State Of The Art

Latest Episodes:

Queerness with Guest Host Dorothy Santos & Artist, Designer, & Researcher, Yasheng She Jun 13, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Dorothy Santos brings us a discussion with Yasheng She on queer and femme narratives as represented in a wide array of media, including games, film, and manga. Together they look at the progressive rhetoric taken on by collectives like CLAMP, and dissect the role of audience perception versus the author's intent when it comes to reconciling a character or narrative as queer.

-About Yasheng She-

Yasheng She is a Washington-based audio, visual, and textual storyteller. He has written for Gnovis blogs – a peer-reviewed journal at Georgetown University and produced audio stories for Georgetown Forum – a radio program also at Georgetown University. Yasheng is a self-starter and highly motivated in everything he does. As a content producer, Yasheng has been telling stories in many forms, regardless of whether it is a podcast, a blog, or a video. Over five years of research experience and ability to speak Mandarin Chinese, English, and Japanese fluently help him to become a studious and observant storyteller. He is passionate about understanding how macro-level social, political, and cultural changes shape how individual formulates her or his own narrative. He is driven and motivated in everything he does and is well versed in psychology, communication, and whatever he can learn to create compelling content.

Queerness with Guest Host Dorothy Santos & Artist, Anum Awan Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

Dorothy Santos speaks with Pakistani artist, Anum Awan about their new media work focused on non-western narratives, queerness, and spirituality. Together they touch upon the evolution of interactive design, debate the line between design & art, and how Anum incorporates South Asian culture and history in their practice.

Helpful Links

Digital Sufi Shrine, http://www.anumawan.com/digital-sufi-shrine

Dawn of Freedom, https://vimeo.com/315713041

Other Futures, Opens June 14, 2019, San Francisco, https://grayarea.org/event/other-futures/

Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth, Jun 20-22, San Francisco, http://counterpulse.org/event/tomorrow-inherit-earth-revolutions-queer-muslim-future/

-About Anum Awan-

Anum is a Bay Area based interaction designer and new media artist who crafts mixed-reality experiences by blending physical and digital media centering queer, immigrant and non-western narratives. They were born and raised in Pakistan and came to the U.S. in 2008 to pursue a practice in art and design. They are a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and Design and California College of the Arts.

Learn more at: http://www.anumawan.com/

Follow her @AnumAwan

Introducing Guest Host Dorothy Santos Jun 04, 2019

Show notes

Dorothy Santos is a writer, curator, researcher, academic, educator, artist, and, currently, a doctoral student at UC Santa Cruz. Her passions run from film to mysticism and "witchy things." She is also the host of Art Practical podcast, PRNT SCRN, focused on bridging the gaps between analog, new media, and digital art practices.

In this episode, SOTA host, Andrew Herman introduces Dorothy and, together, they discuss her journey into the arts, her background in science and love for biology, and the wide variety of interests Dorothy explores through her art writing and creative projects. They also touch upon June's theme, "Queerness," as Andrew hands off the mic for the remainder of the month.

Helpful links:

Dial Up App:https://dialup.com/

-About Dorothy Santos-

Dorothy R. Santos is a Filipina American writer, curator, and researcher whose academic interests include digital art, computational media, and biotechnology. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, she holds Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of San Francisco and received her Master’s degree in Visual and Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Eugene V. Cota-Robles fellow.

Her work appears in art21, Art Practical, Rhizome, Hyperallergic, Ars Technica, Vice Motherboard, and SF MOMA’s Open Space. Her essay “Materiality to Machines: Manufacturing the Organic and Hypotheses for Future Imaginings,” was published in The Routledge Companion to Biology in Art and Architecture. She serves as a co-curator for REFRESH, a politically-engaged art and curatorial collective, the program manager for the Processing Foundation, and host for the podcast PRNT SCRN produced by Art Practical.

Authorship & Ownership with Beatriz Helena Ramos, CEO & Founder of DADA.nyc May 30, 2019

Show notes

DADA.nyc is a truly unique community of digital artists who are finding new and innovative ways to communicate through their artwork. Moreover, Dada’s CEO and founder, Beatriz Helena Ramos, is exploring radical and visionary ways for artists to support themselves through the power of community--all mobilized by state of the art blockchain technology.

In this episode, Beatriz shares how her commercial success as an artist, animator and entrepreneur ultimately led her to question her legacy, what makes Dada’s community of artists exceptional, and what experiments in new economies for artists Dada is working on.

Learn more at https://dada.nyc/

Show your support for Dada at https://www.seedinvest.com/dada

-About Beatriz Helena Ramos-

Beatriz is many things -- an artist, an illustrator, an animator, an entrepreneur. She has created illustrations for the New York Times, worked on animated series for MTV, Disney and Cartoon network, and exhibited paintings in New York City galleries. Her prolific creative career continues on to include creating comics, illustrating children’s books, photography, set design, sculpture, live action directing, and even puppet making in Prague.

In 2002 she founded Dancing Diablo Studio in New York City, a content studio whose clients include Coca Cola, Macy’s, Kraft Foods, Jet Blue, Bayer, General Mills, Sesame Workshop, Hasbro, PBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, Disney, ESPN and more.

Authorship & Ownership with Marcelo Garcia Casil, Co-Founder & CEO of Maecenas May 24, 2019

Show notes

Maecenas provides “Art investment, without intermediaries,” claiming to let art investors “invest in fine art in the most transparent and efficient way.” In this episode, Andrew speaks with Marcelo Garcia Casil, co-founder & CEO of Maecenas about getting Maecenas up and running, how Maecenas has reshaped concepts of ownership and users relationship with investing, and who is using Maecenas.

Learn more at https://www.maecenas.co/

-About Mareclo Garcia Casil-

A Financial Technology Innovation expert who has wide-ranging experience designing and building mission-critical systems for investment banks in Europe and Asia, and consulting for financial institutions.

The Art of Artist Ownership Rights: Jesse Cory, Co-Founder of 1xRUN May 16, 2019

Show notes

We speak with Jesse Cory, co-founder and CEO of 1xRUN, a limited edition art print publisher, and Murals in the Market, dedicated to reinvigorating cities with murals by local artists. As an active member of the street art art scene, Jesse has seen his share of copyright infringement cases brought to him by artists he has worked with personally, and continues to fight for artists to maintain and enact their rights over their creations when threatened by brands and media companies.

In this episode, Jesse recounts cases he's seen and been involved with, gives us the quick and dirty of VARA and its applications in a few scenarios, the basic rights artist retain over their work on the streets and as prints or originals, and touches upon how social media has become both a blessing and a curse for artists around the world.

Helpful links:

A Guide to the Visual Artists Rights Act, Cynthia Esworthy, NEA Office of General Counsel, JD Washington & Lee Law School 1997

-About 1xRUN-

Based in Detroit, Michigan, 1xRUN ("one-time run") is the world's leading publisher of fine art editions and online destination for original art. We pride our curation on showcasing limited edition prints, original artwork, books and exclusives from some of the best-known and emerging names in the new contemporary movement. With collectors in over 100 countries, we have published more than 1,300 editions since 2010. Every day, we drop a new batch of time-released, limited edition runs. Since we're always looking to the future, editions are only available for a limited time — when they are gone, they're gone! The artists we collaborate with never rest, and neither do we. 1xRUN is also host to Detroit's Inner State Gallery, a world-renowned exhibition space. Both 1xRUN's studio and Inner State Gallery are proud to call Detroit's historic Eastern Market district home.

Learn more here

-About Murals in the Market-

Murals in the Market continues to enhance the Eastern Market experience and the district’s transformation into a must-see destination for arts, as well as food, in Detroit. For the past six years, 1xRUN and the company’s fine art gallery, Inner State, have curated and produced over 100 murals in Eastern Market alone, and over 200 murals throughout the city of Detroit. With the creation of these murals, each area has seen a significant visual impact on the surrounding neighborhood as well as increased traffic, additional economic development, and increased safety.

In addition to creating new murals, Murals in the Market also hosts many events during the festival including panel discussions, artists dinners, meet and greet opportunities, site-specific installations, block parties, nightime events that coordinate with Eastern Market After Dark, and more! Murals in the Market is more than an international mural festival, it’s a creative platform that inspires and encourages community engagement using public art as a vessel.

Learn more here

Authorship & Ownership: Digital Art with Kevin McCoy, Co-Founder of Monegraph May 09, 2019

Show notes

As an artist, academic, and a cofounder to an art technology company called Monograph, Kevin McCoy brings a unique perspective to the idea of authorship & ownership in its application to the digital and internet art scene. Established in 2014, Monegraph aimed to solve issues of provenance and legitimacy artists and collectors face when selling and buying digital art works. In this episode, we speak with Kevin about how Monegraph was received in its initial years, why provenance matters in the art world, and what some of the hurdles are facing digital and new media artists today.

-About Kevin McCoy-

His artworks take many diverse forms including video sculpture and installation, photography, long-form film, curatorial practice and performance, kinetic sculpture and software-driven on-line projects. Thematically, his work explores changing conditions around social roles, categories, genres and forms of value. His primary research questions ask 'What counts as new,’ 'How is meaning established,' and 'How are cultural memories formed'. He has worked collaboratively with Jennifer McCoy for many years to try to answer what it means to speak together, often finding that experience outstrips available modes of presentation and discourse. To these ends their work has adopted many methodological approaches: exhaustive categorization, recreation and reenactment, automation, miniaturization, and most recently remote viewing and speculative modeling.

In New York City, his work has been exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, P.S.1, Postmasters Gallery, The Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum, and Smack Mellon. International exhibitions include projects at the Pompidou Center, the British Film Institute, ZKM, the Hanover Kunstverien, the Bonn Kunstverein, and F.A.C.T. (Liverpool, UK). Grants include a 2002 Creative Capital Grant for Emerging Fields, a 2005 Wired Rave Award, and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. Articles about his work have appeared in Art in America, Artforum, Flash Art, Art News, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Newsweek. Residencies include work at the Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

His artwork is represented by in New York by Postmasters Gallery and in Geneva by Gallerie Guy Bartschi and can be seen in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and MUDAM in Luxembourg.

In 2014 he co-founded monegraph.com a platform that uses the technology underlying Bitcoin to provide a mechanism for validating, owning and trading digital media assets. The project was presented at The New Museum as part of Rhizome's seven on seven conference and at Tech Crunch Disrupt in New York.

His teaching engages both undergraduate and graduate students in studio art and related arts professions and addresses practical and theoretical uses of digital media technology together with surveys of related theoretical and philosophical texts. The current semester's coursework can be found at mccoyspace.com/nyu.

Learn more at:

auxillaryprojects.com

monegraph.com

corespace.com

Introducing Authorship & Ownership May 02, 2019

Show notes

New month means a new theme for State of the Art, and May will be filled with discussions centered around the value of art as dictated not only by who created it, but also, where it's been, and how it has transferred between different parties. We will also be looking at how we define "ownership"in the arts, specifically diving into new forms of ownership introduced by blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, as well as contemporary issues around street art--looking at you General Motors& Mercedes-Benz.

Join us for our first episode on Authorship & Ownership, dropping Thursday, May 9, 2019.

The Art of Rehabilitation: Mary O'Brien & Daniel McCormick of Watershed Sculpture, Artists Apr 26, 2019

Show notes

Artist duo Mary O'Brien & Daniel McCormick use "land as the palette" for the work they do. In this episode, the two explain their efforts to use land art as a restorative medium, bringing much needed life and balance back to struggling ecosystems. As we continue our exploration into "environmental art," O'Brien and McCormick explain why they refer to their work as "restorative art" rather than "eco-art," how they became involved in the land art movement, and who they bring into their artistic efforts to successfully rebuild the habitats they're involved with.

-About Watershed Sculpture-

The Art Practice of Daniel McCormick & Mary O’Brien

Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien collaborate on ecological art installations that have remedial qualities. Working in both urban and agricultural watersheds and riparian corridors, McCormick and O’Brien respond to environmental issues by moving away from an anthropocentric view of nature to create sculptures that work with natural systems. Their work is often ephemeral and temporal. When their interventions are completed and a restoration cycle is established, they intend to leave no evidence of a hand made object. For over 25 years, they have been using art to restore and affect a positive ecological balance in damaged environments.

McCormick & O’Brien both hold degrees from University of California, Berkeley. Daniel McCormick's experience as a multi-disciplinary artist in the fields of sculptural installation and environmental design brings both a public art and ecological trajectory to their work. Mary O'Brien is a sculptor and writer and initiates the community engagement plans enlisting the support of art organizations and government agencies.

Their collaborations reflect the artists’ concerns for the environment and community, but also their belief that art has a responsibility to do more than witness or document cultural changes. Their installation works can be found in watersheds across the United States.

Learn more at www.watershedsculpture.com

Follow them @watershedsculpture

*This interview was recorded at The Headlands Center for the Arts; learn more here*

Earth as Medium: Antti Laitinen, Artist Apr 18, 2019

Show notes

Conceptual artist Antti Laitinen, uses natural elements and the environment he inhabits in rural Finland to create unexpected interruptions, installations, performances, and stunning photography. Although he and his work have been referred to as "environmental" due to his use of the Earth as his primary medium, Laitinen explains that these terms aren't at the forefront of his creations.

In this episode, we speak with Antti about his process and the reception of his pieces, why he chooses to use natural elements as his primary tools for creation, and what he thinks of "environmental art."

Learn more about Antti Laitinen here

Our Europe-based listeners can Fall and Rise at the following gallery exhibitions:

LUSTO – The Finnish Forest Museum

Myrskyasema – Storm Station

Lustontie 1, 58450 Punkaharju, Finland

26.4.2019 – 12.1.2020

Beijing Riverside Art Museum

Continuous Refle(a)ction

East Hongyan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

26.5 – 28.8.2019

Tournay Solvay Parc

Chaussée de la Hulpe 201 – 1170 Watermael-Boitsfort, Brussels