes of globalization and biennialization, which confront viewers with humorous art from a variety of cultures and countries, this book will provide readers with a culturally sensitive understanding of how humor has become vital to many contemporary artists working in an unprecedentedly interconnected world.

Highly illustrated, with almost 100 black and white and colour illustrations throughout

List of PlatesList of FiguresNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgementsIntroduction, Mette Gieskes (Radboud University, the Netherlands) and Gregory Williams (Boston University, USA)Part One: Africa and The Middle East1. Negotiated Space: Visual Satire in Contemporary Diasporic Nigerian Art, Yomi Ola (Spelman College, USA)2. Lerato Shadi's Sugar & Salt: Laughter beyond Languages, beyond Generations, in South Africa and in the World, Katja Gentric (University of the Free State, South Africa and Centre Georges Chevrier, France)3. Humorous Art Practices in the Contemporary Middle East: Reacting to Cultural Stereotypification, Hamid Keshmirshekan (SOAS, UK)4. Humor and the Enactment of Statehood: Khalil Rabah and Anticipatory Aesthetics in Palestine, Chrisoula Lionis (University of New South Wales, Australia)Part Two: Asia and Oceania5. Crossing the Line: Artistic Jests about the Border Struggles of Pakistan and Palestine, Atteqa Ali (Zayed University, UAE)6. Humor/Youmo in Chinese Contemporary Art and Online Visual Culture: Oblique Resistances to Authority and the Traces of Confucian-literati Aesthetics, Paul Gladston (University of New South Wales, Australia)7. We Require Clear Slogans: Humor in the Russian Monstration, Maria Sidorkina (University of Texas, USA) and Jacob Stewart-Halevy (Tufts University, USA)8. The Trickster, Provocateur, Clown, and Joker: Radical Humor in Contemporary Indonesian Art, Michelle Antoinette (Monash University, Australia)9. "It's Funny Now, Aye": Humor and Contemporary Art from Oceania, Caroline Vercoe (University of Auckland, New Zealand)Part Three: South and North America10. In the State of Play: Slapstick Enactments and Carnivalesque Humor as Political Subversion in Brazilian Contemporary Art, Denise Carvalho (Independent Curator and Critic, USA)11. Reír por no llorar: Black Humor in Contemporary Venezuelan Feminist Art, Tatiana Flores (Rutgers, USA)12. Mordacious Humor and Happy Oblivion in Columbia: Bernardo Salcedo's Distinguishing Features, Gina McDaniel Tarver (Texas State University, USA)13. The Necessity of Jimmie Durham's Jokes, Richard Shiff (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)Part Four: Europe14. Droll "Observations": Roman Ondak's Comic Displacements, Sophie Knezic (University of Melbourne, Australia)15. The Ersatz Art School and Councils within Councils: Playful Dutch Institutions of Critique in the 1960s, Janna Schoenberger (Amsterdam University College, the Netherlands)16. Zizek's Joke: Humor and Over-identification in Post-Yugoslav Art, Marko Ilic (UCL, UK)17. Aesthetic Incongruity: Art and Humor in Post-Independence Azerbaijan, Monica Steinberg (University of Southern California, USA)Index