UM art festival breaks through to lighter side

ORONO – They say laughter is the best medicine.

The University of Maine believes laughter is also a great theme around which to build an arts festival.

Humor is the central concept for Without Borders V Contemporary Art Festival, which has as its subtitle “Seriously, Funny.”

Seriously.

The show opens Aug. 22 in UM’s Lord Hall Gallery, which also will be the site for other events such as a lecture and a performance in September. “Seriously, Funny” closes on Sept. 26.

So why choose humor as a theme for an arts festival, especially in a presidential election year and at a time when the economy is struggling?

Well, why not?

“It’s a time ripe for issues, a political season, and humor is great for when your wallet is in pain,” said University of Maine professor of art Owen Smith, chairman of the New Media Department, who is supervising the exhibit’s curator, Tyler McPhee, a graduate student from Falmouth.

“Sometimes a little lightheartedness, even with a serious edge, is good,” Smith added. “It reminds us to step back sometimes, no matter how committed or concerned we are, to laugh at ourselves and each other a little bit.”

So seriously, how did organizers pick humor as a theme? McPhee and other students looked at what working artists were doing and found one or two key people around whom to organize a theme, then looked for other artists who could connect to that theme.

The exhibit of 13 artists will showcase humor as a vehicle for commentary or other, deeper issues.

For example, Boston-based performance group The Institute for Infinitely Small Things contributed a book called “The New American Dictionary,” which seeks to call attention to the way in which terms from the post-Sept. 11 era, such as “freedom fries” and “smart bomb,” have permeated society.

Performance and installation artist Jill Miller, based in San Francisco, attempts to address women’s roles in art history and authorship with her work, “I am Making Art, Too.” Miller’s is a remix of a piece by conceptual artist John Baldassari called “I am Making Art,” with images of Miller break dancing to rapper Missy Elliott’s song “Work It.”

Smith said the UM organizers were trying to avoid propaganda pieces, but still wanted artwork that raised serious issues.

“We wanted work that speaks to the best of all artwork, which is that it may take a point of view on a particular topic, but it’s not a single response or question,” he said. “It raises a general question with a particular attitude or approach but leaves you, the viewer, to go off in your own direction.”

The concept of art without borders applies in several ways. First, Smith said, organizers make an effort to find artists inside and outside of Maine in order to cross geographic borders. This year, artists come from near and far – from University of Maine Assistant Professor of Art and Bowdoin graduate Sheridan Kelley to Marisa Olson who was born in Germany. Second, artists range from contemporary performance-based work to more traditional arts. And third, the work itself could actually cross the borders of what art is.

“So it’s the idea of something that doesn’t limit or stop itself with the kind of media, and it doesn’t stop itself with the borders of geography,” Smith said.

This year, Smith said, Without Borders has its biggest budget yet. The group is working with $4,000, which includes funding associated with the university’s new master’s in fine arts program, along with grants, in-kind money and support from UM entities such as the Department of Art, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Division of Student Affairs.

While everyone’s having a bit of a chuckle this year, McPhee is getting a serious lesson out of all his work. The 25-year-old, in his second year of helping to organize Without Borders, has learned how to curate, raise funds, do promotional work and speak to the press and others.

“There aren’t a lot of people I know who have organized a show on this scale at this point,” he said. “And so it’s really cool, because going forth in the future I can say I have the understanding of how these shows work and what it takes to put them together.”

For more information go to www.withoutbordersfest.org

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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