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Humour is a pattern-switching process<\/em><\/span>. A joke is funny because it causes ‘ insight switchover<\/em><\/span> ‘ from a familiar pattern to a new, unexpected one. And it is this moment of surprise and delight that triggers laughter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometime back a joke that launched an artistic revolution was Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain<\/em><\/span><\/a>. It went on to become one of the most influential works of the twentieth century. For a six dollar fee, any artist could submit their work to an exhibition held by the Society of Independent Artists<\/em><\/span>. For a joke, Duchamp submitted a porcelain urinal that he’s bought from a New York plumbing supplier, signed it R MUTT 1917<\/em><\/span>(the maker’s name) and titled it Fountain<\/em><\/span>. Not surprisingly, the piece was never exhibited, the curator refused to display it- but its submission caused an uproar. Was it art or not? The Fountain<\/em><\/span> was thrown away. Forgotten. A photograph was the only record of the original object. The key to its success was that the photo was reproduced in an avant-garde art magazine with an accompanying article that eloquently explained the concept of ‘ ready-made<\/em><\/span> ‘. It started the ball rolling. The reputation of Fountain<\/em> <\/span>grew. It was repeatedly reproduced in art magazines and books. Collectors clamoured to buy it because of its fame, so Duchamp decided to remake it. There was a problem though: the manufacturer had stopped producing them. Duchamp had to hire craftsmen to make an exact replica from the photograph ‘ by hand<\/em><\/span> ‘- a delicious irony!<\/p>\n ( Marcel Duchamp<\/a>\u00a0Fountain<\/i>, 1917, photograph by\u00a0Alfred Stieglitz<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0291<\/a>\u00a0art gallery following the 1917\u00a0Society of Independent Artists<\/a>\u00a0exhibit, with entry tag visible. The backdrop is\u00a0The Warriors<\/i>\u00a0by\u00a0Marsden Hartley<\/a>.<\/sup> )<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The format of a conventional joke is that the listener is led down a familiar, ‘reasonable<\/em><\/span>‘ pathway. While they are travelling down this familiar road, the punchline suddenly shifts them onto an unexpected, different sidetrack. Creativity is about producing the unexpected and seeing things from a new perspective<\/em><\/span>. Humour can be instrumental in shifting that expectation.<\/p>\n It hardly helps that our society believes that if you’re having fun then you can’t be getting the job done<\/em><\/span>. Rather than being weighed down by a serious mindset, what we really need is humour<\/em><\/span>. Humour is a key that opens the door to subversive and counter-intuitive thinking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ” Only those who are capable of silliness can be called truly intelligent “- Christopher Isherwood<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometime back, during some random readings, I had come across a concept called ” pattern interrupt ” and the analogy used to explain the term was of the ‘ elevator pitch ‘. The typical elevator pitch is all about ‘ I, me, myself ‘ where one is doing one’s best to articulate an idea … Continue reading “Why you need to take jokes seriously..”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1024px-Marcel_Duchamp_1917_Fountain_photograph_by_Alfred_Stieglitz.jpg\")
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