DAMIR SENCARAFP
A new museum of laughter is offering to put people through the spinner to wash away the negativity of modern life.
Visitors to the HaHaHouse in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, are blasted with a puff of white smoke once they step inside to blow away their worries before climbing into a "giant washing machine".
The "centrifuge of life" then whips them away Willy Wonka-style down a twisting slide into a pool filled with little white balls, where their journey to a happier place starts.
Its creator, Andrea Golubic, said she had the idea for the museum during the pandemic when many felt depressed and isolated.
"I realised that I had a mission -- to heal people with laughter," added the upbeat 43-year-old.
Golubic told AFP that the idea "came straight from the heart," and on that day, "I listed 78 exhibits... that's how the HaHaHouse began."
Golubic said her carefree seven-year-old self inspired her -- "a picture of me as a first-grader, with wide teeth and dying of laughter. I was constantly joking as a kid," she said.
Visitors press a button to be "disinfected from negativity" as soon as they enter the museum, which has eight interactive zones.
One has a rubber chicken choir cheerfully cackling out hits like ABBA's "Dancing Queen", there is a karaoke room with distorted voices and a "Sumo Arena" for wrestling in puffed-up costumes.
There is also some serious history of humour from ancient to modern times, told through theatre, film, or the net.
The museum also explains humour styles, from wordplay, slapstick, toilet and dark humour to satire, with the help of some choice one-liners.
"I've had so much plastic surgery when I die, they will donate my body to Tupperware," is one of the featured singers from US comedian Joan Rivers.
© Agence France-Presse
