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Curator Mami Kataoka explains how she assembled this intriguing show.

Have you ever laughed at any contemporary artwork? Or do you think contemporary art is something very serious and not funny at all? I think it has both sides. Contemporary art is, for me, something that stretches your preconceived ideas and provides another view on the surrounding world. It may bring you somewhere extraordinary, beautiful, grotesque, painful, complicated, energetic, ironic or humorous. Behind these initial responses, you find very interesting and eye-opening thoughts including quite serious issues around the social and political environment of our time. I have to confess that I always liked the funny works the best, partly due to my personality but partly because humour and laughter helps us to manage the complication and friction that we encounter everyday. I cannot think of the world without laughter.

I thought maybe it would be very interesting to curate a show of those funny works and started to make an exciting list. That was almost four years ago. As I did my research, I was delighted to encounter loads of good, funny works in everywhere. By early 2007 my research bore fruit as All About Laughter at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, that featured 50 international artists including some historical works from 1960s such as Fluxus, and High Red Center, a Japanese avant-garde group. Even my mother, who is over 70 years old, brought group of her friends and they all laughed very much, as well as finding contemporary art quite interesting.

Laughing in a Foreign Language is my second show around the same theme, but more focused on humour in the time of globalization, when more and more flexibility and open-minded curiosity is needed for worldwide mutual understanding. While you could laugh on your own, why not come with your friends (as we find things so much funnier with friends)? Laughing is something to share and I believe that the gallery is meant for that kind of shared experience.

Mami Kataoka