“Why does Art hate me? I never did anything to Art.”
Homer Simpson
Collective practice They Are Here expand their dialogue with ‘precarious’ Londoners through a series of exchanges, workshops and live performances.
Working within the networks of local community and activist groups, including the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO), Migrants Organise, The Independent Workers Union, the Latin American Women’s Rights Service and X–Talk – which support the intersection of sex workers’ and migrants’ rights – They Are Here have circulated an invitation to a series of free stand–up comedy workshops led by professional comedian Logan Murray.
These workshops will culminate in ROUTINE, a performance comprising two nights of live stand–up comedy delivered by the participants.
ROUTINE will be staged within an immersive installation of new works informed by the process, including a sculpture which takes its cue from Homer’s line in Season 10 Episode 19 of The Simpsons, “Lisa, that’s it! I’ve got an idea for a wonderful art project that’ll make everyone love me again! Step one: steal all the doormats in town”.
They Are Here will also present a sound installation made up of audio recordings of friends, colleagues, neighbours and strangers laughing. These recordings have been edited to produce ‘canned laughter’ categorised by and attributed to different precarious groups. In the context of a heightened awareness of fake news, the demands of emotional labour and a proliferation of digitally manipulated disembodied voices in public space, the artists ask ‘what is laughter without the bodies that produce it?’.
Laughing Matter forms part of In Residence, a new strand of Studio Voltaire’s Participation Programme which supports artists with a particular focus on public and social practice, connecting the gallery with our locality over an extended period of time.
Laughing Matter is commissioned by Studio Voltaire. Supported by Battersea Power Station Foundation, Aziz Foundation and Lambeth Community Events Fund.
ROUTINE is commissioned in partnership with Block Universe. With special thanks to Battersea Arts Centre, Somerset House Studios and MayDay Rooms.
For events see here
| Duration | 24 May 2018 - 10 June 2018 |
| Times | Wednesday – Sunday 12 – 6pm, or by appointment |
| Cost | see website |
| Venue | Studio Voltaire |
| Address | 1a Nelsons Row, London, SW4 7JR |
| Contact | 020 7622 1294 / info@studiovoltaire.org / www.studiovoltaire.org |