knock knock: humor in contemporary art

KNOCK KNOCK explores the enduring use of humour as a device in contemporary art. Featuring works by more than thirty artists, the show spans the SLG’s main space and three floors of its new annexe in the former Peckham Road Fire Station.

Curated by SLG Director, Margot Heller, with artist Ryan Gander, KNOCK KNOCK brings works by internationally established figures such as Maurizio Cattelan, Sarah Lucas and Ugo Rondinone into dialogue with newly commissioned and existing works by younger practitioners such as Danielle Dean, Hardeep Pandhal and Simeon Barclay. The show provides a surprising encounter with a broad range of humorous strategies, from slapstick, parody and caricature through to the in-joke, one liner and visual pun.

At a time of much upheaval and unease in the world, KNOCK KNOCK aims to raise a smile at a joyous moment in the history of the SLG, but also to explore what makes us laugh in art and why.

ARTISTS

Eleanor Antin, Simeon Barclay, Chila Kumari Burman, Maurizio Cattelan, HemanChong, Martin Creed, Danielle Dean, Ceal Floyer, Tom Friedman, Ryan Gander, Gelitin, Rodney Graham, Lucy Gunning, Matthew Higgs, Judith Hopf, Jamie Isenstein, Christian Jankowski, Barbara Kruger, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Roy Lichtenstein, Sarah Lucas, Basim Magdy, Suds McKenna, Jill McKnight, Jayson Musson, Harold Offeh, Hardeep Pandhal, Joyce Pensato, Ugo Rondinone, Lily van der Stokker, Pilvi Takala, Rosemarie Trockel, Yonatan Vinitsky, Rebecca Warren, Bedwyr Williams and Amelie von Wulffen.