★★★★★
Variety Babbs is an art historian and comedian who has a range of achievements throughout her career so far – from exhibits at the Tate and the British Museum to the creation of the comedic events group Art Laughs. Her new book ‘The History of Art in One Sentence’ explores 50 art movements across 500 years.
There is a comedic line throughout the talk that keeps the audience engaged and participating in the activities. The tone of the talk was set right from the start, with Babbs discussing that when people see that she is a historian, a certain kind of intellectual audience tends to attend. This, however, was not the kind of talk for the highly intellectual and their polite small laughs. She wanted the kind of laughs that end up being out-of-body.
Her book asks the weird questions that everybody has on their minds, such as “Why was Jesus depicted as an old man in all of the images of him?” These kinds of things, once pointed out to you, cannot be unseen! Babbs wove in comedic one-liners while discussing historical context for why particular pieces of art were created. Thrusting the question “Why does Michelengo’s David not have a monster dong?” upon the audience without warning really makes the desire to understand historical art more inviting, in my opinion. This pacing keeps this interest alive. She moves between different recognisable art movements without losing engagement whilst including a finer point of her answers.
As the talk reached about halfway, Babbs introduced some audience participation under the guise of a discussion about animals. Several audience members shared what their favourite animal is and why. Later announcing that this was actually a psychological experiment, Babbs discussed connections between what we like about these animals and what we search for in a partner. A beat later, the audience understood, especially those who had chosen to share their thoughts openly. Lady Gaga is not the only person who has stuck pieces of meat to herself as part of a performance. It seems Babbs has the same personality to cut and stick pieces of ham to her face when reciting a Shakespearean piece for a youth comedy award. She not only elicits laughs but also shares anecdotes from her own life to enhance the show’s informal, relaxed feel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this talk, especially because although I enjoy art, I find it hard to stay engaged with its history. Everyone came away with nuggets of knowledge about artworks we were all familiar with that we had not understood before. Who would’ve thought that the shade of brown paint ‘Mummy’ really was saying what it is on the tin (Ground-down mummified human remains)!
Image Credits: Off The Shelf
