A joke is a serious matter.

OPENING JUNE 21 - 12:00 NOON

JUNE 21 - OCTOBER 1
Torre Room
Group exhibition. Bergé Collection

Artists: Liz Arnold, Anna Barribal, Andrea Bowers, Martin Creed, Dora García, Pablo Helguera, Chris Johanson, Jaime Pitarch, Werner Reiterer, Nina Saunders, David Shrigley, Bob and Roberta Smith, Nedko Solakov, Marijke Van Warmerdam, and Erwim Wurm

Curators: Eva del Llano, María Gallegos, and Jaime Guillén
The meeting with the curators will take place on September 6.

What role does humor play in contemporary art? How do artists use it?

These are some of the questions that the exhibition curators asked themselves when studying the Bergé Collection and noticing humorous and playful elements in many of its works. The result of this research is A Joke is a Serious Matter: Humor in Art through the Bergé Collection, a collective exhibition that brings together the work of 15 national and international artists to show humor as a creative process that appeals to critical reflection. 

The exhibition, which is supported by the Palazuelo Foundation, is the proposal chosen from among the Master's Thesis Projects of the fourth class of the Master's Degree in Museum Curatorial Studies. Its curators, Eva del Llano, María Gallegos, and Jaime Guillén, are graduates of the postgraduate program.

The works in the collection, which cover a wide range of themes and techniques, engage in dialogue in this exhibition in the Torre room at the MUN. From diverse perspectives and with a cheerful and lighthearted language, the selected pieces portray aspects of today's society and can be seen as a powerful tool for reflection, inviting viewers to ask themselves questions about the reality that surrounds them. 

Whether through absurdity, irony, or incongruity, the exhibition shows humor as an effective tool that allows different contemporary artists to address current issues and concerns that appeal to the collective.

Header image: Fat Car, ed. 2/8 (2000). Erwin Wurm

► ROOM SHEET

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Meeting with the curators

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