The exhibition Don't Smile, sets out to track humour, the trippingly light kind, the roguish, the dry, as well as the self-reflexive. Humour that examines language, logic, society, the day-to-day and the art system both gravely and with tongue in cheek.

"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious." (Sir Peter Ustinov)

What is it that distinguishes humour? How is it expressed? In the artworks on show, it is sometimes the encounter between different worlds and value systems – such as everyday reality and intellectual imagination – that initiates comedy. Or it is a shift that transfers things from their frame of reference into a new meaning, thus triggering smiles. It is especially the overlapping of verbal and visual levels that conjures an open and humorous way of seeing things. And despite the comic level, great seriousness underlies the works on exhibit.

The exhibition has been organized in close collaboration with the artists Josef Dabernig, Rainer Ganahl, Bethan Huws, Anna Kolodziejska, Vaclav Pozarek, Kay Rosen and Eran Schaerf. Each artist has created an atmospheric and compact narrative specifically for "Don't Smile". The overall effect is of an edginess spanned between multifaceted and challenging commentaries that incite ulterior and subtle, indeed enigmatic, humour.

Interwoven into the exhibition are a selection of historical artworks that set the tone and the frame of reference. Of note are especially Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte and Kurt Schwitters. As significant forefathers from the beginning of the 20th century, they still today pose valid questions on contextualization, on compositional elements, on language as a medium of the visual arts, on wordplay, on the mutating image, as well as on the art of thinking. In addition, with John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Robert Filliou and Anne Marie Jehle, we find exemplary positions of the "see» change in 1960s art. "All artists make artworks" as Bethan Huws puts it in one of her word vitrines. But is that really so?

Artists include John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, JOSEF DABERNIG, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Filliou, RAINER GANAHL, BETHAN HUWS, Anne Marie Jehle, ANNA KOLODZIEJSKA, René Magritte, VACLAV POZAREK, KAY ROSEN, ERAN SCHAERF, Kurt Schwitters

The exhibition is a production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll.

More pictures to this exhibition

  • Don't Smile
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Photo: Heinz Preute © Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
  • Don't Smile
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Photo: Heinz Preute © Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
  • Don't Smile
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Photo: Heinz Preute © Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
  • Don't Smile
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Photo: Heinz Preute © Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
  • Opening
  • Thu, 20.9.2012
    18.00
  • Guided tours
  • Thu, 27.9.2012
    18.00
  • Thu, 11.10.2012
    18.00
  • Thu, 15.11.2012
    18.00
  • Thu, 13.12.2012
    18.00
  • Thu, 10.1.2013
    18.00
  • Thu, 17.1.2013
    18.00
  • Thu 20.9.

    Opening

    Don't Smile
    Vernissage
  • Wed 26.9.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Don't Smile: Introduction for teachers of all levels
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Thu 27.9.

    Take Away

    Don't Smile - Mona Lisa, mon amour
    Short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 27.9.

    Guided tour

    Don't Smile
    with Christiane Meyer-Stoll
  • Tue 2.10.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Don't Smile: Introduction for teachers of all levels
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Thu 4.10.

    Lecture

    Music and Humor
    by Marco Schädler (in German)
  • Thu 11.10.

    "Art 60 plus"

    Don't Smile
    with Barbara Redmann
  • Thu 11.10.

    Guided tour

    Don't Smile
    with Christiane Meyer-Stoll
  • Wed 24.10.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Don't Smile: Introduction for teachers of all levels
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Thu 25.10.

    Take Away

    Don't Smile - Amusement about Wordplay
    Short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 25.10.

    "Art 60 plus"

    Don't Smile
    with Barbara Redmann
  • Sun 4.11.

    One Hour

    Geschichten aus dem Unterland – Unglaubliches, Sonderbares, Merkwürdiges aus Erzählungen des Vaters
    with Adolf Marxer
  • Thu 8.11.

    "Art 60 plus"

    Don't Smile
    with Barbara Redmann
  • Thu 15.11.

    Guided tour

    Don't Smile
    with Denise Rigaud
  • Thu 29.11.

    Take Away

    Don't Smile - Ich bin keine Pfeife
    Short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 29.11.

    Lecture

    Humour in Liechtenstein
    by Mathias Ospelt (in German). Followed by: Witzecafé, Moderation Rita Frommelt
  • Thu 13.12.

    Guided tour

    Don't Smile
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Sat 15.12.

    Art on Suturday

    Wer beim Sich-Anschauen zuerst lacht, hat verloren!
    Workshop für Erwachsene mit Brigitte Walk
  • Thu 10.1.

    Guided tour

    Eine besondere Führung
    with Eveline Ratering and Ingo Ospelt
  • Thu 17.1.

    Guided tour

    Don't Smile
    with Christiane Meyer-Stoll