Believe it or not, art has a humor problem. Which is why Gertie is pleased to announce 82 Nights Only*, an episodic presentation exacerbating the tensions between art and entertainment, finding the shared elements in each that succeed in delivering comic dividends to an audience.

There are significant differences between art and “mainstream” comedy, but at their root, each promises to deliver a sort of particular perspective on reality to the audience. The former, slowly; the latter quickly. This, of course, is not always the case; sometimes the comic moment feels attenuated and operates on several levels, whereas some artworks (many of which take a stab at humor) end up being tediously obvious and fairly one note. All things considered, jokes have specific points where their semantics are expected to definitively lead and halt, whereas with an artwork, one would hope that meaning is present yet irreducible to any one thing.

Like any good joke or work of art, 82 Nights Only* constitutes an attempt at augmenting our audience’s relationships with comic and aesthetic experience. Rather than present the exhibition as a totalizing thesis that would, as it were, “explain the joke” — only to then repeat the same line on each subsequent visit — 82 Nights Only* unfurls episodically with the rotation of a single artist’s work per week in Gertie’s main exhibition space.

The exhibition opens Wednesday, September 16, 5–8pm, with performances by Aristotelis Nikolas Mochloulis at 6pm and Sophie Becker at 7pm.

Artists: Cory Arcangel, Ceal Floyer, Ryan Gander, John Smith, Michael Smith, Sophie Becker, Christian Jankowski, Aristotelis Nikolas Mochloulis, Nyeema Morgan, Ken Kagami, Lindsey White, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Chris Burden, Pope.L, Matthew Langan Peck, Darren Bader, Keith Arnatt, Lee Lozano, Cosima Von Bonin, and Every house has a door & Max Guy.

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11am–6pm (or by appointment).