Whilst watching a classic speedway meeting on YouTube during my morning ablutions, as is my want, I smiled when the commentator cried out, “And that is a fairy-tale ending for Hans Andersen!” Referring to the Danish Speedway star, as he battled to a fine win in the Speedway World Cup, there was an unambiguous link to Hans Christian Andersen, the author of many timeless fairy tales. The excited Sky Sports pundit had clearly won their bet!
In my policing days, I was part of the facilitation team for the senior leaders forums. In a nutshell, we supported the chair by amongst other things recording outcomes and managing their colossal egos. Turning up late to a pre-briefing, I was rewarded with the Chief Constable’s cohort. We had a game in which we would challenge the other facilitators to slip in a word or phrase during the overall process, mainly to alleviate the boredom. For you Radio 4 listeners out there, not too dissimilar in essence to the comedy show ‘The Unbelievable Truth’. I was particularly pleased when, as a direct result of the cleaner passing by during an interval in the day’s proceedings, I was able to slip “super-concentrated cleaning system” into a review of Force priorities.
This got me thinking. Is this a defined art? And if so, can it be weaponised to bring a little fire into the dullness that work related meetings often contain?
What better place to commence my investigation than the cultural plains of 16th century art? Bacchus and Ariadne is an oil painting by the Venetian, Titian. I suspect you don’t need reminding that Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, is seen jumping effortlessly from his cheetah-drawn chariot after spotting the strumpet Ariadne. However, according to poet and cultural critic Kelly Grovier, this scene of passion may be more accurately focussed upon the posterior and in particular the passing of wind. As the more learned observer put it, “Titian’s carefully deployed caper, Bacchus’s explosive propulsion from his seat appears more wittily, if crudely, choreographed by Titian, who demystifies the lovestruck levitation by providing us with a more down-to-earth explanation for the cheeky lift-off. In Titian’s retelling of Ovid’s myth, Bacchus has been hoisted by his own pungent petard, as Shakespeare, who likewise loved toilet humour, might have said.” In other words, Bacchus farted so heartily that he literally took off! RESPECT!
(produced by kind permission of Wikimedia creative common licence)
If this work of art can fool the many thousands of people who admire it at the National Gallery, London there is absolutely no excuse for you!
My challenge is simple!
Be the Titian of your Zoom or MS Teams, or, when this COVID shite is finally over your office!
By the way if you love a good chuckle, check out my piece on laughter and satire!
Must dash – I have a committee meeting to prepare for.
© Ian Kirke 2021
Title photo by Antonino Visalli on Unsplash