Exhibitionistas

In this first episode of Exhibitionistas we look back on one of the most exciting exhibitions of last year, Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy. What better way to start a podcast than chatting about the retrospective exhibition of the grandmother of performance art? Music: Sarturn.

In this episode, we explore the work and life of Philip Guston, after having visited his exhibition at Tate Modern. Talk about plot twists! Guston's life and exhibitions, even this last travelling one, caused tremendous controversy. But above all, it's his ability to question himself and follow his own ideas that really impressed us. Music: Sarturn

In this third episode, we explore the work of Tania Kovats after having visited her exhibition "as above so below" at Parafin Gallery. We go back to her beginnings and appreciate how far she's come into her exploration of the elements, with a big emphasis on bodies of water. @kovats66 This is the first time we visit a commercial gallery for the podcast and there is some discussion about the advantages of visiting this type of exhibition space.  https://www.parafin.co.uk https://www.parafin.co.uk/exhibitions/2023/exhibitions-2023-tania-kovats There may be some reading as well, as the artist's work led to some new books ! We find out that Kovats' work takes us on a journey into the history of the earth and our own place in it, which means thinking and feeling geologically, politically, socially and even, perhaps, metaphysically...  Music: Sarturn.

In this episode, we explore the medium of photography through the lens - pun intended - of Daidō Moriyama's life work. We visited his exhibition at the Photographer's Gallery and we had very different experiences!  https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/daido-moriyama-retrospective Curators: Thyago Nogueira and Claire Grafik We chat a lot about what it means to look at street photography and what it might feel to be in the photograph itself. What if it was you who were on an exhibition poster? We discuss minimalist and maximalist exhibitions, but, mostly, Moriyama's unfussed and iconoclastic relation with the medium. He is just cool. https://www.moriyamadaido.com/en/ @exhibitionistas_podcast Music: Sarturn

In this episode, we dig into Gerhard Richter's lifetime of painting and his incursions in more conceptual works. We visited his first exhibition at David Zwirner, London, where we discovered drawings, paintings, mirror works and much more.  Our research led us to his beginnings in Dresden and Düsseldorf, in post war GDR and Western Germany.  What is fascinating is how the photographic image is the guiding light in his relation to trauma, to history, to the present but most of all, to painting. Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism, Duchamp, all had an impact on Richter who nevertheless built his own path in the always menaced painting genre throughout the end of the century.  Indeed, how many times was painting declared dead in the 20th century?! Too many to count. We kept our relation to Richter's work personal and fluid (Emily even got to do some reading), as there are so many sources out there for further information, amongst which: the catalogue raisonné published in 2022 by Hatjze Cantz; the Richter Interviews published in 2019 by Heni Publishing; and much more, which you can find here: https://gerhard-richter.com/en/literature Info about the exhibition: https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2024/gerhard-richter You can also explore Richter's website: https://gerhard-richter.com/en/ Music: Sarturn

Enjoy this episode about Music for the Mind, a Yoko Ono retrospective exhibition curated by Juliet Bingham and Patrizia Dander, on show at Tate Modern until September 1rst 2024. It was organized by Tate Modern and Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfallen.  https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/yoko-ono Instagram: @yokoono Born in 1933, Yoko Ono lived between three continents, and explored experimental art and music all throughout her life. This exhibition presents us with a lot of her work from the 1950s to today and is extremely collaborative and free. At the ripe age of 91 Yoko Ono is still a creative force that remained, for a great part, uncelebrated. Infamous, even. We hope to deconstruct these biased views and to unfold a rich and bold energy, fully dedicated to art. How did we navigate such a space? How did we connect to the work? What parts of her life touched us the most? Tune in and find out! Music: Sarturn.

Here we are! Part 2 of our episode dedicated to Yoko Ono's retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern, Music of the Mind. We cannot believe we managed to talk about the exhibition but... we used our imagination, and so will you. Follow us virtually in this exploration of Ono's life and work, and, more importantly, her exhibition. We focus on the highlights (for us) as it would be near impossible to talk about everything. There are so many delightful details and pieces that will speak to everyone differently.  To find out more about it, go to: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/yoko-ono @yokoono Music: Sarturn. @exhibitionistas_podcast

We are delighted to explore our first ICA show in this episode. We discuss artist and writer Aria Dean's Abattoir U.S.A.!, a videogame inspired video installation and a sculptural work exploring exhibitions and otherness / othering. The theme of the slaughterhouse is a powerful one, and it was treated by Dean in a subtle and powerful way. We also read Dean's book Bad Infinity: Selected Writings (Sternberg Press). It is a philosophical exploration of minimal and contemporary art through the lens of blackness and western thought. There is a theory of representation informed by what we learned to be called Afropessimism.  We go into all of this in this episode, although we may not have understood everything. Such is the magic of exhibitions and books! We go back, and back, and back again.

Have you ever been to an exhibition that changes your heart rate, slows you down, and inspires you to take a nap with a cat? Such was our experience at Zeinab Saleh's exhibition at the heart of Tate Britain, part of the Art Now program, which welcomes contemporary young artists in one of the many rooms of the museum. We discuss the notion of quiet, how it is dismissed in our culture, and how the artist not only embraces it but also almost magically creates it through mixed media paintings and drawings. A simple setting eliciting mindful dreaming and sheer presence. The exhibition was curated by Amy Emmerson Martin (assistant curator) and Nathan Ladd (curator). For more information visit the Tate's webiste: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/zeinab-saleh @exhibitionistas_podcast Music: Sarturn