L'art en joie -- Esthétiques de l'humanité joyeuse

The smiling face of ancient art to today (Western and non-Western art); bodies celebrating, alone or in groups; participatory art forms aimed at well-being and harmony; charitable art dispensing concrete benefit, in the spirit of care. The different forms of expression examined are drawing, painting, banners, sculpture, photography, video art, performances. Joy is also a political issue: entertainment strategies, Feelgood culture, joy prefabricated by entertainment media and constituting a market. These specific “uses” of joy, which distort it, give rise to a specific field of representation, also analyzed and illustrated in the work.

Paul Ardenne, art historian and exhibition curator, is the author of numerous books on contemporary art. He had already written the preface to Mireille Loup’s first monograph catalogue in 1998. In 2023, he discusses the humorous side of her work, placing it alongside that of Maurizio Cattelan and Robert Filou, in the chapter “Virtues of Schadenfreude – Amusing Figures of Degradation” (pp. 283-291).