Hyperallergic
Hyperallergic is a podcast covering news, developments, and current conversations in the art world. It is hosted by Hrag Vartanian, cofounder and editor-in-chief of the art publication Hyperallergic. Episodes feature interviews and commentary on artists, exhibitions, institutions, and cultural debates. The show serves as an audio extension of the Hyperallergic publication.
Episodes
Alan Michelson Talks Dinosaurs, Murderous US Presidents, and Platinum-Gilded Native “Knowledge Keepers”
As a child, Alan Michelson often rode the T past sculptor Cyrus Edward Dallin’s “Appeal to the Great Spirit” (1908) outside the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). He was riveted by the statue’s grand horse and the powerful yet melancholy figure wearing a striking Plains Indian war bonnet. It was only in his 20s that the artist learned that he had been separated through adoption from his o
The French Lesbian Curator & Spy Who Saved Art from the Nazis
When World War II broke out, museums across France took their most precious artworks off the walls and hid them away for safekeeping from bombing. But no one suspected the greatest threat to these treasures: the Nazis’ massive art looting scheme, wherein they sought to plunder museums to bolster the image of their own galleries, take modernist (or, in their words, “degenerate”) art down f
Ancient Art, Wages, and Strikes: A 3000-Year-Old History of Labor
At Hyperallergic, we take pride in covering protesting museum workers who take to the streets. But few realize that these workers are taking part in a practice that’s as old as some of the ancient artifacts in their institutions. In this episode of the Hyperallergic Podcast, we’re joined by professor, public historian, and Hyperallergic contributor Sarah E. Bond, who shares her knowledge
Lady Pink, the Queen of New York City Graffiti
In 1971, a seven-year-old Sandra Fabara moved with her family from a city nestled in an Ecuadorian rainforest to the dense brick landscape of Brooklyn. By the time she was a teenager, she had gone from climbing trees to hopping the fences of the MTA train yards. Soon, she was known as the queen of New York City graffiti: the one and only Lady Pink. If you’re as mesmerized by the 1970s and
Street Stories: Graffiti and the Legacy of Martin Wong
The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) holds what is arguably the most important collection of early graffiti art and ephemera, amassed by Martin Wong, a queer Chinese-American self-taught painter who wore cowboy hats and, for a time, paid for his lodging in a dingy Lower East Side hotel room by working as a night porter. Drawn to the bustling art scene of late 1970s New York, Wong dev
Talking a Big Game: The Art of Sports and the Sport of Art
We’ve been taught by high school movies and pop culture at large that art and sports are diametrical opposites. You know the trope: The sporty jocks and the nerdy theater kids are all relegated to separate lunch tables, and never the twain shall meet, save the occasional High School Musical. But a recent exhibition, Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, takes this stereotype to the mat.
Nick Cave Is Serving You Everything
One of seven brothers, Nick Cave grew up watching his family create magic out of scraps. His aunts would cut paper bags into patterns, and in just one day, make an entire new outfit to wear that night. Since then, the artist has been dedicated to studying how to lay ornamental patterns on the body. Leading the way for a current groundswell of adornment in art, Cave is known for highly dec
The Boys in the (Klan) Hood: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston’s Legacy
Philip Guston, an Ashkenazi Jew, and Trenton Doyle Hancock, a Black artist with a strict Southern Christian upbringing, came from vastly different backgrounds. But a current show at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan reveals that their perspectives and sensibilities blend seamlessly. Both were maligned for their figurative, comic book-influenced styles: Guston by the elite art world that was
Joyce Kozloff’s Patterns of Protest
In 1973, gallerist Tibor de Nagy gave Joyce Kozloff a call. His voice quivered as he told her that Clement Greenberg had just left the back room after giving a searing review of her latest work. Greenberg had scoffed at the artist’s “Three Facades” (1973), a painting based on the rich tapestry of interlocking bricks and tiles on Churrigueresque church facades in Mexico, and said that it “
Karen Wilkin: Critiquing the New Masters
In the late 1950s, a Manhattan-born college student was running from an art history course at Barnard to a George Balanchine ballet practice at the storied School of American Ballet on 82nd Street and Broadway. Soon, she began to make connections between the old-school Russian ballet instructors who taught her “ferocious point class” and were constantly “aspiring to an abstract ideal,” if
Guantánamo Bay and the Art of Resistance
This August, journalist Moustafa Bayoumi broke the story that the first photo of a detainee in a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) black site had been declassified. It shows an emaciated Ammar al-Baluchi, standing shackled and naked in a starkly white room. Subjected to years of torture, according to CIA protocol, the photo of the Pakistani detainee was meant “to document his physical con
Lucy Lippard’s Life on the Frontlines of Art
When Lucy Lippard left New York City for the tiny village of Galisteo, New Mexico, some were shocked: How could this giant of 20th-century art criticism, this leader in the fight for feminism and equitable representation in museums, leave the so-called “center of the art world” for such a rural area? Lippard is renowned not only for her strident activism but also for changing the game of
Robber Barons, Marcel Duchamp, and Big Museums’ Dirty Little Secrets
In 1915, Marcel Duchamp bought a snow shovel at a hardware store in New York City. He inscribed his signature and the date on its wooden handle. On the evening this episode is released, the fourth version of this classic “ready-made,” which he titled “In Advance of the Broken Arm,” will be auctioned off at Christie’s during their 20th Century Evening Sale. It’s estimated to sell for $2 mi
Silver Skeleton Deities and Political Mind Games: What’s Happening at the Venice Biennale?
The sports world may be on the edge of their seats as we draw close to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. But the “Olympics of the art world” is already well underway in Italy: Hundreds of thousands of art lovers are flocking to the Venice Biennale, which runs through November 24. This massive exhibition has been held every two years with very few exceptions since 1895, when it was inaugurated a
Shelley Niro's 500 Year Itch
Shelley Niro (Kanien’kehaka) grew up watching her father craft faux tomahawks to sell to tourists who flocked to her birthplace, Niagara Falls. In this episode of the Hyperallergic podcast, she reflects on how witnessing him create these objects planted the seeds for her brilliant multidisciplinary art practice spanning film, sculpture, beading, and photography. She joined us in our Brook
Lee Quiñones: Graffiti and the Gallery
Anyone who remembers New York City’s “golden age” of graffiti in the late ’70s and early ’80s knows about the lion spray-painted on the handball court at Corlears Junior High School, roaring next to metallic blue letters spelling the word “Lee.” In this episode of the Hyperallergic podcast, we speak with its creator, Lee Quiñones, whose paintings of dragons, lions, and Howard the Duck on
From Blog to Book
Since 2009, Hyperallergic has published tens of thousands of articles about art. But who are the writers behind these posts? And what drives them to write about art of all things?Many of the authors who have passed through our virtual hallways have gone on to do incredible things, including publishing books on topics that they first wrote about or more fully developed through articles in
Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt: The Story of One of the Few Artists at the Stonewall Uprising
We are thrilled to be back with a new episode of the Hyperallergic podcast. For our one hundredth episode, we spoke with legendary collage and mixed media artist Tommy Lannigan-Schmidt. His works, made from crinkly saran wrap and tin foil, emulate the gleam of precious metals and jewels in Catholic iconography. They reference his upbringing as a working class kid and altar boy in a Cathol
The Cartoonist the US Right-Wing Political Establishment Loves to Hate
If you’ve been online, and especially on Twitter, then you probably know the name Eli Valley and his brushy drawings that use the grotesque and absurd to make larger points about life, culture, and politics. But it wasn’t until the Trump administration that the New York City-based cartoonist was propelled into the public spotlight. Valley was attacked by a wide range of politicians, parti
Artists Tali Hinkis and Daniel Temkin Discuss Digital Combines
Artists Tali Hinkis and Daniel Temkin have been at the leading edge of digitally informed contemporary art that explores the boundaries of programming, digital aesthetics, and the handmade. Their work is certainly unique, but they also share some commonalities around media-based art, glitch, and how their work in the gallery and online is circulated and experienced. I invited them to join
Tamara Lanier's Fight for the Photographs of Her Enslaved Ancestors at Harvard
Last year, we published a dossier of statements by leading scholars supporting the fight of Tamara Lanier to reclaim the daguerreotypes of her ancestors from the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Lanier, who lives in Norwich, Connecticut, had long heard stories through her family about an ancestor named Papa Renty, a learned man from Africa who was enslaved and brought to the United S
Understanding Why a Harvard Museum Will Return Standing Bear’s Tomahawk
Something incredible happened a few months ago. After Oklahoma lawyer Brett Chapman (Pawnee) started tweeting about the tomahawk of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, which is currently in Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the revered object may actually be going home.His short messages asked why the tomahawk was in the care of that inst
Audrey Flack and the Last of the New York School
A painter who may be best known for her contribution to the Photorealism movement, Audrey Flack has been a working artist for roughly 70 years. Now at age 90, Flack reflects on the art world, from her days as part of the New York School of artists in the 1950s and 60s; her rise to fame as the only prominent female Photorealist; her embrace of sculpture and public art in the 1980s and 90s;
Collector Tim Kang Talks About His Love of NFTs
Tim Kang started his career as a software engineer for Deutsche Bank and invested a year of savings in Ethereum in early 2016, and let’s just say it’s paying off. The North Carolina native, who is known online as “illestrater,” is now a digital art collector and purchased works by Murat Pak and Beeple before all the recent auction sales and press coverage propelled them into the spotlight
Creative Time’s Diya Vij Helps Launch an Art World Think Tank
Diya Vij started her new job as Associate Curator of Creative Time just last fall, in the midst of the pandemic. She has since announced the first Creative Time Think Tank cohort, which includes La Tanya S. Autry, Caitlin Cherry, Sonia Guiñansaca, Namita Gupta Wiggers, and a number of other engaged voices of the art community. This new initiative invited people to submit proposals for an
After Decades of Selling New Media Art, Gallerist Steven Sacks Offers His Take on NFTs
Since 2001, Bitforms gallerist Steven Sacks has been exhibiting and selling digital art (though he hates that term) and building an audience and support network for artists working with new media.After Sara Ludy, one of the artists Bitforms regularly exhibits, told Hyperallergic about her plans to negotiate new more equitable contracts for any NFT she sells, I decided to speak to Sacks to
Lindsay Howard Talks About the Burgeoning Market for NFTs
Lindsay Howard is the head of community at the Foundation, one of the new platforms that have been part of the current wave of NFT art. She joined me in our Brooklyn studio to discuss the audience for crypto art and the collectors eager to fork over money for it. We also delve into what it could mean for an art scene facing the fact that the post-pandemic world may be very different for c
The World of NFTs, Explained by Digital Artist Addie Wagenknecht
Contemporary artist Addie Wagenknecht is a veteran of the blockchain space — as much of a seasoned pro as one can be in a field that’s only a decade old. She’s been observing the gold rush over NFTs in the last few weeks and agreed to join me on this episode to educate newbies about blockchains, NFTs, and all the issues they bring up. Are NFTs good for artists and the art community? The s
A Photographer Documents Post-war Artsakh
Photographer Scout Tufankjian was glued to her screens like Armenians around the world following news of developments in Artsakh. After the ceasefire was announced, she decided to rush to the region, which she's visited numerous times before, to document the handover of territories to Azerbaijani forces. It was an emotional trip but one she knew she wanted to make.Best known for her photo
MoMA’s Leon Black Problem and Cuban Artists Under Siege
This week’s headlines were dominated by news that the Museum of Modern Art will not remove billionaire Leon Black from their board. Hyperallergic’s Jasmine Weber and Valentina Di Liscia join me to talk about it along with PEN America’s new handbook for persecuted artists, Mexico’s request that Christie’s auction house halt its sale of pre-Hispanic objects, the return of looted artifacts b
The Biggest Art Stories of the Month, From Bernie Memes to the Vessel Shutdown
It’s been a non-stop news cycle since last November’s election, and Hyperallergic’s news team has been on it. Join us and listen to the team’s thoughts on the stories we've been reporting on.For this episode, we gather to discuss the stories that we covered this week, including the Bernie memes; the Capitol insurrection; the charred Melania Trump sculpture in Slovenia; the rumors that Tru
From Graffiti to the Gallery, Futura Talks About Art
Born Leonard McGure, Futura made his reputation spray painting subway trains in New York City in the 1970s as “Futura 2000” — the number was dropped in 1999. He would go on to be part of the booming graffiti and street art movement in the 1980s, but was forced to depend on European venues and collectors after attention in the United States quickly dried up in the late 1980s, though he did
Artist Shahzia Sikander Is Ready for a New Post-Pandemic Reality
Since she first emerged into the spotlight in the 1990s, artist Shahzia Sikander has forged her own path with artworks that meld traditional manuscript illumination and calligraphy techniques with visual innovations that seem to transform into an alchemical universe of awe, wonder, and intimacy. Her current exhibition at Sean Kelly gallery, her first in a decade, includes three animation
John Yau, Jillian Steinhauer, and Others at Hyperallergic's First-ever Public Reading
On Tuesday, June 23, 2015, Hyperallergic hosted our first-ever live reading event, which took place at Housing Works Bookstore and Cafe in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Hyperallergic Weekend Editors John Yau and Albert Mobilio read their poetry, writers Marisa Crawford (“Crying for Ana Mendieta at the Carl Andre Retrospective”) and Ryan Wong (“I Am Joe Scanlan”) read pieces that were amo
On Election Day, Reflecting on Months of Political Arts Reporting
We can’t believe it’s been four years since the 2016 US Election, and here we are again. I’m joined this episode by the Hyperallergic news team — news editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Valentina Di Liscia and Hakim Bishara — to discuss the stories we reported on over the last six months. These include a look at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s records on the arts; various mural and poster
Where Did the Deepfakes Go?
For months, media specialists, pundits, and analysts were warning us to brace for an onslaught of memes and other forms of propaganda that would flood our feeds this US election season. While there certainly have been a comparable amount of memes and videos as in 2016, the use of deepfakes — a form of artificial intelligence to make images of fake events — never quite materialized. Why?In
Sam Durant Revisits the “Scaffold” Controversy Three Years Later
A few weeks ago, artist Sam Durant released a long essay about his work, "Scaffold," which reflects on the project that dominated art world headlines. Originally commissioned for documenta (13) — the influential quinquennial exhibition in Kassel, Germany — in 2012, it wasn't until "Scaffold" was installed in the Walker Art Center's sculpture park in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, that i
National Gallery of Art Director Discusses the Decision to Delay the Philip Guston Exhibition
Last week, the New York Times reported that the National Gallery of Art's Philip Guston retrospective, expected to travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Tate Modern in London, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, would be delayed by four years. The reasons are many, including the limited demographics of those who worked on an exhibition that is very much about race, as well as the curre
Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon on Working to Decolonize the Art World (Part 2)
I’ve been wanting to do a major interview with Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon for years. As the duo behind MTL+ Collective and organizers with Decolonize This Place, FTP, Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (GULF), and other groups through the years, they’ve played an active role in pressuring New York’s art community and institutions to deal with the issues that have long been overlooked. Though
Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon on Working to Decolonize the Art World (Part 1)
I’ve been wanting to do a major interview with Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon for years. As the duo behind MTL+ Collective and organizers with Decolonize This Place, FTP, Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (GULF), and other groups through the years, they’ve played an active role in pressuring New York’s art community and institutions to deal with the issues that have long been overlooked. Though
The Artistic World of the Taíno People
The Taino civilization was decimated by Christopher Columbus and other European explorers during first contact, but the legacy of these people, who inhabited what is today called the Caribbean, continues to this day.In a small exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, titled Arte del mar: Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean, Assistant Curator James Doyle showcases some of the rare wood
Why Did the Whitney Museum Cancel a Political Art Exhibition?
Reporters Valentina Di Liscia and Hakim Bishara join me to discuss the Whitney Museum’s decision to cancel the exhibition Collective Actions: Artist Interventions In a Time of Change, which was scheduled to open on September 17. They both reported on the story this Tuesday, and now offer their own insights into the larger questions raised by this controversy, including how museums should
Why Does TikTok Bother the Powerful So Much?
The recent news that the White House may ban the social media platform TikTok has people wondering, why? While Silicon Valley social giants, like Twitter and Facebook, have avoided similar threats, the question remains why TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company but has headquarters in the UK and the US, is causing so much condemnation.I invite author, artist, and technologist An Xiao
Why Would a Museum Display Skulls of Enslaved People in the First Place?
Recently, Hyperallergic reported that the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania will be removing a cranial collection from display in a basement classroom. The group of crania, which was donated by a 19th-century Philadelphia-born and UPenn-educated physician named Samuel George Morton, includes many skulls of enslaved Black people. The collection is a product of racist, pseudosci
Should Blue Chip Art Galleries Have Received Millions of Dollars of PPP Loans?
Hyperallergic news editor Jasmine Weber and reporter Valentina Di Liscia joined me to parse the latest PPP loan news and discuss the list of beneficiaries.Previously, we reported on galleries, museums, and nonprofits in New York and Los Angeles that received loans, and noted that the world’s most exclusive art galleries received millions of dollars of taxpayer money. In this conversation
Christopher Knight: The Critic Whose Love for LA Uplifted Its Arts Community
In his current position as art critic at the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight has been speaking truth to power for almost four decades. He charted the contemporary art waters in a city that has since become one of the world’s art hubs before most people ever noticed. He doesn’t shy away from controversy, as his recent columns about the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s renovations s
The Monumental Impact of Black Lives Matter Protests
This week, I talk to Hyperallergic news editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Hakim Bishara and Valentina di Liscia, to discuss some of the major stories they’ve been reporting on. Art’s role in upholding the status quo has been long diminished, but we’ve seen major developments to challenge this, including the removal of Confederate statues across the United States; the toppling of a Colum
Our Obsession With Less and Its Co-option by Silicon Valley
In this episode for Sunday Edition, we welcome Kyle Chayka to examine Silicon Valley’s taste for minimalist design. Is this just the latest development for a style that has a long history but only emerged into pop culture during the 1960s and ‘70s when a contemporary art movement emerged to propel the taste for less into a global phenomenon?Chayka's book, The Longing for Less: Living with
How the US Is Treating the Arts During the Pandemic, the #CancelRent Movement
The best news team in art gathers for another conversation about the biggest stories facing the arts community. News editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Hakim Bishara and Valentina di Liscia, join me to reflect on acts of solidarity across the art world, the growing #CancelRent movement, the bizarre IRS complaint filed by an attorney against the Whitney Museum, museum layoffs, a coalition
Art Critic John Yau Talks About Four Decades of Writing in New York
Few critics are like John Yau, who, for decades, has continued to engage with contemporary art with a voracious appetite, often focusing on figures ignored by the art market and mainstream institutions that chase after the next shiny thing. He has been part of the Hyperallergic Weekend editorial collective since it debuted in 2012.John's writing about contemporary art cuts through hierarc
How Are the Arts in LA, the US Southwest, and Beyond Weathering the Pandemic?
News about new museum layoffs and other problems, art galleries closures, and the cancellation of the Indian Market in Santa Fe are all part of this week's episode with Hyperallergic’s news editor Jasmine Weber, LA Editor Elisa Wouk Almino, and Ellie Duke, our Southwest editor based in Santa Fe, NM.We discuss the Museum of Contemporary Art's decision to furlough most of its staff and then
What's Up With Museum Layoffs, Union Problems, and Untouchable Endowments?
This episode, in our ongoing series tracking the impact of COVID-19 on the art community, I talk to the Hyperallergic news team (Jasmine Weber, Valentina Di Liscia, and Hakim Bishara) about the latest Pandemic-related news, including why museums can't dip into their endowments as easily as we might like, the Guggenheim's decision to furlough 92 employees, why some union supporters are cry
The Boom in Online Exhibitions During the Pandemic
This week, we give you a two-part conversation about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the arts community. First, we start with our news team, editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Valentina Di Liscia and Hakim Bishara, to get updates on the flurry of news this week. Then we talk to editors Seph Rodney, Jasmine Weber, and Dessane Lopez Cassell about the new boom in online offerings
The Pandemic’s Effects on Museums and Art Schools
Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise across the US and much of the world, so Hyperallergic's news team gathered together for week 3 of our special podcast series to discuss what's happening at art museums, art schools, and other hubs of the art community during the coronavirus pandemic.I'm joined by Hyperallergic's news editor Jasmine Weber in Los Angeles, and reporters Valentina di Liscia
From Rome to NYC, Audio Dispatches on COVID-19 and the Arts
Another week of unprecedented COVID-19 news dominates the headlines as the United States, and New York specifically, has slowly become one of the epicenters of a global pandemic.The Hyperallergic news team, including news editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Valentina di Liscia and Hakim Bishara, join me for our first-ever remote podcast to discuss a wide range of topics including how muse
What’s the Impact of COVID-19 on the Art Community?
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life all around the world, whether it is in San Francisco, where inhabitants are forced to stay indoors by a shelter in place order, or the whole country of Canada, which has just closed its border to the US and will not allow non-essential visitors into the country. Here in New York, Hyperallergic reporters have been talking to those impacted by the viru
Connecting Modern Art Museums, Colonialism, and Violence
Ariella Azoulay's new book Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism (Verso, 2019) is an important read on the topic of museums, colonialism, and their clear relationship. In this conversation, Azoulay, who is Professor of Modern Culture & Media and Comparative Literature at Brown University, joins us at Hyperallergic HQ to explain what we need to unlearn, and how artists, collectors,
What Artists Need to Know About Taxes
Taxes may be one of the most unpopular topics in art circles, but we all have to deal with them. So in this episode I speak to Hannah Cole from Sunlight Tax, who is an artist and tax professional, about the challenges of artist taxes — her specialty — and what people should watch out for if they don’t want to be audited. Lots of useful insight.A special thanks to Mark Pritchard and Warp R
Hyperallergic Picks Their Favorite Holiday Movie Classics
It’s the holidays and you can’t get away from them. Some classic films have come to represent the season in the popular imagination, and we all have our favorites. I invited film editor Dan Schindel to talk about this unique genre of cinema, while discussing our favorite films about Christmas and more. I also invited a number of Hyperallergic staff to share their favorites.I have a feelin
Zoë Buckman Is No One's Punching Bag
Artist Zoë Buckman is a feminist, which permeates her work and life, and her art explores the world of contemporary art with a particular sensitivity toward issues of sexual violence, abuse, and gender identity, among other things.In this episode, she sat down with Hyperallergic editor and critic Seph Rodney to discuss her last exhibition at Fort Gansevoort, which was reviewed by Weekend
Hyperallergic's Film Buffs Discuss 2019's Best Films, from Parasite to Avengers
Hyperallergic Reviews editor Dessane Lopez Cassell and Documentary associate editor Dan Schindel join me to discuss our favorite films from 2019.We discuss Parasite, The Farewell, America, High Life, Midnight Traveler, the new frontiers of documentary, including Syrmor, The Giverny Document, and more. We also discuss the recent boom in superhero movies, how they dominate conversation abou
The Realities Facing Art Schools Today: A Conversation With RISD President Rosanne Somerson
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) was founded by women over a century ago, and it continues to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. Its current president, Rosanne Somerson, who is also an accomplished furniture designer, stopped by to talk about the institution and how it has pivoted to stay on top of the field, while serving an increasingly diverse student body.
The Relationship Between Art and Law Since the 1960s
Joan Kee is the rare combination of art historian and lawyer, and she's shared her skills in her new book, Models of Integrity: Art and Law in Post-Sixties America, which examines the legal issues major contemporary artists (from Tehching Hsieh to Felix Gonzales-Torres) have confronted in the past 60 years.Kee's research shows that since the 1960s, as artist projects have become more expa
Women’s Central Role in Lebanon's Modern Art World
Born in 1923 in Pennsylvania to Lebanese parents, Helen Khal would go on to become an important presence in the modern art world of Lebanon as a prominent art critic and artist. A new exhibition at Beirut’s Sursock Museum tells the history of that period through her friendships and relationships with a coterie of artists and writers who would become some of the most important artist voice
After Kanders: Critics, Reporters, and Editors Reflect on the 2019 Whitney Tear Gas Biennial
From nine weeks of protests to an exhibition that was more ethnically and racially diverse than previous years, this year’s Whitney Biennial has a lot to unpack.I asked our associate news editor Jasmine Weber, editor and critic Seph Rodney, and reporter Hakim Bishara to join me to reflect on months of controversy and offer their opinions on the exhibition itself. We discuss favorite works
The Story Behind Our Art Handlers Exposé
Last week, Hyperallergic published a five-part series, titled The Danger Epidemic in Art Handling, on the realities facing art handlers in the United States. The story generated a lot of debate and shocked many who were never forced to think about the conditions workers are forced to endure when assembling and transporting art of all types.
This conversation with Hyperallergic Senior Writ
The History, Context, and Legacy of an Ancient Plate by the Maya
On the first floor of the Gardiner Museum, in the Art of the Americas gallery, there is a large Maya plate dating to the 6th to 7th centuries CE. It features a large deity in the center of the orange and black earthenware object with a band of glyphs around the edge of the dish. This object is well-known to Maya specialists, not only for the mastery of the design, but because of the inscr
Joseph Pierce on Why Academics Must Decolonize Queerness
Joseph Pierce wants you to question everything, but especially queerness.
The Cherokee citizen and Stony Brook University assistant professor believes the moment has come for queer academia to seriously question the roots of their discipline, and ask how the field can expand to include more voices outside the Euro-American canon of Judith Butlers and Jack Halberstams.
"When we think about
The Largely Unknown History of Blackface in Canada
There's a curious collection of 18th-century porcelain figurines displayed on the second floor of the Gardiner Museum. Set amidst an impressive display of European ceramic table wear and figurines, this small assortment of Harlequin sculptures don dark masks that stand out for contemporary audiences. One of the colorful sculptures is by Wenzel Neu and hails from the Kloster-Veilsdorf Porc
Shary Boyle's Exploration of the Fantastic and Political Lives of Clay
Canadian artist Shary Boyle is known for her incredible ability to transform clay and ceramic into feats of delicate wonder, using the human body and the history of the material to delve into the undercurrents and meanings often overlooked by contemporary viewers.
In the second in a four-part podcast series produced by Hyperallergic in conjunction with the Gardiner Museum's Community Arts
Kent Monkman’s Mission to Decenter the Colonial Museum
Most of our earliest experiences of art are forged at museums. In this episode artist Kent Monkman recounts his own youth visiting institutions that didn’t reflect the lived reality around him and his Cree community in Winnipeg.
Since those formative years, Monkman has become an important voice in contemporary art who challenges the histories told inside the hallowed halls of museums, pu
The Unapologetic Queerness of Nayland Blake
During this special Pride Month, I knew we'd all need the wisdom of artist Nayland Blake, who is a leader in the field of queer representation and art, but that is one of his many talents as an artist, activist, educator, and innovator.
This episode, I talk to Blake to learn about their experiences growing up biracial and queer in New York, going to school in Southern California, their fo
Talking Digital Colonialism with Morehshin Allahyari
Morehshin Allahyari has been capturing the imagination of art lovers the world over since her Material Speculation: ISIS series from 2015-16 propelled her into the spotlight. For that project, she recreated objects destroyed by the ISIS terrorist organization in Iraq. For that ambitious endeavor, she used the few images she could collect of the artifacts themselves and then 3D printed the
Decolonizing the Color of Queerness
What is June, really? It's a time for the LGBTQ community to come together and reflect on the ongoing fight for equality, even as we honor the hard-won achievements by queer activists past and present. It's also an opportunity to reflect on the rich creativity and diversity of our friends and chosen families.
That's why Hyperallergic is putting a special spotlight on the queer arts commun
Discussing the Future of Design and Tech with Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator at MoMA
Paola Antonelli is the Museum of Modern Art’s Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture & Design, as well as the institution’s Director of R&D. She’s also — like me — a fan of the beloved arts organization Eyebeam.
This month, Eyebeam celebrates its 20th anniversary, and Antonelli will be the keynote speaker at the celebration. I sat down with this leading curator to discus
The Los Angeles Art Landscape, Through the Lens of Our Writers
Last year, editor Elisa Wouk Almino relocated from Hyperallergic’s New York-based office to Los Angeles to help expand coverage along the West Coast. In this podcast, she chats with Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian about her initial impressions of the city, where artists have been increasingly flocking to.
We then speak with Catherine G. Wagley, a veteran Los Angeles art critic and reporter
Michael Rakowitz Discusses Withdrawing from the 2019 Whitney Biennial, and His Leonard Cohen Problem
When news that Michael Rakowitz withdrew from the 2019 Whitney Biennial was published by the New York Times on February 25, people wondered why the Iraqi-American artist decided to sit out the biannual art event.
Later, in April, when the Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything opened at the Jewish Museum, many people noticed that Rakowitz's work about the renowned Canadian crooner’s relatio
What Should Artists Do With Their Work After They Die?
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I invited him, along with Jane Sout
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