London-based American artist Doug Fishbone is heavily influenced by stand-up comedy. Working predominantly in film and performance, he was once described as a ‘stand-up conceptual artist’.
His most recent work Leisure Land Golf – an artist-designed crazy golf course – was commissioned for the 2015 Venice Biennial by the consortium EM15.
Fishbone’s follow up piece is the Boomin’ Bus Tour, which will be performed at the Look Again Festival in Aberdeen, from 29 April to 1 May 2016. Now in its second year, other festival exhibitors include 2015 Turner Prize-winners Assemble and artist Simon Terrill presenting their Brutalist Playground, plus a conceptual artist-run estate agents led by Aberdeen-based Gabrielle Reith.
The festival aims to showcase visual art and design from across the north east of Scotland, with Fishbone promising an “unconventional viewpoint of Aberdeen and its heritage”.
What can participants expect from the Boomin’ Bus Tour?
Put simply it is an avant grade, alternative tour of the city of Aberdeen. I’ll be delivering a twice-daily performance on the top of a London route master bus. The aim is to offer participants an unconventional viewpoint of the city, starting on Belmont Street and visiting a lot of the area’s popular historical spots. I’ve delivered similar performances in the past, including a series of riverboat performances on the Thames as part of the Mayor of London’s Thames Festival back in 2013. That tour involved PowerPoint and images sourced from the internet, whereas the Aberdeen performance is just me talking whilst viewing the city’s popular locations. I’ll be throwing in a couple of blue jokes to make sure people are paying attention!
Do you ever get people buying a ticket expecting a standard tour?
It happened a few times with the boat tours, with people unwittingly stepping onto the boat and then looking baffled with what was going on. Thankfully the event listings make it pretty clear what to expect; we try to telegraph it as well as possible.
A key part of your work is humour. Should more artists embrace the lighter side of life?
I think humour can offer a different experience and it is certainly something I have embraced. I’ve found that you can present quite heavy social and political themes without beating people over the head with them. As such, maybe it has more impact. I can understand why some artists shy away from it though and I guess they might see it as somehow cheapening their work. Not all work should be funny and I get that. However, from my perspective I want my work to be fun – both to make and perform.
Has this focus on fun ever had a negative impact?
I guess the press sometimes don’t know how to deal with it and some people even get worked up about it. However, for me it’s become increasingly fun to dip into theatrical comedy. I get a lot out of it.
Last year you exhibited Leisure Land Golf, an artist-designed mini-golf course, at Venice Biennale. How did you find the experience?
One of the most intriguing things about exhibiting at Venice was how my work was taken up by the local community. The Biennale can be a very intellectual experience which I guess can exclude some people. But my golf course seemed to transcend that and reach a wide variety of different people. I certainly learnt how passionate people are about golf. I was even invited onto Sky TV to talk about it on a golf show. In terms of legacy, the piece has toured to different venues. It’s currently at New Art Exchange, Nottingham and it will be at QUAD in Derby in July where we’ll have an additional hole designed by the Reactor art collective from Nottingham. The mix of artists is so strong, including internationally renowned names like Turner Prize nominee Yinka Shonibare and John Akomfrah. Hopefully it will continue to evolve.
What impact do you think your work and that of other contemporary artists has?
I think there are genuine questions over whether what we are doing is beneficial in a tangible way. My immediate answer is yes… but with an asterisk! I wonder how can artists respond to some of the heavy contemporary issues facing society such as the refugee crisis and broader wars. Is it the job of artists to critique these situations or simply to sell trinkets that help fund the commercial art market? It is certainly a strange time to be a contemporary artist.
What’s next?
I’m working on a follow up to my work Elmina, a feature that was filmed entirely on location in Ghana, in which I played a local Ghanaian farmer fighting corruption and the exploitation of the community by a Chinese multinational corporation. I’m also developing a sketch driven television show that offers an artistic avant grade approach to sketch comedy. Beyond that, maybe the bus could be taken to different cities… Miami sounds nice.
Doug Fishbone’s Boomin’ Bus Tour is at Look Again Festival, Aberdeen, 29 April – 1 May 2016. www.dougfishbone.com
Images:
1. Doug Fishbone
2. Doug Fishbone, Boomin’ Bus Tour
