OUTSIDE JOKES
DEMO Project, Springfield, IL + acretv.org
December 8-30, 2017
This, here is the have to having been t/here: a series of site-gags, working lines and chasing spotlights. A bill (or, for those whose approach is more formal, a william) stuffed to its gills with genius jokesters and jesturers, as concerned with the aha! in each haha! as gaps between gasps. Comedy is serious business, like writing “shibboleth” in camouflage ink or whispering savory somethings to a street sign. We’ll check back in early 2018, but early reports are that the works here killed, that they literally destroyed the place.
Abject-oriented in its hauntology, Outside Jokes gathers together works by two dozen artists that take site-dn-ess as integral to the read of any art, any joke, any interaction, and mucks and musses it. What are the rhythms of pithy patter in a language you don’t speak? Is there any such thing as a thing about nothing, Springfeld? What is two drink minimalism?
Outside Jokes takes and makes place on the grounds around and back room of DEMO Project and on acretv.org.
Participating artists include Kelly Lloyd, Alberto Aguilar, Jessica Campbell, Oli Watt, Neal Vandenbergh, Joshua Albers, Selina Trepp, Lauren Anderson, Jeffrey Austin, Misael Soto, Tegan Brace, Alex Schmidt, Kyle Schlie, Allison Lacher, Alex Bradley Cohen, Julie Potratz, Eric Fleischauer, Ellen Nielsen, Jeff Robinson, Stephanie Graham, Dan Miller, Lauren Taylor, Gabe Holcombe, Maire and Mia, Thad Kellstadt, Victoria Martinez and emcee Jesse Malmed.
