WPKN Archives Archive Feed: martha

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis -- Episode 30: The World Is Sound

Sat, 26 Aug 2017 11:00:00 GMT

This month's show has been recorded live at the Rubin Museum in New York and offers
a discussion with Curator of Exhibitions Risha Lee as she takes us through her latest exhibition The World Is Sound.

Join us for a special tour through the exhibition, which runs until January 8, 2018. The World Is Sound employs sound in new ways to animate and intensify the experience of art in the Rubin’s collection. Organized cyclically—from creation to death to rebirth—the exhibition explores different dimensions of sound and listening and its many functions in Tibetan Buddhism.

Featuring work by more than 20 artists, The World Is Sound juxtaposes new site-specific commissions and works by prominent contemporary sound artists with historical objects from the museum’s collection of Tibetan Buddhist art to encourage reflection on how we listen and to challenge entrenched ways of thinking.

Featuring work by: Éliane Radigue, Laetitia Sonami, and Bob Bielecki, C. Spencer Yeh, Christine Sun Kim, Ernst Karel, Hildegard Westerkamp, John Giorno, Jules Gimbrone, MSHR, Nate Wooley, Pauline Oliveros, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, and Samita Sinha, and Tibetan Buddhist ritual music from monasteries in Nepal and India, the voices of Rubin visitors recorded in the OM Lab (using software and 3D sound design by Terence Caulkins of Arup). Daniel Neumann was Lead Acoustic Designer for this ambitious and complex exhibition.

Risha Lee is Curator of Exhibitions at the Rubin Museum, and is responsible for the creation and organization of The World Is Sound. She was born in Oakland and is now based in Brooklyn. She earned a BA with high honors from Harvard College and a PhD in Art History from Columbia University. Her work has focused on artistic connections and encounters that traditionally have fallen under the rubric of Asian art but defy easy categorization. She has taught a variety of art history courses at Columbia University and the American University of Beirut.

More information is available at:
http://rubinmuseum.org/events/exhibitions/the-world-is-sound and two articles by Risha on the exhibit published in SPIRAL magazine is online here:http://rubinmuseum.org/spiral/listening-and-liberation-the-world-is-sound
http://rubinmuseum.org/spiral/mediated-voices

The show ends withuburb a fragment of music by David Bowie from his soundtrack to the film "The Buddha of Suburbia"-- a track titled Ian Fish, U.K. Heir.

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis --episode 24 february 2017

Sat, 25 Feb 2017 10:59:35 GMT

History Lessons-- WPKN is celebrating this Black History Month with a rich variety of special programming. With that in mind, February's Live Culture focuses on powerful images relating to politics, past protest, and the traces of History surrounding us.

During the first half of the show I am in conversation with curator La Tanya S. Autry, the Marcia Brady Tucker Senior Fellow, in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, about her latest exhibition Let Us March On: Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. This major show focuses on early civil rights images being exhibited for the first time, in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the march. Lee Friedlander’s photographs offer a rare glimpse of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, a critical moment in American civil rights history.

On May 17, 1957 thousands of people united in front of the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C. At this first large-scale gathering of African Americans on the National Mall, elegantly clad protesters called on federal authorities to enforce desegregation, support voting rights, and combat racial violence. Friedlander documented the crowds as well as the illustrious figures who attended or spoke at the march, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Ella Baker, Mahalia Jackson, and Harry Belafonte. Dr King gave his iconic "Give Us The Ballot" address at this gathering. La Tanya has organized an exciting roster of events in tandem with the exhibition and we will talk about the work, it's relationship to events and protests today, and the on-going battle for justice in the United States.

During the second half we catch up with artist and curator David Borawski, about his plethora of projects including showing his work in the forthcoming exhibitions: Present Danger at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, Equators, a collaborative art project at the Housatonic Museum in Bridgeport, and the forthcoming Mincing Words: The Tactile Language of Unrest, at The Institute Library, New Haven.

David's conceptually driven installations reflect upon iconic cultural and societal events that have influenced major shifts in our collective consciousness, but which now we may be near the point of forgetting. His immersive works use text, video and mixed media - including found objects - to invoke such charged historic moments as the Black Panther trials in New Haven. He has spoken of past events as being "uncanny precursors to present-day realities", a sentiment which permeates his work. David is also busy organizing exhibitions of other artist's work including Any World That I'm Welcome To, up now at Dehn Gallery at MCC on Main in Manchester, Ct., and Lost and Found, which just closed at Real Art Ways in Hartford, Ct.

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis--Episode 22

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 11:00:00 GMT

What Are We Gonna Do Now?

Guests this month are: Curator Olga Kopenkina and Artist and Writer, Gregory Sholette with their take on what to expect, do, and the mechanics of contemporary protest now. In the wake of the recent presidential election. many have expressed uncertainty about how best to proceed, how to incorporate protest into one's creative practice. For this episode of Live Culture - the last of the year –I spoke with the two recently in their New York apartment where I recorded our conversation about their various projects, our collective predicament, Feminism, Human Rights and how to engage in protest in a meaningful way.

About Olga Kopenkina: She is a Belarus-born, New York-based independent curator and art critic. Her exhibitionss include the recent Feminisim is Politics! at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Lenin Icebreaker Revisited, at the NY Austrian Cultural Forum; Sound of Silence: Art during Dictatorship, EFA Project Space, NY,; Reading Lenin with Corporations , Russia: Significant Other, Anna Akhmatova Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, Post-Diasporas: Voyages and Missions at the First Moscow Biennale, Moscow. Kopenkina has contributed to such publications as Art Journal, Moscow Art Magazine, ArtMargins, Manifesta Journal, Modern Painters, Afterimage, and others. She is an adjunct professor at New York University, Steinhardt School for Arts and Art Professions, Department of Media, Culture and Communication. Olga's Upcoming exhibit, co-curated with Yevgeniy Fiks is The Work of Love, The Queer of Labor at Franklin Street Works in Stamford, CT, which will run from May 13 - August 17, 2017.

About Gregory Sholette: He is a New York City based artist, writer, and core member of the activist art collective Gulf Labor Coalition, a group of artists advocating for migrant workers constructing museums in Abu Dhabi. He is a founding member of Political Art Documentation/Distribution, which issued publications on politically engaged art in the 1980s; of REPOhistory, which repossessed suppressed histories in New York in the 1990s. Written works include dozens of essays, three edited volumes, including The Interventionists: A Manuel for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life, Co-authored with Nato Thompson, and It’s the Political Economy, Stupid , as well as his own works Dark Matter: Art and Politics in an Age of Enterprise Culture , and Delirium and Resistance: Activist Art and The Crisis Of Capitalism. Sholette has documented four decades of activist art that, for its ephemerality, politics, and market resistance, might otherwise remain invisible. He has contributed to such journals as Eflux, Critical Inquiry, Texte zur Kunst, October, CAA Art Journal and Manifesta Journal among other publications. His recent art installations include Imaginary Archive at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania and the White Box at Zeppelin University, Germany. His collaborative performance Precarious Workers Pageant premiered at the 2015 Venice Biennalle. Sholette is an Associate Professor in the Queens College Art Department, City University of New York where he helped establish the new MFA Concentration SPQ (Social Practice Queens). He has a forthcoming book: Activist Art Reloaded: Essays on Oppositional Culture and Capitalist Crisis: 1997-2017, Contracted by Pluto Press.

Gregory's latest exhibit Darker runs from January 7-29 at Station Independent Projects, NY. This is Sholette's third solo exhibition at this venue. For Darker he will present a series of ink, pencil and acrylic wash drawings portraying scenes of recent activist art and direct political resistance based on photographs of activist art and other political protests.

Please see here for more information on organizing and on Gregory's projects:

Who Is Organizing Now?: https://titanpad.com/x5wh7V0gkG
website: http://www.gregorysholette.com/
blog: http://gregsholette.tumblr.com/
books: http://press.uchicago.edu/…/books/author/S/G/au21610617.html

This month’s program features excerpted music from:
The Indigo Girls interpreting The Clash
The Hot Sardines interpreting a tune from Walt Disney’s Junglebook
Purple Haze interpreting Tracy Chapman
The Clash live at Shea Stadium interpreting The Clash

Live Culture Episode 10 with Martha Willette Lewis

Sat, 26 Dec 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 10- The Venice Biennale part 2

For December edition- the last for 2015- martha returns to The Venice Biennale. The conversation starts with Artist Judi Harvest and her installation Room of Dreams, in the collateral Dialogue of Fire exhibition, which was curated partially by Luca Berta and Francesca Guibelei who were featured in last month’s episode. They both have cameos in this month’s broadcast along with Harvest, whose glass-based installation occupied the frescoed bedroom of the Palazzo Tiepolo. Judi was one of Martha's very first guests on the show, so it’s fitting that she ends the year with her, visiting her honeybee garden in Murano as well.....

For the second half Martha is in discussion with exhibition invigilator/artist Phillip McCrilly and Australian curator and writer Elyse Goldfinch about Sean Lynch's Adventure:Capital installation and video representing Ireland at the Arsenalle. Lynch's work was curated by Woodrow Kernohan and features the voice of well-known Irish actress Gina Moxley in the video sequences.

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis --episode 2, April 25, 2015

Sat, 25 Apr 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Aprill's theme is things that are Appearing/Emerging....
Guests :
• Artist Ellen Hackl Fagan, who created and runs ODETTA, a gallery in Bushwick,
and whose next exhibit "TEXTUAL" opens on April 24th, 2015
(http://www.odettagallery.com/)
and
• Marcus Galen Mitchell, Curator of Programs at
NO LONGER EMPTY, with
• Regine Basha, curator of NLE's exhibit "WHEN YOU CUT INTO THE PRESENT THE FUTURE LEAKS OUT"
which inhabits the long-abandoned Old Bronx Borough Courthouse.

The exhibition occupies three floors, and include the works of 26 artists and site-â€specific works."When You Cut into the Present the Future Leaks Out" echoes approaches
attributed to cut-¬â€up poetry, early Hip-¬â€Hop, Spoken Word, and the sculptural practice of artist Gordon Matta-¬â€ Clark, who sliced into urban spaces as social commentary.
(http://www.nolongerempty.org/)

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis --episode 1, March 28, 2015

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 1: Things That Are Vanishing, globally, nationally and locally, things worth memorializing, celebrating, rallying for, and keeping in the spotlight.

Things we do not want, in the words of poet Dylan Thomas, to "go gentle into that good night."

guests:
• Artist Judi Harvest,who divides her time between new york and Venice Italy, and whose practice involves collaborations with Bees, and with glass blowers on the island of Murano Italy. Judi will be participating in the forthcoming Venice Biennale in a collateral exhibition, and will talk with us about beekeeping and working with master artisans in a climate of upheaval and change. (for more please see here:http://judiharvest.com/denatured-honeybees-murano)
and
• Paul Clabby, artist and curator at the John Slade Ely House in New Haven, a venerable arts exhibition venue in a historic building, which is slated to close this summer. We will celebrate the life and times of the gallery, which is one of several culture institutions in the city which are undergoing radical change. The John Slade Ely house under Paul's tenure has been the locus of many projects that have profoundly affected the lives and careers of area artists, community groups, and students. (for more please see here:http://elyhouse.org/)

playlist:
1. soundtrack music by Hennie Vrienten from the 1988 film The Vanishing,
2. Honey Bee by Zee Avi
3. Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain

Live Culture Episode 8 with Martha Willette Lewis Arty Beasts & Talented Monsters

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Arty Beasts & Talented Monsters

"Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?"

- William Shakespeare, from Henry IV, part 1

This month's program offers up a beastly menagerie for creative children of any age- first we have the team behind the book 43 Monsters, which is about to come out in a new, family friendly edition for kids.
My guests are
Artist Chuck Webster,
Author Arthur Bradford and
Gallerist Katie Michel, one of the founders of Planthouse Gallery NY, who published the original 43 Monsters in 2013 as a hardcover art book, printed in limited edition by Trifolio in Italy.The irreverent text has been updated for its family friendly debut, and the book laid out in accessible format for monster-appreciators of every age.

During the second half
I am in conversation with:
Author, Composer and Performer Michael Hearst,
About his ongoing project: a CD- Songs for Unusual Creatures, A Book: Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals, and now a digital PBS production. He maintains a lively performance schedule and often uses unusual instruments to portray his menagerie of eccentric and truly wondrous animals. Michael has upcoming performances at Barbès, In Brooklyn, Carnegie Hall, NY, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Throughout the program we will hear a sampling some of Micheal's audio animals.
so:
“Let the wild rumpus start!”
â€• From Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis --episode 1, March 28, 2015

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 1: Things That Are Vanishing, globally, nationally and locally, things worth memorializing, celebrating, rallying for, and keeping in the spotlight. Things we do not want, in the words of poet Dylan Thomas, to " go gentle into that good night."
guests:
• Artist Judi Harvest,who divides her time between new york and Venice Italy, and whose practice involves collaborations with Bees, and with glass blowers on the island of Murano Italy. Judi will be participating in the forthcoming Venice Biennale in a collateral exhibition, and will talk with us about beekeeping and working with master artisans in a climate of upheaval and change. (for more please see here:http://judiharvest.com/denatured-honeybees-murano)
and
• Paul Clabby, artist and curator at the John Slade Ely House in New Haven, a venerable arts exhibition venue in a historic building, which is slated to close this summer. We will celebrate the life and times of the gallery, which is one of several culture institutions in the city which are undergoing radical change. The John Slade Ely house under Paul's tenure has been the locus of many projects that have profoundly affected the lives and careers of area artists, community groups, and students. (for more please see here:http://elyhouse.org/)
playlist:
1. soundtrack music by Hennie Vrienten from the 1988 film The Vanishing,
2. Honey Bee by Zee Avi
3. Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain

Live Culture episode 7 with Martha Willette Lewis

Sat, 26 Sep 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 7: Grand Gestures
This month my guests are :

Susan L. Talbott, Director and CEO of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, which is celebrating a GRAND REOPENING on September 19 after a long renovation.The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the oldest continually-operating public art museum in the United States and has been undergoing a major renovation since 2010. The $33 million project renewed the museum’s historic structures and added 16 new gallery spaces. The Museum, which has expanded by adding nearly 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, has many exciting things in store for us!

More about The Wadsworth Atheneum here: thewadsworth.org/

and :

Artist/print-maker Roxanne Faber Savage and gallerist Gabriel Da Silva, who, with The Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, have an upcoming giant steamroller printmaking project in the works.This public event, happening in October 17-18 as a part of City-Wide Open Studios Festival, organized by Artspace New Haven, is free and open to the public.

more about the CWOS festival here
http://www.cwos.org/oct-17-18-transported-weekend/
more about Roxanne Faber Savage http://www.roxanneprints.com/
more about DaSilva Gallery here
http://dasilva-gallery.com/

Live Culture :Episode 6 with Martha Willette Lewis

Sat, 29 Aug 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Poise and Cooperation:
This month I follow up on what's happening with the closing of the John Slade Ely house in New Haven with Jeanne Criscola and Ron Pacacha, members of Friends of the John Slade Ely House (JSEH) who are organizing the efforts to save the art center form being sold. keep up with their progress here:

www.change.org/p/friends-of-the-john-slade-ely-house-save-the-john-slade-ely-house-of-contemporary-art-fbcc2aa6-282f-460c-9c07-bad33ede121d
and,

I am in discussion with Tristan Nielsen, a young circus artist who recently performed in New York as a part of Sequence 8,to find out about his rising career and the daily life of an acrobat. Circus acts are enjoying a renaissance and often blur genre boundaries, blending aspects of cabaret, dance, magic, Broadway theater into unique spectaculars. Cirque du Soleil with their acts in Las Vegas have whetted the public's appetite for such performances and have raised the bar in terms of artistry. Tristan is a part of a new generation of performers taking this most ancient art to new heights. I spoke with Tristan on the first day of his performance with Midnight Circus, which is currently taking place in parks around Chicago- more can be found here: midnightcircus.net/