Laughing as a Foreign Language

Simon Critchley, Mami Kataoka
240 x 190 mm 152 pp softback
7 b&w, 159 colour illustrations
978 1 85332 266 2
£17.99

Laughing in a Foreign Language explores the role of laughter and humour in contemporary art through the work of over 30 international artists working in a range of media, including video, photography and interactive installation. In an era of globalisation, this book asks whether humour can act as a catalyst for understanding the unfamiliar. Fully illustrated, and with essays by Mami Kataoka (Hayward International Curator) and Simon Critchley (Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, New York), this book investigates the whole spectrum of humour in contemporary art, from jokes, gags and slapstick to irony, wit and satire.

Catalogues are available from:

• Our Southbank Centre Shop - The Hayward
  Tel: +44 (0) 20 7960 5211
• Our distributor, Cornerhouse Publications (trade and mail orders)
  Tel: +44 (0) 161 200 1503
  Email: publications@cornerhouse.org
  Website: www.cornerhouse.org/books
• Our North American distributor, D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers)
  Website: www.artbook.com

For information please contact:

Deborah Power
Sales Manager, Hayward Publishing
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 0826
Email: deborah.power@southbankcentre.co.uk

Image credit: Julian Rosefeldt Clown, 2005, 3-screen film installation, Super16mm, transferred onto DVD, Loop 11 min © the artist 2007, courtesy Arndt & Partner Berlin / Zurich and Max Wigram Gallery London.