Visa Bill Laughter
Exhibition at de Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) in Amsterdam in 2013, curated by Mels Evers. Speech by Oscar van den Boogaard. Performances carried out by Jerry van der Kust and Maarten Vos. Graphic Design in collaboration with Edi Winarni.
Clinical research has shown that it is less likely to succumb to stress, depression and helplessness, when one is able to laugh away one’s troubles. © Laughter Yoga was invented in 1995 by the Indian physician Dr. Madan Kataria as a natural artificial trigger of laughter, combining the fact that laughter is healthy and that our body cannot distinguish artificial from genuine laughter. Today it has become a worldwide phenomenon with over 6000 Laughter Clubs in more then 60 countries and is considered to be a method of dissipating negative feelings of anger and frustration thus generating a more positive attitude.
The tragicomic idea, that one can fool one’s body and mind without relying on humor, jokes or comedy, could in a way be seen as a revelation in terms of personal freedom: by emotionally freeing oneself from daily problems and stress, people can ‘feel’ happier by just laughing – real or fake. During intense workshops with official laughter therapists from Amsterdam, the artist has created 'Laughter Bank'; an index of 13 official Laughter Exercise Manuals, first presented at de Nederlandsche Bank, the financial center of the Netherlands.
On the occasion of the exhibition, the Artist Booklet >> Laughter Bank << was published in edition of 193.
Installation views:
Laughing Sculptures during the opening of Visa Bill Laughter at DNB, Amsterdam in 2013
No Money Laughter (left) / Visa Bill Laughter (right), 2013 — Hahnemühle Baryta Print, 63 x 110 cm
Laughter Bank, 2013 — single channel video installation, 33:03 min, loop, color, stereo
