The humobists

review commissioned by zefir7 | May 2006

They like to ignore laws. This includes the unwritten laws of The Lecture. For these guys don't give a lecture. They prefer to present An Argument. Rufus K. plays the philosophical artist, Gyz la Rivière his good-humoured side-kick. The humobists don't just let us enter their world of thoughts. We will have to contribute something ourselves. Rufus and Gyz take turns in reading the first A4 of their Argument. We frown: are they really going to read everything from a notepad? The stack of papers on the table makes us fear the worst. We raise our eyebrows even further when it turns out that they support their Argument with images of their own work, without us being able to grasp the connection. Are they taking us for a ride?



What inspires the humobists? Counter-question: is there anything at all that does not inspire them? They appear to find inspiration in the reflections of the great thinkers, but they don't allow them to cut the grass from under their feet. The humobists themselves are not afraid to raise the questions of life. Nor the counter-questions, or the counter-counter-questions, for that matter. Doubt is their motivation. They review all the important 'isms' and in passing add a couple of nice ones themselves. An 'usm' as well. This is in fact my favourite one: consciousm. I am making some of their terms my own. Wait till I drop them over lunch to-morrow.

Rufus and Gyz cut mental capers and draw red lines through history. Originality, insight and humour. It is no matter to be hilarious about , but it does make you smile. And it isn't until after a couple of hours, or days, that you are thinking: they were too clever for me. Humob isn't humour. Or is it?

We see two passionate Rotterdam artists' designers, who draw us, unnoticeably, to their side. For some time now, Rotterdam has been characterized by cultural accessibility: make museums attractive to the people. The humobists say: Art is arrogant and we would like to keep it that way. Habitat is not for everyone either. That viewpoint doesn't seem very sympathetic on paper, but deep in our hearts it feels like a truth, and then again it doesn't. They don't kick around for the sake of kicking, but to make us wonder: why do they do that. In the house of the humobistst you wander around in a mirror paradise, in which you don't know whom you see: yourself or them.

The humobists honour their name. The bearers of Humour and 'Mind your Own Business-ism', which is what humobism is an abbreviation of, stay in character during their entire argument. Only during question time afterwards do they show their real selves. Relieved that we have understood them after all, but also a bit disappointed that they turn out to be real people, we return home. Two days later I'm still smiling.

Anne Miltenburg