We behave a certain way in spaces that display art – hushed voices, relaxed movement, the occasional contemplative or reactionary comment. Conduct outside of these norms is deemed inappropriate. One can see how easy it is to follow the patterns, to act accordingly, to stagnate. But what might happen when a work sparks a completely different reaction, makes us uncomfortable, nervous, or even makes us laugh?
For this exhibition, Barbora Fastrová attempts to create, to frame a certain situation for the viewer – the gallery, and to promptly shatter it, allowing for instability and the prospect for a new situation, or moment to arise. A situation in this case could be a brief instant, an uprush of feeling, a glance of uncertainty – perhaps seemingly minute “events” that break our reality and reframe it. Slavoj Žižek defines in his recent book Event that the basic feature of an event is the surprising emergence of something new which undermines every stable scheme. Laughter in the gallery endeavors to do just this.
