ICR Romanian Cultural Institute London

Book Launch: Hammer and Tickle

Film-maker and writer Ben Lewis launches Hammer and Tickle - a revealing story of Communism told through its subversive jokes. The book takes us on a unique journey through the Communist era (1917-1989) and is illustrated with a combination of rare and previously unpublished archive material, political cartoons, caricatures, photographs and state-sponsored propaganda.

Jokes are the most enchanting legacy of the 80 years of political experimentation in Russia and Eastern Europe, known as Communism. The valiant and sardonic citizens of the former Communist countries - surrounded by an invisible network of secret police, threatened with arrest, imprisonment and forced labour, confronted by an economic system that left shops empty, and bombarded with ludicrous state propaganda - turned joke-telling into an art form. They used jokes as a coded way of speaking the truth.

The event is accompanied by a cartoon exhibition signed by Mihai Stanescu and special performance by Douglas Fishbone.

Ben Lewis is an award-winning documentary-film-maker and also an author and art critic. His documentary credits include The King of Communism: the pomp and pageantry Nicolae Ceausescu, which won a Grierson Award in 2001, and Hammer and Tickle: the Communist Joke Book, which was premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2006 and won Best Documentary at the Zurich Film Festival the same year.

Internationally renowned graphic artist Mihai Stanescu contributes with cartoons dating back to Romania's 'golden age' of communist years. Often censored by the regime prior to 1990, Stanescu's comic drawings became legendary for their broad hints at poverty, lack of freedom and other taboo issues of the time.

The evening also includes a happening by artist Douglas Fishbone. Known for his provoking exhibitions in London, New York, Moscow and Tokyo, he was recently voted one of the Future Greats of the art world by Art Review magazine.

When: 29 May 2008, 7 - 9.30 pm;
Where: Romanian Cultural Institute, 1 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8PH
Admission: By invitation. Please contact us if you would like to attend.