Art and Obsolescence

This week on the show we sit down with curator Tina Rivers Ryan – one of the preeminent curators mapping contemporary artistic practices engaged with the digital, and keeping the flame of digital art history alive. In this in-depth conversation we delve into Tina's evolution as a curator, and many of the particularities of curatoring digital art. As well, Tina is one of the few thinkers out there who is fluent in the art world and the crypto/NFT world, and in our discussion she offers an important message about how we all may be missing the bigger issue amdist the polarizing discourse around crpyto and art.Links from the conversation with Tina:> http://www.tinariversryan.com> https://www.albrightknox.org> Difference Machines: https://www.albrightknox.org/art/exhibitions/difference-machines-technology-and-identity-contemporary-art> Tina's recent essay: Will the Artworld’s NFT Wars End in Utopia or Dystopia? https://artreview.com/will-the-artworld-nft-wars-end-in-utopia-or-dystopia/Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we visit with the one and only Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose software-based artwork spans from massive outdoor interactive public art, to more domestic-scale works that can be found in galleries and art fairs all over the world. Rafael has been making both intellectually and technically challenging work for decades, and in this chat we’ll hear about his roots as young artist working in experimental performing arts, learning from his mentor Dick Higgins, building a robust studio that employs over fifteen engineers, artists, coders, and we’ll hear about some hard-earned lessons in selling and caring for time-based media art.Links from the conversation with Rafael:> https://www.lozano-hemmer.com> Current SFMOMA exhibition: https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/rafael-lozano-hemmer-unstable-presence> A Crack in the Hourglass: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/rafael_lozano_hemmer Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescence https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/ Support artists Art and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week features legendary curator of digital art, Christiane Paul. It would be fair to say that digital art is having a moment these days, so who better to provide some context than the curator who quite literally wrote the book on it. From publishing a glossy quarterly magazine on digital art and hypertext in the 90s (Intelligent Agent), to her extensive curatorial work at the Whitney Museum of American Art and as an independent curator, Christiane Paul has had a major influence on how the world collects, understands, and curates artistic practices that exist in, and evolve from the digital world. Tune in to hear the story of her career’s evolution, and what Christiane thinks about the current hype around crypto art.Links from the conversation with Christiane> Whitney Artport: https://artport.whitney.org> Programmed: https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/Programmed> The Question of Intelligence – AI and the Future of Humanity https://parsons.edu/sheilacjohnsondesigncenter/the-question-of-intelligence-ai-and-the-future-of-humanity/> Sunrise / Sunset: https://whitney.org/artport/commissions/sunrise-sunset> https://www.newschool.edu/media-studies/faculty/christiane-paul/>  Christiane's book: https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/digital-art-softcover-third-editionJoin the conversation: https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescence https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/ Support artists Art and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week’s show features art conservator Asti Sherring, who for the past ten years has played a leading role in developing the time-based media conservation community in Australia. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear how Asti went from saving up her summer job money as a fourteen year old to go on an archaeological dig in Italy, to being the first time-based media conservator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.Links from the conversation with Asti> Asti's website: https://www.astisherring.com> Grimwade Centre: https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/grimwade-centre-for-cultural-materials-conservation> AGNSW: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.auJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescenceSupport artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show my guest is Tommy Martinez, artist, musician, composer, and a technician who has helped countless artists bring their vision to life. Formerly, Tommy was Director of Technology of Pioneer Works where he ran an incredible residency program. In our chat we cover so much ground, discussing what it means to document site-specific sound installations, the broken system of attribution in the arts, the invisible hand of corporate America’s influence on artistic tools, and how Tommy and his collaborator Angeline Meitzler helped Nicole Eisenman make a very elaborate fart joke at the Whitney Biennial – you’ll just have to tune in to find out what that last one is about. Links from the conversation with Tommy> Tommy’s website: https://www.thomasjohnmartinez.com/> Pioneer works: https://pioneerworks.org/> Harvest works: https://www.harvestworks.org/ Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show our guest is the one and only Barbara London. Since she began her career at MoMA in 1973 and collected the museum’s first video art in 1975, Barbara has had an immeasurable impact on the field of time-based media art – from her 1979 exhibition “Video from Tokyo to Fukui and Kyoto” to her phenomenal new book “Video art: the first fifty years”. Listen in on our conversation to hear Barbara’s story, and her relationships with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Joan Jonas, Nam June Paik, Teiji Furuhashi, Bill Viola, and more, that have formed the bedrock of her prolific curatorial practice.Links from the conversation with Barbara> Barbara's website: https://www.barbaralondon.net> Video/Art: The First Fifty Years: https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/video-art-the-first-fifty-years-9780714877594Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week’s show features legendary net art pioneer Shu Lea Cheang, interviewed by our very first guest host, Emma Dickson. Together they discuss the conservation of Shu Lea’s piece Brandon (1998-1999), how the remnants and ephemera of creative practice lives in archives, institutional link rot, and Shu Lea’s fruitful decades long collaboration with a programmer whom she’s never met.Links from the conversation with Shu Lea> Shu Lea’s website: https://mauvaiscontact.info> Brandon: http://brandon.guggenheim.org/> Restoring Brandon: https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/restoring-brandon-shu-lea-cheangs-early-web-artwork> Emma's website: https://emmadickson.info> Emma’s walkthrough of Brandon: https://youtu.be/qq2_t3U_f9U> Emma's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@__emmadicksonJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week’s show features emerging conservation professional Kayla Henry-Griffin, currently in their final year of graduate studies at NYU. Tune in to hear about Kayla’s journey from optics and physics to their current research around the intersection of Black and queer community archive practices and video game preservation. Links from the conversation with Kayla> Kayla's website: https://k-d-m-t.com/> NYU MIAP program: https://tisch.nyu.edu/cinema-studies/miap/Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week's show offers an inside glimpse into a major private collection of time-based media art, as we chat with Robert Rosenkranz. Come along for a walking tour of a home in the mountains of Aspen, purpose built for living with time-based media art. We'll hear about the unique challenges of collecting and living with time-based media, what Robert looks for when he's considering a new piece for his collection, and some of the hard earned lessons he's learned over the years as a collector.Links from the conversation with Robert> The Rosenkranz Foundation: http://www.rosenkranzfdn.org/ > Intelligence Squared US: https://intelligencesquaredus.org/Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

On this week's show we chat with curator Chrissie Iles, who since 1997 has been the Anne & Joel Ehrenkranz Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, where she has built a singular collection of time-based media art. In this extended chat with host Ben Fino-Radin, Chrissie tells the tale of how she built this amazing collection, her general approach and philosophy as a curator, her roots in artist-run spaces, and her vision for the future of the art world.Links from the conversation with Chrissie> The Whitney Museum of American Art: https://whitney.org/> Into the Light: the Projected Image in American Art, 1964–1977: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/into-the-light> Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/dreamlandsJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate