Conceptual images will get a way of humour at Sprüth Magers London

Exhibition view: Group Exhibition, Seriously., SPRÜTH MAGERS, London (21 November 2025-31 January 2026). Courtesy of SPRÜTH MAGERS

One of probably the most talked-about London artwork exhibitions this season, Seriously at Sprüth Magers challenges the long-held concept that conceptual images have to be austere or tutorial. On view from November twenty first, 2025, to January thirty first, 2026, the group present brings collectively greater than half a century of works that reveal how wit, satire, and playfulness have all the time been embedded in conceptual follow.

Presented throughout a number of flooring of the gallery’s London area, the exhibition is curated by Nana Bahlmann and explores how artists have used humour in artwork as a important software—one able to questioning energy, identification, and the development of photographs themselves.

Humour in artwork as a important technique

At the center of Seriously is the concept that humour could be intellectually sharp fairly than merely entertaining. The exhibition reframes conceptual images by means of irony, parody, and visible jokes, demonstrating how artists from the Nineteen Sixties to in the present day have used humour to disrupt conventions and interact viewers extra instantly.

Rather than presenting laughter as an finish in itself, the works typically make use of comedy to reveal social codes, gender norms, and the absurdities of on a regular basis life. Feminist conceptual practices from the Nineteen Seventies sit alongside up to date works, revealing how humour has lengthy functioned as a type of resistance and critique.

A images exhibition throughout media and generations

Although grounded in conceptual images, Seriously extends past nonetheless photographs to incorporate movie, print media, and sound-based works. The exhibition unfolds thematically, transferring from self-portraiture and role-play to the physique in relation to things and landscapes.

Among the standout initiatives is Louise Lawler’s Birdcalls, an audio work during which the artist mimics chicken sounds whereas calling out the names of male artists, utilizing absurdity to critique entrenched energy constructions in artwork historical past. Nearby, Martine Syms’ She Mad: The Non-Hero presents a up to date tackle identification and success by means of a satirical, social-media-inspired video narrative that questions the efficiency of visibility in the present day.

Photography-based works by Cindy Sherman and Birgit Jürgenssen use exaggerated costumes and visible puns to dismantle stereotypes round femininity, whereas Thomas Demand’s fastidiously staged {photograph} of an on a regular basis object turns banality right into a quiet visible joke. Elsewhere, artists similar to William Wegman and Keith Arnatt lean into deadpan humour, revealing how minimal gestures can produce sharp conceptual punchlines.

Redefining conceptual images in the present day

By putting humour on the centre of the dialog, Seriously presents a contemporary perspective on conceptual images as a dwelling, elastic language fairly than a set historic class. The exhibition means that laughter, whether or not delicate or slapstick, can create area for reflection, critique and creativeness.

As a part of the broader panorama of London artwork exhibitions, Seriously stands out for its scale, ambition, and lightness of contact, reminding audiences that even probably the most rigorous inventive practices can depart room for wit.