Lachen in der Kunst

In most cases, laughter is a hallmark of sympathy. It is not for nothing that companies advertise with smiling and laughing people. Even the front pages of magazines mostly shine white teeth at us. The "showing teeth" should have its origin completely elsewhere: As a threatening gesture that resulted from baring teeth, a healthy set of teeth demonstrated above all strength!
Today showing each other's teeth means being part of a strong community - our smile signals openness, belonging and therefore has a particularly social function. In some situations, however, this laugh can also tip over. Then it doesn't turn into a sympathetic laugh, but an aggressive laugh and we feel left out or even humiliated.

In the exhibition “Laughing - what happens when we are happy”, some of the most striking characteristics of laughter are to be thematized. Because not all laughter is the same. We already notice this in the different levels and characteristics: first softly, then louder and louder, chuckles, snorts, giggles, cackles, it bursts out of us, sometimes even until we can no longer hold on to ourselves and literally "laugh weakly".

The artists in the exhibition take up these different facets and sometimes confront us with the question of how much humor we actually attribute to ourselves: How ironic, mocking or humorous are we? Do we literally go “to laugh in the cellar” or do we have no problem with “poking ourselves” from time to time?