The Art World: What If…?!

What if we supported artists in taking moonshots?  This week we’re taking a tour around Glenstone museum in Potomac, Maryland - one of the largest and most ambitious private institutions in America, fusing art, architecture and nature. This wide-ranging conversation between Glenstone’s co-founder and director, Emily Rales and host Charlotte Burns covers the art inside the museum and how to create more meaningful visitor experiences, to the Glenstone foundation and future philanthropic plans. “Our values are immutable,” Emily says. “Art is essential to life. And sometimes when I say that to people, they're like, what does that even mean? But I really believe that art is essential to our civilization and to humanity.” She adds: “Long-term defines the way we think. We're not intending to go out guns a-blazing and then sun-setting the foundation within 20 years. We want this to continue to be sustained in perpetuity—and we really mean that.”

What if we trusted artists more? This episode Charlotte Burns is joined by Kathy Halbreich, the outgoing director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, who’s led some of the most dynamic institutions in the art world. They discuss freedom, finances and what the future holds for museums and those who work in them. “You could not pay me enough money to be a museum director at this point in my life,” says Kathy. “Maybe that's just because I really know what the job is and I think it is one of the most misunderstood and genuinely taxing jobs.”

Time to take stock this episode with hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman. We look back at some of the big ideas that have emerged throughout the series so far. From change and creativity, to finance and futures, we discuss what’s amazed, delighted—and even filled us with hope. "I think a lot more about excess than abundance," says Allan. "There is a generosity with which the word abundance has been used by a number of the people we've interviewed. I think that that sense of generosity and of abundance comes from an awareness of what the opposite is. And each of these people, in their own way, is either being given power or seizing power — and doing so to create a better world." Tune in for this very special episode.

We’re still in the city of angels for our second special episode asking ‘What if LA is the future?’ Join host, Charlotte Burns, as she drives from the East Side to Korea Town and out to Santa Monica. We visit the studio of artist and filmmaker, Cauleen Smith, whose life and work centers around building a better world. We also drop in on Kibum Kim, partner and co-founder at Commonwealth and Council - a gallery building a supportive community of artists - who wants to challenge the high-speed efficiency of the current art world model. Both embody what it means to live in the realm of possibility. “I guess what I'm doing is always looking to the relatively recent past of models where people really did do things differently quite successfully,” says Cauleen. Tune in, and subscribe, for more.

What if Los Angeles is the future? This episode Charlotte Burns visits the city for the first of two extra special episodes. We’re at the Hammer museum with its Chief curator, Connie Butler, before heading over to meet Sue Bell Yank who’s Executive director at Clockshop. Both are experimenting with how to do things differently and how to make LA a sustainable place to be and to create art. Nowhere encapsulates the need to imagine radical new possibilities more than Los Angeles. “LA is an amazing place to think about what our possible futures could look like,” says Sue Bell Yank. “It's a place that’s at the bleeding edge of a lot of crises, from wildfires to floods. How cultural organizations fit into that is really interesting.” Join us for more.

What if it were possible to dream up entirely new things? Join host Charlotte Burns as she interviews one of the most interesting artists working today. American Artist — who changed their name in 2013 — produces deeply thoughtful work that is as enmeshed in digitization and technology as it is history and alternate realities. American talks about how their art tackles police violence in the US. They also discuss a newer body of work centering on the life and writings of sci-fi novelist, Octavia E. Butler. American says their work is ultimately hopeful: “If I didn’t feel strongly that things could change I wouldn’t even bother. But I want everyone else to try as hard as I do.”

This episode, Charlotte Burns is joined by Rashida Bumbray whose career straddles different realms within culture. A choreographer and curator, Rashida aims to create new spaces of imagination, empowerment, and connection. While the data and the daily realities of the art world can reflect a scarcity, Rashida’s work—notably the recent organization of artist Simone Leigh’s Loophole of Retreat Summit in Venice—reflects an abundance that is intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and inspirational. This summit represented new possibilities, showing the way to new futures through history, excellence, and potential. A giant 'What If' made real.  Subscribe for more.

In this episode, we get into some of the biggest What Ifs —about virtue and value, about life and loss. Host Charlotte Burns is joined by one of the most thoughtfully provocative (or cunning, as he’d say), artists of our time,  Paul Chan. He made his name in the early 2000s with film and media works, and by 2008 had found significant success. Then, he stopped making art. Now he’s back with a show called Paul Chan: Breathers, where, influenced by sky-dancers, he literally shapes air. He says “Maybe one way to talk about pleasure is a capacity to control our own time. Time may be the only non-human thing I really care about losing. I can lose everything. I think I've lost everything. I'm willing to lose it all, but I'm not willing to lose time, and that to me is more precious than anything else.”

What if the art market had more faith in its own future? What if we could improve the health of the swamp? This episode, we consider the state of the market and who better to join Charlotte Burns than co-host, the art advisor Allan Schwartzman, along with Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels, director at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and founder of We Buy Gold. Together they discuss the boom and bust, aspiration and desperation - and much more besides. 

What if we reimagine the role of the museum? What if we bring more intention to what culture can be and do—and by whom and for whom? What if we tell ourselves different stories? In this episode, host Charlotte Burns talks to Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the CEO and director of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art—a new museum founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his businesswoman wife, Mellody Hobson. The institution, which is set to open in Los Angeles in 2025 is one of the most potentially exciting museums in America or around the world, given the scope of its ambition and size. Sandra says: “We’re building an institution, a 200+ year proposition. And we’re doing it amidst the most uncertain moments in our time.” Who better to help us tackle hypotheticals— including dismantling the idea of high and low, and entirely new ways of thinking about art? Join us and tune in.

What if the world was without ethics? What if financial value was no longer the way we talk about success? Cecilia Alemani, artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale and director and chief curator of High Line Art in New York City joins host Charlotte Burns to discuss the role of the curator today. 

What if we all name our dreams before following them? This episode we welcome Kemi Ilesanmi, the now-former Executive Director of The Laundromat Project, the non-profit focusing on the art of the everyday, amplifying community and artists as citizens and change agents. This show is all about what ifs, and Kemi operates from that place of abundant possibility. What if businesses invested in their staff, seeding future next generations? What if arts organizations functioned as community assets? Tune in for more.

“Not just what if—but what are we missing?” In the first episode of this new podcast, host Charlotte Burns is joined by Naomi Beckwith, the Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Someone actively working to recalibrate the field in the most exciting and dynamic ways, Naomi starts this episode with science before moving onto museums—and how we can create change. What if our textbooks were Black? What if we decentered the Western world in conversations about art? Tune in for more. 

Welcome to The Art World: What If...?! the latest podcast from the makers of In Other Words and Hope & Dread. The first episode will be available on 12 January 2023 and new shows will come out every Thursday.

Hope & Dread Extra: Phyllis Mitz brings you a vision for the future in this interview with astrologer Phyllis Mitz.

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Maya Benton features photography curator Maya Benton, who talks about staring down Neo-Nazi protestors. 

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Sandra Jackson-Dumont brings you more from the inaugural director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is scheduled to open in Los Angeles next year.

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Issy Wood brings you a conversation with the talented young artist Issy Wood. 

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Kathy Halbreich features a conversation with Kathy Halbreich, the executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, about why she has put artists at the center of her vision of creating change.

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Black Trustee Alliance focuses on a new organization—the Black Trustee Alliance—that hopes to bring change to the museum field. Tune in to hear from the collector and philanthropist Victoria Rogers, who is co-chair of BTA and Brooke Minto, its executive director.

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Lulani Arquette brings you the highlights of our interview with the president and CEO of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, which is in the middle of an expansion into a new building in Portland, Oregon. 

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Dr. Kelli Morgan brings you more from Kelli Morgan, who recently left the museum field for academia after experiencing profound racism. She is now the professor of the practice and director of curatorial studies, history of art and architecture at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Tiffany Sia features the artist, filmmaker, and writer Tiffany Sia who recently left Hong Kong for fear of her safety..

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Lord Ed Vaizey brings you more from the former UK culture minister, Lord Vaizey of Didcot, who ran the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2016 under a Conservative government. 

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Max Hollein brings you some highlights from our interview with the Marina Kellen French Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, who talks about his vision for the museum. 

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Michael Armitage focuses on a conversation with artist Michael Armitage, who recently founded the Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute (NCAI).

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Hamza Walker brings you more from a season favorite—Hamza Walker, the director of LAXART in Los Angeles—who talks about an exhibition of decommissioned Confederate monuments he is co-organizing with artist Kara Walker.

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Amy Webb brings you more from the futurist Amy Webb, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute and author of The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology. 

Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday.

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

For the final episode, hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman are joined by the series’ editorial advisors, Deana Haggag, Mia Locks and Jay Sanders. They’ll highlight key discoveries and plot some of the changes that have occurred during production of the programs. Where does power reside now in the art world? What does that mean for broader society? And, of course, in the middle of 2022, do our guests feel inclined toward Hope or Dread? Tune in for more.

Guests: Deana Haggag, Mia Locks, Jay Sanders

As shifts in power scramble the chessboard, how are our guests reacting to the pace of change? Our interviewees—from critics to museum directors, philanthropists to an astrologer—share their tips for dealing with discomfort. The stakes are high: tune in to hear some of the solutions. 

New episodes available every other Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Guests: Lulani Arquette, Maya Benton, Tim Blum, Roxane Gay, Deana Haggag, Kathy Halbreich, Phyllis Mitz, Dr. Kelli Morgan, Tiffany Sia, Hank Willis Thomas, The Rt Hon Lord Vaizey of Didcot, Hamza Walker and Amy Webb

In the second of two episodes dedicated to the art market, Charlotte Burns turns to her series co-host; the richly experienced art advisor, critic and curator Allan Schwartzman, as he offers his understanding of where the market sits now—and how it may look in the future. Drawing out trends, strands, opportunities and obstacles, this program represents an intimate insight into an ever-fluctuating industry.

New episodes available every other Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

In the first of two episodes dedicated to the business of art, Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman trace the changing contours of an industry defined by dealmaking. Power within the art trade is held by a few key players and yet, the art market shapes the lives and livelihoods of almost everyone working in art.

In an art world that likes to season the cold logic of commodities trading with the language of inclusion, passion and creation, we speak to dealers, artists and futurologists to discover how — from the local to the global, from private passions to international politics and economics—everything is touched by the market.

Tune in to find out. 

Guests: Tim Blum, Roxane Gay, Melanie Gerlis, Kathy Halbreich, Pam Kramlich, Larry Marx and Issy Wood

In a series dedicated to tectonic shifts in power in art, why did we wait so long to devote a show to the artists themselves? Well, we wanted to paint a picture of the landscape in which those creators now live and work - and as you’ve heard, it is complex. In this episode we hear from artists who want to change the system with their own foundations, support networks and big ideas. These are stories of civic and artistic philanthropy that aren’t about engraving your name in granite but about changing the system—while making meaningful work. But when that big payday comes knocking, how do you stay true to your dream? Tune in to find out.

Guests: Michael Armitage, Jackson Polys, Tiffany Sia, Hank Willis Thomas and Issy Wood

The series heads north by northwest to Portland, Oregon to uncover a surprisingly hideous history: could it be that this hipster mecca was founded as a whites-only utopia? Answer: hell, yeah. When a curator has to rub shoulders with Neo-Nazis during the installation of her exhibition, there may well be trouble built into the very fabric of the state. We speak to the broader arts community in Portland to tease out the fine threads of race, land, ownership and identity and ask - as tanks roll down city streets elsewhere - if Oregon is a warning from the past or a glimpse into the future.

Tune in to find out. 

Guests: Maya Benton, Flint Jamison, Lulani Arquette, Kristan Kennedy, Ashley Stull Meyers and Hank Willis Thomas

New episodes available every other Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Today you'll hear from that echelon who are really running America's museums: the board. This is where the real power in museums resides. We'll find out if these trustees have fully grasped the issues that museums need to tackle today. Do they have ambitious enough solutions? Who makes sure the museum sticks to its mission, or that the trustees are doing their job? After all - who governs the governors?

Tune in to find out. 

Guests: Sarah Arison, Fred Bidwell, Pam Kramlich, Jill Kraus, Larry Marx, Brooke A. Minto, Victoria Rogers and Marc Schwartz

New episodes available every other Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Having examined the pressure mounting on institutions from the street, the public galleries and then from within - this penultimate museum-focused episode asks who’d want to run one? Hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman ask the director of the Met how comfortable that throne really is. Who should run the nation’s museums? Who’d want to, amidst a world of shifting certainties? Hope & Dread has the answers.

Tune in to find out.

Guests: Catherine Arias, Sarah Arison, Fred Bidwell, Deana Haggag, Max Hollein, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Naima J. Keith, Jill Kraus, Mia Locks, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Dr Kelli Morgan, Hank Willis Thomas and Amy Webb

New episodes available every Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

We’re going behind the scenes at the museum to better understand the recent groundswell of voices criticizing museum power structures as they exist, coming in the form of unionization efforts, artist-led activism and open letters by disgruntled staff. Are museums practicing what they preach? After all, if you can perfectly preserve a 14th-Century Persian carpet in a climate-controlled glass vitrine, shouldn't you be able to look after your staff, too? 

Tune in to find out. 

Guests: Catherine Arias, Fred Bidwell, Deana Haggag, Kathy Halbreich, Max Hollein, Kristan Kennedy, Mia Locks, Larry Marx, Ashley Stull Meyers and Marc Schwartz

New episodes available every Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Museums have become cultural battlegrounds—monuments to meaning that are struggling to contain democracy. Museums have mushroomed: from audience numbers to board members, from the value of art to the real estate that houses it, and from international interest to the size of local protests. 

Hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman will guide you through the troubled museum system over the next four episodes, beginning on the streets and working our way inside—from the galleries to the staff offices, up to the boardroom. 

In today’s show they ask: if the current model isn’t working - should we just build new museums? 

Guests: Lulani Arquette, Miki Garcia, Roxane Gay, Deana Haggag, Max Hollein, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Jill Kraus, Dr. Kelli Morgan and Farah Nayeri

New episodes available every Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Political arguments and cultural debates have become indivisible in recent years and this episode explores ideas around controlling culture from above. Hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman will hear from a British politician who says he’d return the controversial “Elgin Marbles” to Greece if he had the chance and, as China cracks down on dissenting voices with its national security law for Hong Kong, they also speak to an artist who recently left the city for fear of her safety. What happens when governments try to control culture? Tune in to find out.

Guests: Farah Nayeri, Tiffany Sia, The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury, The Rt Hon Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Amy Webb

Introducing this new documentary series exploring power in art, hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman discuss the biggest challenges in the cultural world today. At a moment of epochal shifts and changing certainties, these are issues that extend well beyond the art world—from governments and human rights, to history and democracy.

Arguments around monuments are linked to debates about museums: what they show, what they own, who they employ. Who is at the top of these institutions, who funds them and how does the market come into play? Who’s driving the wagon and who’s trying to seize the reins? And do you need to buckle up to ride out the journey?

America’s public spaces have been throbbing with the sounds of loud arguments about history and identity, encapsulated by the debate over Confederate monuments. In this episode, hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman introduce you to artists and curators suggesting new ways of dealing with American history—taking you behind the arguments about whether statues should stay or go and offering a nuanced perspective on a haunted history.

Guests: Maya Benton, Thomas Finkelpearl, Roxane Gay, Jackson Polys, Hamza Walker

Introducing this new documentary series exploring power in art, hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman discuss the biggest challenges in the cultural world today. At a moment of epochal shifts and changing certainties, these are issues that extend well beyond the art world—from governments and human rights, to history and democracy.

Arguments around monuments are linked to debates about museums: what they show, what they own, who they employ. Who is at the top of these institutions, who funds them and how does the market come into play? Who’s driving the wagon and who’s trying to seize the reins? And do you need to buckle up to ride out the journey?

Guests: Deana Haggag, Mia Locks, Jay Sanders and The Rt Hon Lord Vaizey of Didcot

From acts of solidarity to new business models, many in the art world are teaming up during this pandemic to bolster the system and rethink its infrastructure. Joining us for today’s show are guests including financial journalist Felix Salmon; gallerists Sadie Coles of Sadie Coles HQ and Vanessa Carlos of Carlos/Ishikawa; artist Doron Langberg; culture and politics writer Marisa Mazria Katz; and nonprofit executives Carolyn Ramo of Artadia and Deana Haggag of United States Artists.

“We are all protecting our small castle or encampment and promoting our own content,” says Sadie Coles. “But actually, if you start reaching out to people, it is all about dialogue— and things develop from there.”

For more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-79-covid-19-second-podcast/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Will Covid-19—which is so far spreading unevenly in the US, hitting low-income or black communities the hardest—exacerbate the inequities in the art world? In our 78th episode, host Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP and a chairman of Sotheby’s) discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Can art itself provide solace during this period of grief and fear? And how will the art world and its market make it through?

Tune in.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-78-will-the-art-world-remain-resilient/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“Art is about ideas, transgression and transformation," says gallerist Sadie Coles, who founded her eponymous gallery, Sadie Coles HQ, in London's Mayfair neighborhood in 1997, and now has two spaces in the UK capital. "And art needs freedom."

In this wide-ranging podcast, recorded in London earlier in the year with host Charlotte Burns, Coles talks about everything from the nature of being an art dealer, to the sense of anxiety that has shaped both the market and art in this still-young century—and about the time she moonlighted to as a theatre critic to review a play starring Madonna as a ruthless art world operator.

Coles talks about changes in the gallery system. “Artists now have more power, and I think that's a healthy thing", she says. “The rules, whatever they may be, are in flux right now."

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-75-flux-and-freedom-with-sadie-coles/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Maureen Paley—a native New Yorker who was recently named one of the Evening Standard's most influential Londoners—has been called a "true pioneer of the East End" for her part in turning the neighborhood into a hub for art and culture.

She opened her gallery in 1984 and “it still remains alive and very vital," she tells host Charlotte Burns. "People like to think of art now as related to commerce and business, but I always saw it that it was related to a type of magic."

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-75-maureen-paley/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

This lively conversation with Stuart Shave and Sarah McCrory was recorded in London shortly before the UK exited Europe at the end of January. McCrory (inaugural director of the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in London, which opened in 2018) and Shave (founder of Stuart Shave Modern Art gallery in London) talk to host Charlotte Burns about a range of topics, from ”Google curating” to the environmental crisis; from the #MeToo movement to the cultural climate within the UK. The British art world has always been “in constant revival and renewal," McCrory says. “But I do worry about how we keep it a place for artists, and how we keep it a place for culture."

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-76-stuart-and-sarah/

Tune in for this behind-the-scenes talk between host Charlotte Burns and journalist Jori Finkel on the rise of the L.A. art scene. A California correspondent for The New York Times and The Art Newspaper, as well as author of the book It Speaks to Me: Art That Inspires Artists, Finkel talks about the artists who make the city unique and the real reason why it's become a major arts hub—and it predates Frieze L.A., the second edition of which is being staged this week.

This wide-ranging conversation covers topics from motherhood as "the last taboo in the art market" to why women artists aren't given more "blockbuster" shows, to the ethics of reporting on the art world. For this and much more, download the show today. 

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-74-jori-finkel/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

2019 was a year of protests and profound change. We look back on what happened, what our guests talked about and what our listeners most responded to. Tune in to hear Ian Alteveer (the Aaron I. Fleischman curator of Modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum), Julia Halperin (the executive editor of artnet News) and host Charlotte Burns review the year—and to hear snippets from our 2019 shows featuring museum directors Nicholas Serota (formerly Tate and now the head of Arts Council England), and Max Hollein (the Metropolitan Museum of Art); The New York Times co-chief art critic Roberta Smith; artists Catherine Opie, Mickalene Thomas, Derrick Adams and Nari Ward; architect David Adjaye; Ford Foundation president Darren Walker, and more.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-74-looking-back-at-2019/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Recorded live in Napa Valley at the Kramlich Residence—which was built by architects Herzog & De Meuron—this wide-ranging discussion about collecting and supporting art is with guests Pamela and Dick Kramlich, two of the world’s foremost patrons of video, new media and time-based art; Stuart Comer, chief curator of media and performance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and artist Richard Mosse, together with host Charlotte Burns.

"We've got to buy masterpieces," Pamela says on today's episode, "or what I think will be the masterpieces of the future, and take care of them."

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-70-o-be-led-by-the-art-the-founders-of-the-kramlich-collection-with-momas-stuart-comer/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Today’s podcast covers the top takeaways from the recent auction week in New York—and what this means for the market. Nicholas Maclean (of the London and New York dealership Eykyn Maclean) and Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP) join host Charlotte Burns (editor of In Other Words) for our biannual auction edition.

For more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-71-auction-talk-with-allan-schwartzman-and-nicholas-maclean/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm

Tune in for this wide-ranging discussion with artist Catherine Opie, a tenured professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose internationally-exhibited art investigates the boom and bust of American life and the subtleties of human identity.

The artist—who famously carved the word “pervert” on her chest in 1994 as part of a work tackling the AIDS crisis and challenging ideas of deviancy—finds tenderness within stereotypes.

Opie discusses what it means to be radical today, and the importance of building communities that can bridge divisions within society, whether finding unity within museum boards or philosophy within the S&M community.

She talks to our host Charlotte Burns about her own success as an artist and her recognition of gender disparity within the art world, and the importance of representation. Opie tells us about her influences and talks about the shifting impact of social media on photography as an art form. She discusses her dream project and her optimism about the art world: “There's shitty books, there's shitty movies, there's shitty art,” she says. “And then there's all the pearls in-between that actually move people.”

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-73-catherine-opie/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

#69: Talking Power with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker and Artist Teresita Fernández

Ford Foundation president Darren Walker and MacArthur “genius” artist Teresita Fernández already had a long history of collaboration before coming together for this discussion with host Charlotte Burns about social justice, leadership, art, beauty—and power.

“The truth is that equity is not given. Power is not given. The history of power is always that it is taken,” Fernández says. “If you want your table to be diverse and inclusive, somebody’s going to have to get up.”

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-69-darren-walker-and-teresita-fernandez/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

The Museum of Modern Art reopens this month after a $450m expansion that has added more than 47,000 sq. ft and many new galleries that tell a different story of modern and contemporary art.

 In this podcast, AAP co-founder Allan Schwartzman and In Other Words host Charlotte Burns review the radical rehang of the permanent collection.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-68-live-review-from-the-new-moma/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

This episode answers all of the questions you never knew you had about the objects associated with motherhood, from the unexpected stories behind some of the most ubiquitous designs (did you know that the incubator was inspired by a doctor's trip to the zoo?) to the histories revealed by these objects. For example, the popularity of the baby blanket tracks with the increased industrialization of birth in America over the past 70 years.

Joining our host Charlotte Burns are Amber Winick and Michelle Millar Fisher, the co-creators of “Designing Motherhood: A Century of Making and Unmaking Babies”, the forthcoming book and exhibition that investigate more than 100 designs that have shaped our understanding of parenthood in America over the past century.

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-67-designing-motherhood/

"In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Only 11% of the art acquired by America’s top museums over the past decade was work made by women. And acquisitions have actually declined since 2009, according to a major new study “Women's Place in the Art World: Why Recent Advancements for Female Artists Are Largely an Illusion ” produced by In Other Words and artnet News.

The report found that there has been no progress in museum acquisitions, and that just 14% of exhibitions were of work by female artists.

The auction market for work by women doubled, but still only represents 2% of the global total—with just five female artists (Yayoi Kusama, Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois, Georgia O'Keeffe and Agnes Martin) accounting for 40.7% of that total.

Discussing the report with host Charlotte Burns are guests Julia Halperin (executive editor, artnet News), Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels (director, Jack Shainman Gallery) and William N. Goetzmann (professor and faculty director of the International Center for Finance, Yale School of Management).

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-66-women-data-study/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

A year after taking the reins of one of the world’s largest and most important art institutions, Max Hollein joins host Charlotte Burns to discuss the future of the Metropolitan Museum.

Hollein discusses the distinct role he believes the Met can play in terms of contemporary art, and gives an update on recently-stalled plans for a $600m Modern and contemporary wing—part of more than $1bn the museum is slated to spend on renovations and expansions.

In a week in which the Met returned to Egypt an ancient gilded coffin that had been the centerpiece of the exhibition “Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin”—but which prosecutors deemed to have been looted, Hollein talks about how the Met is tackling the fraught issue of cultural repatriation. He talks about the museum as a platform for debates: from the morality of where money comes from to diversity in programing and governance.   

For this and much more—including what success looks like to Hollein—tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-64-max-hollein/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“I realized that more interesting things happen when I could do away with notions of quality and taste,” says Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the New Museum in New York and director of the Trussardi Foundation in Milan.

Gioni—who The New York Times called a "biennale veteran" by the time he was 38—says this thinking freed him up to stage exhibitions that moved away from treating art like “the isolated masterpiece”. He talks to host Charlotte Burns about the collapse of the alternative art, music and publishing scenes in the 1990s and about the potential of social mobility within the art world. 

Massimiliano’s latest show, “Appearance Stripped Bare: Desire and the Object in the Work of Marcel Duchamp and Jeff Koons, Evens”, is on view until 29 September at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City.

To hear more, tune in now.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-63-massimiliamo/ 

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-63-massimiliamo/ 

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Who gets to define culture, and who gets to create it? Who decides what's in and what's out, what's valuable and what's worthless? In a live panel discussion moderated by Charlotte Burns and organized in collaboration with Sotheby's and the Aspen Ideas Festival, our guests Roberta Smith (The New York Times co-chief art), Michael Govan (CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), and Derrick Adams (a visual and performance artist) examine how society forms a consensus about which objects and stories we save, and which we discard—and, ultimately, who controls culture today. 

To hear more from the live panel, tune in today.

Transcript:  https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-63-live-from-aspen/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Welcome to our Venice Biennale special, which we recorded live in Italy last month. Returning to his roots as an art critic for our first ever review show, Allan Schwartzman joins host Charlotte Burns to take you on a tour through the art on view in the floating city, both in the Biennale and beyond.

"We do live in interesting times—but do we live in times of interesting art?", Schwartzman asks at the start of the show. Tune in to find out.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-62-live-review-of-the-venice-biennale/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Sir David Adjaye is the architect behind some of the most interesting buildings of our times, from national museums to social housing. He has described the fraught political process of designing the prize-winning National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in Washington, D.C. in 2016, as eight years of pain. But “these buildings are long overdue,” Adjaye says, “There’s a language they need to bring, which is about the reality rather than the fiction of nation imagery.”

In this podcast with Amy Cappellazzo (co-founder of AAP and a chairman of Sotheby's) and host Charlotte Burns (executive editor, In Other Words), Adjaye—who has designed the forthcoming expansion of the Studio Museum as well as the plans for the National Cathedral of Ghana—talks about how space can change the way we think about our own histories. “We’ve all been numbed into never dealing with big questions,” he says, asking: “Then what the hell are we all doing here?”

For this and more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-61-remaking-the-imagination-with-architect-david-adjaye/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“I really felt ten years ago that there was a huge opportunity for me at different levels in the art world,” says David Zwirner, whose eponymous gallery opened in New York more than 25 years ago, has since expanded to London and Hong Kong and is increasingly focusing on its online strategy. “Of course, expansion fuels expansion,” he says. “At the same time, I think there's a huge risk. There's definitely a ‘too big’ possible.”

In conversation with Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP and a chairman of Sotheby's) and our host Charlotte Burns (executive editor, In Other Words), Zwirner discusses the future of the business and the state of the market—and talks about what he is looking for in the next generation of artists.

For more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-60-david-zwirner/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Andy Warhol is one of the best-known—but perhaps least understood—artists of the 20th century. “Warhol shifted the paradigm. He shifted the conversation. That's why we're still grappling with him. Love him or hate him,” says Donna De Salvo, the senior curator and deputy director for International Initiatives at the Whitney Museum of American Art, who recently organized the blockbuster exhibition "Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again" (on show now at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, until 2 September).

Beyond the glamour of the celebrity and consumerism so often associated with Warhol, there is something destabilizing about his work, says Dominique Lévy, the co-founder of Lévy Gorvy—which is showing “Warhol Women” in New York (until 15 June). “If you spend enough time in front of a Warhol painting, little by little it unnerves you,” Lévy says.

When people fetishize the trophy of the Marilyn, they're missing a certain point of the way that Warhol is constantly disrupting,” De Salvo says: “Whether it's the off registration of the screen, through the color, through the scale, the multiplicity of images. He's not about a fixed image. He's actually quite the opposite and that gets to issues of identity.”

Together with host Charlotte Burns, Lévy and De Salvo discuss the radical aspects of Warhol's work, discussing how much of it is still undervalued and under-appreciated—particularly drawings from the 1950s and works from the 1970s and 1980s. “He reinvents himself and becomes more and more conceptual, and more and more relevant,” Lévy says.

“His project ends because he dies,” De Salvo says: "He was just getting going again." Ultimately, she says, Warhol “reflected these twin American desires, which are at odds: our desire to innovate and our desire to conform.”

For this and more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-60-warhols-women/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Today’s podcast is a lively one, taking in authorship and authority, productivity and capital in conversation with Alistair Hudson (director of The Whitworth and Manchester Galleries), Bernadine Bröcker Wieder (CEO and co-founder of the Vastari Group, a platform connecting museums, private collectors and other exhibition organizers) and our host Charlotte Burns.

Taking different approaches, Hudson and Bröcker Wieder are both interested in what a more equitable art world would look like and both are invested in community and collaboration. 

The dialogue on democracy, community, tech and collaboration closes with a call for openness. “I see a big role for institutions reclaiming this territory of culture,” Hudson says: “How we shape and create our culture as being above and beyond politics and economics.”

Tune in today for more.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-55-bernadine-and-alistair/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Paula Cooper Gallery has survived and thrived in a mercurial art world for more than five decades. On today’s show, the legendary dealer talks about the history and future of her gallery together with Steven Henry, who has been the gallery director for more than two decades, Allan Schwartzman, co-founder of Art Agency, Partners, and host Charlotte Burns.

Known for her eye, Cooper has represented some of the most important international contemporary artists of the past half-century. “Artists will give her the best shows, the best work,” says Henry. The gallery has remained a leader of the pack throughout the past 50 years, despite seismic shifts in the art world and market. Nowadays, “it’s this huge international money world,” says Cooper, who also discusses new styles of collecting and the impact of politics on the art world.

She also talks about the future: “I really have to think about not being here, now at this point," she says. Ultimately, the legacy of the gallery will be the artists it has supported, she says: “The gallery will be forgotten. It’s the artists who survive.”

For this and more, tune in today to In Other Words.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-58-paula-cooper-and-steve-henry/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“As an artist I feel like it’s my role to bring that moment of history—that moment of doubt, frustration, of fear—into the present,” says Nari Ward in conversation with fellow artist Derrick Adams on this episode of In Other Words.

Ward is the subject of a major retrospective at the New Museum (“Nari Ward: We The People” until 26 May)—which spans 25 years of his work and has been heralded as “persistent and liberating” by The New York Times. The sculptor—who has been called an accumulation artist for his often large-scale work involving discarded material—has lived and worked in Harlem since the beginning of his career and uses the neighborhood as source and inspiration.

Art is the perfect medium for exploring such complicated subjects as gentrification, power and the AIDS crisis, Ward says: “It should challenge, consume, maybe even disrupt—and then it should also figure out, because it is art. It is artifice. It is a safe space to consider those different moments.”Adams is the subject of two concurrent exhibitions on show in New York right now (“Derrick Adams: Interior Life” at Luxembourg & Dayan and “Derrick Adams: New Icons” at Mary Boone Gallery). “I thought that successful art was about penetrating the world with images that you want people to see,” he says to host Charlotte Burns. “I want to give viewers other options of looking at black American culture”, he says, especially the normalcy of “what people were doing as a break.”

Together, Ward and Adams discuss all the big stuff: from God and spirituality in art, to the power and purpose of making art. They talk real estate and repression, and discuss the power of imagination and moral compassion. 

Tune in to In Other Words today for this and much more.

Transcript:

https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-56-nari-ward-and-derrick-adams/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Our world and the ways in which we perceive and understand it are both shaped and reflected by art. This is especially true when it comes to nations and the stories they tell of themselves. Focusing on American identity, this podcast was recorded during a live panel discussion between Lauren Haynes (curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas), Paul Anthony Smith (artist), Antwaun Sargent (critic) and host Charlotte Burns at The Armory Show in New York earlier this month.

From the question of whether there are “American” artists today to what it means to consider oneself American; from representation within museums to how morality is dealt with in US culture, our guests ask how institutions, and the art world at large, are working to foster a more expansive narrative.

Tune in today to hear more.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-55-armory/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Ian Cheng wants to change the way you think. “I really want to make art that taps into some part of a viewer’s neurology and gets them into a different state,” Cheng says to host Charlotte Burns during this In Other Words podcast. The wide-ranging conversation covers topics from the freedom afforded humans by AI, to the genius of The Real Housewives television show.

Cheng creates art with a nervous system: his practice often involves computer simulations that resemble video games—albeit ones that play themselves. His current exhibition “BOB: Bag of Beliefs” centers around an AI lifeform whose evolution is shaped by viewers who can make offerings—both poisonous and benign—to BOB via an app. Cheng has created his own form of art; a work that is mesmerizing and surprisingly moving (at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York until 23 March).

“It’s a funny time we live in,” says Cheng, who studied both cognitive science and art. He wants his work to tap into our limbic systems (“the most easily triggered and exploitable” part of the brain) with the goal of making us “feel safe enough to be explorative, to be open-minded, to be conscientious”.

Following in the footsteps of artists and storytellers across the centuries, Cheng is spinning tales that might better help us understand our world, using cutting-edge technology to do so.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-ian-chengs-guide-to-worlding/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

In the words of the Los Angeles Times, the artist Mickalene Thomas “is to contemporary painting what Daft Punk is to music: acclaimed as one of the more original remix artists working today.” Her genre-busting work takes many forms, and grapples with bodies and their desires, with power, equity and identity. In today’s episode, she talks about community and collaboration—both essential to her practice—in a conversation with her partner and muse, the art consultant Racquel Chevremont, the cultural critic Antwaun Sargent and Charlotte Burns, the host of In Other Words.

Thomas and Chevremont recently launched “Deux Femme Noires”, an organization focused on mentoring emerging artists of color. “The more of us that come up, the better," Chevremont says "We want the room to be filled with us.” 

Thomas was studying to be a lawyer when a chance encounter with the photographs of Carrie Mae Weems inspired her to change direction and become an artist herself. “Whatever that power is, or mystery one may feel when they’re excited by or inspired by particular art—I knew that’s what I wanted to do with images," Thomas says. "And I knew I wanted to create that space for others.”

Tune in for more from the artist, the muse and the writer in today's episode.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-community-collaboration-and-sisterhood-with-mickalene-thomas-racquel-chevremont-and-antwaun-sargent-on-creating-change/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Produced in partnership with Frieze Los Angeles, this live recording is a conversation with major Californian institutional leaders Naima J. Keith (Deputy Director, California African American Museum), Michael Govan (CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Andrew Perchuk, (Deputy Director, Getty Research Institute), Megan Steinman (Director, The Underground Museum), moderated by our host Charlotte Burns.

Taking as a starting point the research published by In Other Words and artnet News, which examined the representation of African American artists in US museums and the international market, our panelists talk about the ways in which they are working to broaden the canon, and think specifically about local communities. 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-frieze-la/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

The man credited with reinventing the museum and changing British culture, Sir Nicholas Serota joins us for a special extended episode of In Other Words.

Now Chair of Arts Council England, Serota was the director of Tate for 28 years. More than anybody else, he helped shift attitudes in Britain, making the country more comfortable with contemporary art while he oversaw the growth of Tate both physically and in terms of reputation and ambition. Once a small institution, Tate became a phenomenon and the best attended museum of Modern art in the world.

Serota began his career in the 1980s during a period in which the country’s politics were isolationist and there was a “certain paranoia about continental Europe and artists from Europe”. By the early 2000s, the country had become more international and open, and the arts were flourishing as London established itself as a creative and economic hub.

Recorded on the day of a historic defeat in the government’s “meaningful vote” on Brexit, Serota discusses the current climate with our host Charlotte Burns: “Some things don’t change. And human nature is one of those. People feel challenged by difference.”

While he himself is “always regarded as being right in the center of the establishment… I still have a sense of what it means to be an outsider,” Serota says. “I will continue to believe that international exchange of all kinds is valuable.”

He discusses running one of the world’s largest museums—including why he never left for an American museum—and talks about the challenges facing institutional leaders today: “Whatever the difficulties were in the late ‘80s, it’s become even more difficult to run these big institutions now than it was then.”

For this, and much more, tune in now.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-nicholas-serota/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

From ticketing scandals and the implications of Brexit, to a major £35m museum renovation, this episode of In Other Words features a frank conversation with Nicholas Cullinan, the director of London’s National Portrait Gallery, on a broad range of topics.

Cullinan discusses a recent attendance crisis at the museum, when faulty counters reported that visitor figures had fallen by 35% between 2017 and 2018. While the numbers were proven to be wildly inaccurate, the museum was blasted in the media, which suggested its contemporary program was out of touch with the public. In this episode, Cullinan counters some of the criticism: “Basically, you’re saying that we and possibly other British museums shouldn’t program contemporary artists or women artists if they don’t reach a huge audience. I disagree with that fundamentally.”

Cullinan talks to host Charlotte Burns about the implications of judging a museum’s success solely on attendance, a metric that is “both helpful and vital but should not be the only thing,” he says. “The key thing—in a way, the only thing that matters—is the integrity and the quality with which you do those projects. If we were doing exhibitions that we didn’t believe in, or were bad or shoddy or slapdash, that would be a concern.” 

Although the museum’s “entire remit is to serve the public”, it is 70% privately funded. Cullinan, who has worked within both American and British museums, talks about issues of funding in each country and ways to be innovative.

Recorded in London during a moment of acute political uncertainty, Cullinan discusses what it is like to manage a national museum in times of turmoil.  “I will really fight for the things I believe in and support them. I wouldn’t just abandon the ship,” he says. 

“You have to have the courage of your conviction. Things are changing around us rapidly and radically, and people have very opposing views. But what we represent, and what we should communicate, is both a timeless and very positive message about British identity,” he says. “It’s very important to hold on to that. So, in a way, we’re doubling down right now.”

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-popular-or-populist-a-conversation-with-nicholas-cullinan/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“Being an artist was a great excuse for anything you wanted to do that was ‘different’,” says the artist, photographer and filmmaker Laurie Simmons, whose work is the subject of a major retrospective survey on show now at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (until 27 January).

In this episode, she talks to host Charlotte Burns about everything from Internet culture to egalitarian art and the concept of magical thinking. Simmons’s tableaus, which are often created with dolls, explore memory, sexuality and artifice and she discusses what it was (and is) like working in a male-dominated industry.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-laurie-simmons/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

What were the hot topics of 2018? Host Charlotte Burns looks back on the year in this special episode, breaking down key moments in conversation with Julia Halperin (executive editor of artnet News). The broadening of the canon across markets and museums—from African American artists to outliers, from women artists to conspiracists—was a major topic for In Other Words guests last year. Another key area of focus was the future of the museum, with topics from deaccessioning to digital swarming discussed by institutional leaders in their appearances on the show, including Glenn Lowry (director, MoMA), Richard Armstrong (director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation), Jessica Morgan (director, Dia Art Foundation), Michael Govan (CEO and Wallis Annenberg director, LACMA), Doryun Chong (deputy director and chief curator, M+ ), Budi Tek (founder, Yuz Museum and Foundation) and Lisa Phillips (director, New Museum of Contemporary Art). And the most popular topic of 2018? Art criticism. Roberta Smith (co-chief art critic of the New York Times) and Jerry Saltz (New York magazine’s senior art critic) talked about their writing and audiences, as well as the best art being made today. Tune in to toast the year.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/podcast/podcast-highlights-from-2018/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

For this special live recording from Washington, D.C., we were invited to interview Jerry Saltz, the senior art critic at New York magazine, in front of an audience as part of the “Critics in Conversation” talks program organized by the Hirshhorn National Museum of Modern Art.

Jerry has previously appeared as a guest on In Other Words—an intimate and introspective conversation in which he talked to our host Charlotte Burns about his life and work. He brought a different energy to this live recording, bouncing from topics as varied as politics to Led Zeppelin to Medieval art—and back again.

Saltz—who won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year for his article “My Life As A Failed Artist”—talks about how he “wanted to change the structure of criticism, which felt exclusive to me. I couldn't get in. I didn't go to the right schools”, and dispenses advice for writers, artists and art-lovers alike: “First of all believe and trust yourself, for God's sake! For two minutes! Is that so hard? Put down the urge to be smart. Put down the urge to be right.”

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/podcast/live-podcast-critics-in-conversation-with-jerry-saltz/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Named “the most powerful woman in the New York art world” by The New York Times, Lisa Phillips has been the director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art since 1999. On today’s show, she talks about the future of the museum—from the current $85m capital campaign to the ways in which Phillips sees the institution moving beyond bricks and mortar—with host Charlotte Burns (executive editor, In Other Words) and Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP and Sotheby’s chairman)—who was a founding staff member at the New Museum, hired as a curator aged 19.

Founded in 1977, the museum recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Phillips and Schwartzman discuss the “spirit of the new” in art, and talk about power—what it means, who has it and how it might better be redefined. Phillips, who was formerly a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, discusses the forces that are shaping museums—such as technology and shifting demographics—and how to respond to them.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/podcast/lisa-phillips/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the non-profit FLAG Art Foundation in New York was founded by Glenn Fuhrman. On this episode of In Other Words, Fuhrman talks how he began collecting art (“I lived in a one-room studio apartment for the first eight and a half years I lived in New York, and spent all my disposable income on art.”), and discusses philanthropy (he and his wife sponsored the creation of the nation's largest free Wi-Fi network, covering 95 city blocks in Harlem, in 2013).

Fuhrman discusses plans for his own collection—and offers some advice to aspiring collectors as part of this conversation with Amy Cappellazzo (a chairman at Sotheby's and a co-founder of Art Agency, Partners) and our host Charlotte Burns (executive editor, In Other Words). 

Fuhrman, who co-founded and co-manages the private investment firm MSD Capital, also talks about the legacy of FLAG and its future, as well as his views on the art market.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/podcast/glenn-fuhrman-amy-cappellazzo/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

More than $2B was spent on Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art during the recent round of auctions in New York. On today’s podcast, Nicholas Maclean (of the London and New York dealership Eykyn Maclean) and Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP) discuss with our host Charlotte Burns (editor of In Other Words) what happened. They talk about the successes and the surprises of the sales, as well as the key trends to emerge—and what this means about the market.

For this and more, tune in today.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-auctions-november-2018/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

In this episode, we go down the rabbit hole with Ian Alteveer and Doug Eklund, the co-curators of “Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy” at the Met Breuer (until 6 January 2019).

The show deals with the ways artists have imagined the forces that control their lives, presenting 70 works created between 1969 and 2016 by around 30 artists and artist collectives. It is the first major exhibition on the topic.

The beginning half of the show focuses on art that uncovers corporate and political malfeasance through public records, dealing with scandals from Watergate to the assassination of JFK and the US government’s handling of the AIDS crisis. It includes work by artists intent on unveiling deceptions, from shell corporations to the networks linking politicians, business people and arms dealers. The second part of the show moves into the realm of the fantastical, presenting works that are often dark or troubled—whether doll houses, LSD-inspired visions or other kinds of alternate realities. 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-art-and-conspiracy/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

How do curators find art, and decide to show it? Joining our host Charlotte Burns for a conversation about the future of biennials, triennials and other group shows are Cecilia Alemani (director and chief curator of High Line Art and the artistic director of Art Basel Cities) and Ingrid Schaffner (curator of the 57th Carnegie International, which recently opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). They talk about how they view the role of the curator, and about getting off the beaten track. They discuss topics including the intersection of politics and art, and reveal the best art they’ve recently seen.

For this and more, tune in today.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-ingrid-schaffner-and-cecilia-alemani/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

In today’s episode of In Other Words, we are joined by Richard Armstrong, who has been the director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation since 2008. A frank and insightful thinker who once considered a career in politics before entering the arts, Armstrong shares his thoughts on topics from censorship to deaccessioning.

He also talks about how museums can cope with being the targets of digital swarming and reveals an update on plans for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi: “We’re looking forward to a real opening date at this point.”

For this and more, tune in today.

Transcript:

http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-richard-armstrong/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

The first major survey show of the 75-year-old artist Howardena Pindell opened earlier this year at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and is now on show at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (“Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen” until 25 November). Pindell was one of the first black curators at the Museum of Modern Art and a cofounder of pioneering feminist gallery A.I.R. She worked in a mainly abstract style until an almost-fatal car accident in 1979 caused a shift in her art, which became more political and personal. 

In the late 1980s, Pindell began researching the demographics of artists represented in New York museums and commercial galleries, presenting her findings in a 1987 paper called Statistics, Testimony and Supporting Documentation and then in a follow-up paper Commentary and Update of Gallery and Museum Statistics 1986-1997.

In many ways, this work was a precursor to the research In Other Words recently published with artnet News, so we invited Pindell onto the show to talk about what—if anything—has changed.

Transcript:

http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-howardena-pindell/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Just 2.3% of all purchases and gifts at 30 prominent US museums over the past ten years have been of work by African American artists, according to a joint investigation by In Other Words and artnet News.

Meanwhile, the total auction value of work by African American artists over the same period represents a mere 1.2% of global auction sales.

Working together in an unprecedented three-month partnership, Charlotte Burns (executive editor, In Other Words) and Julia Halperin (executive editor, artnet News) have captured and analyzed market and museum data which, coupled with conversations with more than 30 prominent curators, collectors, dealers, museum directors, academics and philanthropists, reveals that progress is much more recent—and benefits far fewer artists—than popularly perceived.

In today's podcast, they discuss the data and its implications with Allan Schwartzman (co-founder, Art Agency, Partners) and Valentino Carlotti (global head of business development at Sotheby’s; board member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and previously of the Guggenheim and the Studio Museum in Harlem).

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-20-september-2018-podcast/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Joining us for our 38th episode is Jessica Morgan, the director of the Dia Art Foundation—that much beloved organization so associated with the great land artists of the 1960s and 1970s. Pilgrimage, place and change of pace are important aspects of any visit to Dia—which has 11 sites in places as diverse as Utah, Bridgehampton, Beacon, New Mexico and New York City.

Morgan talks to host Charlotte Burns about fundraising—since joining in 2015 she has launched a $78m capital campaign to renovate and expand Dia’s existing spaces, raising around $60m already. She also discusses the problems with judging museums’ success by attendance figures, and reveals her future plans for Dia.

Transcript:

http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-jessica-morgan/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Where is the great art being made in America today? In this episode, our guests Chrissie Iles (Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz curator at the Whitney Museum of American art), Carolyn Ramo (executive director, Artadia) and Hamza Walker (executive director, LAXART) join our host Charlotte Burns to discuss the subject.

They talk about art being made throughout the United States in places outside the major market hubs, as well as ways to broaden the lens through which we view contemporary art in this country. “We're currently in an extremely dynamic moment for emerging artists and for culture,” Iles says in conversation with our other guests, who talk about how collectors and curators might discover—and steward—the art of their region.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-art-across-america-with-chrissie-iles-carolyn-ramo-and-hamza-walker 

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“By now, I’m kind of an opinion machine,” says Roberta Smith, co-chief art critic for The New York Times in this special podcast recording with our host Charlotte Burns.

“I would say all art that’s middling-to-great is a strike for freedom; is an expression of liberty,” Smith says. “It’s somebody asserting themselves in a new way. And that kind of newness, you can hear it in jazz, you can see it in painting. Most of us have the potential for newness.”

Smith, who says she once “really thought about becoming a dealer”, talks about art today and her writing. She discusses the ways in which criticism and the media have changed—though her role (“I want to help people see art and have a new appreciation of what they’re seeing”) has remained essentially the same. Since she began writing in 1972, the readers have been, she says, “the engine in my work”.

“Whatever gripes you have with the art world—and we all have them—it’s the most open it’s ever been,” she says. “I can't imagine writing in any other time than this, when there's this kind of explosion.”

For this and much more, tune in today.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-roberta-smith/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

The American artist Joel Shapiro has been pioneering new forms in sculpture for more than five decades. He joins our host Charlotte Burns today to talk more about his art and his influences; his hopes and motivations; and about what, for him, defines great art. “I'm not talking magical thinking—but some level of rapture or depression or some level of emotionality that is not matter of fact, and I think that that's what artists want,” he says. “So when you see something like that, I don't think it's so explicable.”

Shapiro, whose art has been exhibited widely around the world—from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum in New York to a recent show at the Kunstmuseum Winterthur in Switzerland—discusses a range of topics, from investing his art with emotion to the importance of color. He talks about the artists who have inspired him and the works he himself has collected. Art, he says, “is a manifestation of the culture, so it's important. It shows you what's going on.”

For this, and much more, tune in today.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-joel-shapiro

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“Because Sylvio is courageous, I was able to buy more hamburgers to keep up my strength, and more paint to continue painting,” said artist Robert Ryman about collector Sylvio Perlstein, who was a patron of his at a time when few others were interested.

Born in Belgium, Perlstein grew up in Rio de Janeiro, where his family moved when fleeing the Nazis in 1939. Perlstein bought his first work of art from a florist in Brazil; over the course of the next five decades, he would add more than 1,000 works to his collection by artists including Man Ray; Duchamp; Carl Andre; Diane Arbus; Hans Bellmer; Magritte Solowitz; Donald Judd; Hannah Kirk; Max Ernst; Bruce Nauman; Edward Shea; and Andy Warhol—to name just a few.

“For me, it was not even a collection. It was things that I saw, and I liked,” Perlstein says. “To tell you the truth, I never count them. I'm not well organized.”

A selection of works from the Perlstein collection is now on show at Hauser & Wirth, New York (“A Luta Continua”, until 27 June). Reflecting on the differences between the art world then and now, Perlstein tells host Charlotte Burns: “Today, it’s not so much art anymore; it’s a real business. At that time, you could easily acquire works from the artist because it was more about friendship.”

From exchanging diamonds for art with Man Ray to hanging out with artists in New York in the 1970s at the legendary Max's Kansas City, Perlstein talks about a life in art and his tastes (“ugly can be nice, too,” he says).

“What does it mean, art? Anything. You can make art from shoes, from a nice bag, from a hat— it's also art. Everything is art,” he says. “Buy what you like.”

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-sylvio-perlstein/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

"When people ask me how to describe the work or describe myself, I always just start by saying artist," says Glenn Kaino. "Everything stems from the art practice."

The visionary American conceptual artist's work has led him to become an off-Broadway producer, a performer, a magician, a social activist and the technological innovator who helped legalize the music download platform Napster. 

A "horrible" trip to an art fair in 2008 caused Kaino to close his studio for a year, unhappy with "how much influence an overall, overriding economic system" was having on art making. He decided instead to "go hang out with a bunch of magicians and see what happens—because they know something about believing". 

Magic is "why we do what we do, as artists", says Kaino, who went on to co-produce the off-Broadway magic show "In and Of Itself"—which is smashing box office records. Both magic and art are about belief for Kaino, who says: "Belief has always been at the core of the practice; it's really belief about the power of art."

One of his long-term collaborations is with the Olympian Tommie Smith, who famously accepted the gold medal for the 200m race in 1968 with his fist held aloft, in solidarity with the fight for human rights. "We, as beneficiaries of his sacrifice, can create systems that pay homage to—and also pay—him," Kaino says. "The art I know actually has tangible change, in that it makes people think in different ways or makes people engage in different ideas."

During today’s podcast, which was recorded in Los Angeles with Matthew Thompson (vice president of AAP in Los Angeles) and our host Charlotte Burns, Kaino talks about subjects as diverse as Jurassic Park; diversity in tech; partnering with actor and activist Jesse Williams; his interest in "connecting ecosystems that don’t normally have a chance to meet"; upcoming projects—and much more. 

Tune in today.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-glenn-kaino/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Huge sums of money—more than $2.6bn—have been spent on Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art over the past two weeks in New York. On today’s podcast, Nicholas Maclean (of London and New York dealership Eykyn Maclean) and Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP), discuss with our host Charlotte Burns (editor of In Other Words), what happened: what the surprises were; what trends we can detect; and what's going to happen next. 

Here are some choice soundbites:

"It is a sign that the market is starved for broadening what it sees as valuable. This is a big triumph; this is a turning point in perception” — Allan Schwartzman 

"I honestly thought that this could be the death knell for the Impressionist market. And then we saw it: that change between 2005 and 2008 was extraordinary” — Nicholas Maclean

"This question of identities seems to me to be a very American one. I think Americans, and perhaps the American market, are more open to approaching their own identities” — Charlotte Burns

"True collectors who will just look across the board and look at artists that tell the whole story are becoming rarer” — Nicholas Maclean

For this and more, tune in today.

Transcript link:

http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-auction-analysis/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“There’s no goal to being an artist—you keep doing it and then, in theory, one dies,” says Carroll Dunham, who Allan Schwartzman describes as one of the greatest painters of the past 40 years.

Art is a “kind of lustful driving forwards” for Dunham, who has moved from abstraction to figuration over the course of his varied career. Works from his “Wrestlers” series are currently on show at Gladstone Gallery in New York (until 16 June). “I wanted to try to find a male equivalent to the women that I had been drawing and painting, which I had thought of as being rather primeval in some way,” Dunham says. “They are naked white guys beating the crap out of each other. I’m not claiming any special relevance or meaning for these things. They just allow me to keep making paintings.”

Dunham talks to Schwartzman and host Charlotte Burns about how his life and work—and the broader art community—have changed since moving from the bustle of New York, where he spent his early career, to the solitude of rural Connecticut.

Known for his incisive writing about other artists’ work, Dunham discusses how this exercise has helped his practice. The essays included in the recently published Into Words: The Selected Writings of Carroll Dunham (2017) represented "a diagram of my issues with myself and things I was grappling with in my own work”, he says.

For this, and much more, tune in today. 

Transcript link:

http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-carroll-dunham/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

One of the most talked about exhibitions this year, “Outliers and American Vanguard Art”, closes next week at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (13 May), after which it will travel to the High Museum in Atlanta and then to LACMA. 

Our guest today is Lynne Cooke, the senior curator of special projects at the NGA who spent five years researching the exhibition. Talking to our host Charlotte Burns, Cooke says much of the art on show was made by people on the peripheries, often in marginalized positions because of their gender, race, class or age. “A great deal was made by African-American artists. Their work is simply not entered into the circuits and orbits of the contemporary art world for lack of opportunity, for lack of education, for lack of money. As I said: class, race.” 

The exhibition comprises around 270 works by more than 80 artists and focuses on periods of social, political, economic and cultural upheaval in the United States, during which times the boundaries between the avant-garde and the outliers—self-taught, marginalized, Outsider artists—became more porous. 

One of the most thoughtful curators working today, Cooke talks to us about her experience preparing the show, which “called into question a whole set of ideas about creativity and the basis on which innovation and originality and exploration take place”.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-lynne-cooke/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

This week we bring you a special episode from Hong Kong, where we staged our first ever live In Other Words event on 29 March, a panel discussion on "The Future of The Museum”. Our guests included Michael Govan, director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Doryun Chong, deputy director and chief curator, M+ in Hong Kong; and Allan Schwartzman. The panel was introduced by Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby’s Asia and moderated by Charlotte Burns. 

Joining us remotely was Budi Tek, the founder of the Yuz Museum and Foundation, Shanghai, who broke the news of an unprecedented collaboration between Yuz and LACMA. This opened a discussion about the increasing willingness of museum directors and private patrons to collaborate and share. Our panelists also spoke about where innovation is taking place geographically; about cultural norms and how they manifest differently region to region; and about new technologies, such as augmented reality, and how they might impact museums and exhibition making. These are, of course, just a few of the topics covered. Tune in for the rest. 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-the-future-of-the-museum-2/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Almost two million people so far have visited the blockbuster exhibition “David Bowie Is”, on show now at the Brooklyn Museum (until 15 July).

The exhibition was masterminded by Geoffrey Marsh, the director of London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) theater and performing arts department. He has organized several other major “immersive” exhibitions, harnessing state-of-the-art audio and visuals to tell narratives in new ways, such as “You Say You Want A Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970” (2016-17) and “Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains” (2017).

He joins our host Charlotte Burns in London to talk about combing through Bowie’s collection to tell the story of how this music legend evolved.

Marsh also talks about how new technologies—specifically augmented reality—are about to change the ways in which exhibitions are curated and experienced, as well as the role of the museum itself.

He also discusses his dream exhibition: “a show so powerful that probably 10% of people would walk out because they hated it. For the other 90%, it would have had a very profound effect. I know it’s possible,” Marsh says. Pointing out that most people can remember seeing their first dinosaur skeleton in museums, he believes there is “something hardwired into us about profound visual experiences which, in a weird way, I think we may have lost in museums and galleries.” That sense of curiosity and wonder is something Marsh is working to bring back as we enter what he calls a “golden age of museums being able to engage with completely new publics in different ways”.

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

The gallerists Daniella Luxembourg and Amalia Dayan specialize in cutting-edge Contemporary art and overlooked 20th-century art. They have in common with AAP co-founder Allan Schwartzman a passion for postwar Italian art and, during this podcast, the trio discuss the market for art from this period.

They also discuss this current moment as one of real transition in the broader market, during which time tastes and demand are shifting. During the conversation, moderated by host Charlotte Burns, Luxembourg & Dayan speak about the difference between their London and New York businesses (Europe sells and America buys) and what impact Brexit might have. They talk about ugliness and struggle in art; the fall of Empires; their own personal obsessions—art and food. 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-daniella-luxembourg-amalia-dayan/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Jerry Saltz, perhaps the most well-known art writer working today, has been the senior art critic of New York magazine since 2006. During this interview with our host Charlotte Burns, which was recorded in the downtown offices of New York magazine, Saltz talks about a range of topics: from how he approaches viewing and reviewing art, to what he calls the “ass-holeness” of his social media persona. 

Before becoming a critic, Saltz was an artist and a long-distance truck driver, and he discusses the benefits of being a late-bloomer. He defines what great art means to him and describes a recent exhibition of work by an artist who could be the “strongest to emerge this century in America." We are, he says, “living in a crisis and it’s time to look at the art of the present. I want to see what artists say now.”

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-jerry-saltz/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

From fetching beer for Joseph Beuys to the implications of Brexit and new borders, the Austrian art dealer Thaddaeus Ropac talks frankly about a range of topics in a conversation with our host Charlotte Burns, including the dangers of becoming too corporate; plans for his own collection; and his expectations for the art market in 2018. 

Recorded in London, where Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac recently opened a fifth space (there are four others across Salzburg and Paris), Ropac shares his views on topics including the emerging art centres in the Middle East and China; the vibrancy of the Paris art scene; the pervasiveness of art fairs; and the importance of maintaining the trust of his artists. 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-thaddaeus-ropac/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

During his 31 years as the exhibitions secretary at London’s Royal Academy, Sir Norman Rosenthal staged groundbreaking exhibitions of art including the legendary show, “A New Spirit in Painting” (1981), which brought artists such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz to broader recognition.

"Art is entertainment, but entertainment in the best sense of the word," he says in our latest podcast, speaking to host Charlotte Burns. “Museums, in the end, are like cupboards. And with the contents of the cupboards you have to try and make beautiful things—exhibitions that can tell with genuine artifacts aspects of the great story of art and human civilization.”

Since leaving the RA in 2008, Rosenthal has organized exhibitions and written essays for a number of organizations such as Gagosian, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (“If you're freelance, you are a kind of whore—but you can choose your clients," he says).

No stranger to controversy, Rosenthal talks us through his views on restitution and commerce ("the best dealers are nearly always ahead of the best curator. You name a curator who's really made a really serious decision about "the future”, he says) and tells us where he finds great art today.

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-norman-rosenthal/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Whether hauling ice from the Arctic, partnering with SpaceX or training as a deep-sea diver, the artist Tavares Strachan works on an ambitious scale—often at the cutting edge of technology. He largely operates beyond the gallery model, instead relying on patrons, partnerships and collaborations to create innovative works of art. 

The Bahamian-born artist, who was recently appointed to the MIT and RISD boards, is interested in overlooked or forgotten histories and “operating in a state of play”. His work ranges from multimedia installations to large-scale earthworks and is often an exercise in creative problem solving. Speaking to our host Charlotte Burns, he says: “If there's a way that art can actually affect the way we think about the world, it is forcing us to think about the gray, about where we overlap and how we're actually the same. If we spend more time focusing on that as an exercise, we may be able to move some immovable ideas.” 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-tavares-strachan/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

”In the particular political moment in which we live, the question of authority and voice has become increasingly important,” says Glenn Lowry, director of MoMA. ”Who has the right to speak for whom? How do we imagine someone else's voice?”

In this wide-ranging conversation, Lowry describes the museum as a crucible during a ”very flammable moment” and talks about the role of culture today. He discusses technology at the museum and the value of thinking slowly. Talking with host Charlotte Burns, Lowry covers various topics including MoMA’s expansion, the possibilities of closer institutional collaboration, the importance of anxiety—and lots more besides. 

Transcript: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-22-transcript-glenn-lowry/

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

“We're in a moment where we are all paying attention to what's going on in the headlines. Many artists are thinking about what kind of world their work is entering into, and how to respond to or deal with the times we live in,” says Christopher Y. Lew, co-curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial, who talks about his travels across America researching emerging art for the biennial.

For a transcript of the show, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-21-transcript-christopher-y-lew-talks-emerging-art/

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

Artist Walter Robinson immortalizes appetites and desires in his work, painting beer, blue jeans and burgers, magazine models and pulpy paperback romances. Known as the founding editor of Artnet magazine, where he worked from 1996 until 2012, Robinson has been a habitual chronicler of the New York art world. He first flirted with success as an artist in the 1980s, making nurse paintings before Richard Prince and spin paintings before Damien Hirst. But, then, he stopped making art. Over the past few years he has returned to painting and, today, we talk to him about his many lives.

For a transcript of the show, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-20-transcript-walter-robinson/

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

From "Poor Art" to politics in art, in this wide-ranging conversation between curator and art historian Germano Celant and Allan Schwartzman address topics including the ways in which the American art market has defined art history; how they work with artists to realize wildly ambitious projects; the difficulties in determining whether works are authentic; corruption in art; and rewriting the history of art. For this, and much more, tune in today.

For a transcript, click here: bit.ly/IOWEp19

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

The art industry is changing rapidly and, in this episode, Tad Smith (president and CEO of Sotheby's) and Allan Schwartzman discuss how they respond to the challenges and opportunities that this presents. Bringing different perspectives to the conversation, they discuss how to create change and foster innovation.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-18-transcript-tad-smith-allan-schwartzman/

“The strength of two people together is enormous. That's why, all over the world, people and creatures are divided into two.” Artists Gilbert & George have been creating "Art for All" since they met as students in the 1960s. “In the old days, when we were socially involved with artists, they always would tell you they're always nervous of what to do next. We never had that problem. We were always really ready for whatever,” say the inimitable duo during this lively discussion about their work, their habits and their artistic philosophies.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-17-transcript-gilbert-george/

“Romare Bearden was asked in a 1972 interview with Camille Billops how he would define black art, and he said that black art is the art that black artists do,” says Tate's Zoe Whitley. "If someone were to say: 'What is white art?' you might say the Italian Renaissance, but you could equally say the German Renaissance, Rembrandt or English painting. Black art is as varied as that.”

Joining us in London to discuss contemporary African art are Zoe Whitley, the curator and writer Osei Bonsu, and Sotheby's Hannah O’Leary. In a broad-ranging conversation, we cover the challenges of bringing more recognition to artists who have lived or worked on the Continent or been part of its diaspora.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-16-transcript-contemporary-african-art/

A literature professor and Fulbright scholar turned investment banker, 90-year old Herbert Lust has one of the leading collections of works by artists including Alberto Giacometti, Robert Indiana and Hans Bellmer, among others. 

Lust, who in 1969 wrote one of the first books about art collecting as an investment, talks to our host Charlotte Burns about his extraordinary life, discussing his friendships with artists and passing along some advice for collectors.

“Robert Indiana: Works from the Collection of Herbert Lust” is on show at S|2 Gallery from 8 September until 6 October 

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

"People really want to deal with the present, but it's just extremely difficult to get a grasp of where we are now," says Gregor Muir, Tate's Director of Collection, International Art.

Grappling with issues of how to think internationally during a period of increasing nationalism, Muir talks about how (and where) he is looking to discover great art. This broad-ranging conversation covers topics ranging from the technological revolution to Muir's own experiences moving between commercial galleries and museums; from changes in film and video art practice to the shifting dynamic between private and public art worlds.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-14-transcript-gregor-muir/

For the first of three special feature episodes from London, we are joined by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries. The endlessly energetic Obrist—who has himself interviewed more than 300 people throughout his career, from artists and architects to scientists and philosophers—talks to our host Charlotte Burns about how art can change the world and shape new realities. 

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-13-how-art-can-change-the-world/

Michael Govan, the director and CEO of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, joins us for a special feature podcast from California. We talk about the future for Lacma—from the transformation of the campus to the possibilities of sharing the collection and opening branches elsewhere. We discuss subjects from fundraising and philanthropy in LA, the role of museums in brokering cultural identities and the importance of "embracing the power of difference" to VR technology in art.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-12-michael-govan/

Which is easier to navigate: the market or museums? Joining us to discuss this—and much more—are Jeffrey Deitch and Lisa Dennison. Jeffrey has worn many hats in the art world—gallerist, advisor, collector, director of LA MoCA and even artist—and will be opening a new gallery in Los Angeles this autumn. Lisa is the former director of the Guggenheim Museum who joined Sotheby’s in 2007, focusing on international business development.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-11/

Joining our host Charlotte Burns for a discussion on the state of the art media are Jori Finkel, a regular contributor to the New York Times and the West Coast correspondent for The Art Newspaper; Judd Tully, the award-winning journalist who is the Editor-At-Large at Blouin Art + Auction magazine; and Amy Cappellazzo, co-founder of Art Agency, Partners and Chairman at Sotheby's Global Fine Arts division. 

From changing business models to the impact of the internet, they touch on challenges in the media as well as reasons to be cheerful. 

This is a topic we may come back to at a later date, with different perspectives on the same, changing, subject. 

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: 

http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-10-the-art-media/

We're introducing a new feature for the ninth episode of "In Other Words", a one-on-one interview with a person who has taken an unusual approach to making their way in the art world— someone who has taken the road less travelled.

Joining us this week, Joel Mesler tells us why he recently left Manhattan's Lower East Side to open an art gallery in East Hampton, Rental Gallery. Joel, who is an artist as well as a dealer, talks to us about what it takes to survive in the industry.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-9-the-road-less-travelled-with-joel-mesler/

The artist, critic, curator and former Dean of the Yale School of Art Robert Storr joins Amy Cappellazzo, AAP co-founder and Sotheby's Chairman of Global Fine Arts, and Charlotte Burns, senior editor of In Other Words, for our eighth episode. Together, they discuss what it means to be radical in today's art world, weighing the critical and commercial distinctions between globalism, internationalism and cosmopolitanism.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, click here: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-8-being-radical-with-robert-storr/

For the seventh episode of "In Other Words", we welcome a lion of the artist–endowed foundation world—Charles C. Bergman, the chairman and CEO of the Pollock–Krasner Foundation. In conversation with Christy MacLear, the former director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and now vice chairman of AAP, together with our host Charlotte Burns, senior editor at AAP, they discuss the nature of philanthropy and how the artist–endowed foundation industry has changed. "In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For the sixth episode of "In Other Words", we welcome Gavin Brown, who founded his eponymous gallery Gavin Brown's enterprise in 1994. Together with Allan Schwartzman, the co-founder of AAP and chairman of Sotheby’s Fine Arts Division, and our host Charlotte Burns, senior editor at AAP, their wide-ranging discussion covers how we define value in art, the effect of the market on traditional gallery models, and the importance of art in turbulent times.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For a full transcript, visit: http://www.artagencypartners.com/episode-6/

For the fifth episode of "In Other Words", we welcome Ian Alteveer, an associate curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Allan Schwartzman, the co-founder of AAP and chairman, Sotheby’s Fine Arts Division; and Naima Keith, the deputy director of exhibits and programs at the California African American Museum, who joins us on the phone from Los Angeles.

Together with host Charlotte Burns, senior editor at AAP, they will be discussing inequalities in the art world.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

For the fourth episode of “In Other Words”, we welcome Thomas Krens, the former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and Eric Shiner, senior vice president of Contemporary art at Sotheby’s and former director of The Andy Warhol Museum.

Together with host Charlotte Burns, senior editor at AAP, they will be discussing globalization and its discontents. The conversation covers the politics of culture in the Middle East, the internationalization of museums, Krens’ latest project and much more. 

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

In this third episode of "In Other Words," host Charlotte Burns, senior editor at AAP, welcomes artist David Salle, curator Alison Gingeras and Allan Schwartzman, co-founder of AAP and chairman of the Fine Arts Division at Sotheby's, as they discuss why it's so difficult to pinpoint the great artists of the 2000s. The final episode of a two-part discussion. "In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.

In this debut episode of "In Other Words," host Charlotte Burns (senior editor, Art Agency, Partners) welcomes Tom Sachs (artist) and Amy Cappellazzo (Co-Founder, Art Agency, Partners; Chair, Sotheby's) as they examine the relationship between art and brands, both in Tom's work and in culture at large. The frank and far-reaching conversation touches on everything from which brands Tom has used in his work, the importance of humiliation and the best art they've seen lately.

"In Other Words" is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby's, produced by Audiation.fm.