Bad at Sports

We sit down with curator Rachel Adams to talk about institutional evolution, artists as infrastructure, and how curatorial practice shifts between museums and biennials. Rachel reflects on working with artists like Cauleen Smith, Liz Magic Laser, and Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, the power of slow curation, and why she’s drawn to hybrid spaces that defy the market.

Along the way: phantom titles, artist contracts, Minneapolis moments, and a manifesto in a box of ice cream bars.

Cauleen Smith

cauleensmith.com

Liz Magic Laser

lizmagiclaser.com

Beatriz Santiago Muñoz

lima.art

Candice Hopkins

indigenousnewyork.org

Nato Thompson

https://www.natothompson.com/about

Christina Vassallo

columbusmuseum.org

Sarah Schultz

mplsart.com

Alison Hearst

themodern.org

Andrea Andersson

riversinstitute.org

Franklin Sirmans

pamm.org

Mary Jane Jacob

https://never-the-same.org/interviews/mary-jane-jacob/

Independent Curators International (ICI)

curatorsintl.org

image: Asad Raza, Orientation , 2022. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Field Studio.

We sit down with a delegation of Irish curators—Michele Horrigan (Askeaton Contemporary Arts), Michael Hill (Temple Bar Gallery + Studios), and Mark O’Gorman (The Complex)—to unpack what it means to build artist-centered institutions on an island without a commercial art market. From weather-worn banana warehouses to smoke-machine-filled nightclubs, these curators share space-making tactics, post-colonial entanglements, and the challenges of caring for artists without selling to collectors.

They’re in Chicago for EXPO and bringing the heat—with nothing but friendship, found neon, and deeply site-responsive shows. Also: fluorescent hands, oak horns, grant hustle, and Duchampian office doors

Names Dropped:

Lilian Pettinicchi / Lilian Peto – No official site found
Anya McBride –
Devin Mays – https://regardsgallery.com/artists/devin-mays/
Haynes Riley / Good Weather – https://www.goodweather.llc
Becky Nahum (ICA) – No profile confirmed
Stephanie Smith – https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/4391-stephanie-smith
Kate Sierzputowski – https://katesierzputowski.com
Amanda Rice – https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx2lfLmL_Qk
Frank Wasser – https://www.instagram.com/frankwasserartist
Briony Dunne – https://www.instagram.com/bryonymaydunne
Olga Balema – https://www.clearing-gallery.com/artists/olga-balema
Hannah Hoffman Gallery – https://www.instagram.com/hannahhoffmangallery
Bridget Donahue Gallery – https://www.bridgetdonahue.nyc
John Latham / Flat Time House – http://www.flattimeho.org.uk
Brian Doherty –
Tom Friedman – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Friedman
Duchamp (Marcel) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp
The Smiths (band) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiths SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT

Website/IG Handles (if available or mentioned):

· Askeaton Contemporary Arts / @askeatonarts

· Temple Bar Gallery + Studios / @templebargallery

· The Complex Dublin / @thecomplexdublin

· Good Weather / @goodweathergallery

Live from Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago

In this intimate, laughter-filled episode recorded live at Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Duncan and Ryan sit down with artists Jaqueline Cedar and Josh Dihle on the occasion of their concurrent solo exhibitions. The conversation traverses everything from Duchampian bathroom jokes to model train nostalgia, parenthood, masculinity, and why drawing still matters.

We dig deep into Cedar's intimate, narrative-rich figure paintings and Dihle’s large, toy-like sculptural paintings, both brimming with color, play, and strange tenderness. Along the way, we explore the value of humor, discomfort, labor, scale, and why both artists moonlight as gallerists—Cedar with the roving Good Naked Gallery and Dihle with events at Color Club and The Sugar Hole ice cream shop. It’s a heartfelt meditation on art, joy, burnout, and why we keep making.

Name Drop List & Related Links
Jaqueline Cedar
Website | Instagram
Good Naked Gallery – Instagram Josh Dihle
Website | Instagram
Color Club – Website | The Sugar Hole Andrew Rafacz Gallery
Website | Instagram Artists & References:
Roger Brown
Suellen Rocca
David Hockney
Henry Moore
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Duchamp’s “Étant donnés”
Julius Caesar Gallery (Chicago)

Live from the tailgate lounge at Chicago Architectural Biennial 6's booth at Expo Chicago, Duncan and Ryan welcome Joey Orr , the newly appointed Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the MCA Chicago. In this densely brilliant and surprisingly hilarious conversation, Orr discusses what it means to steer a contemporary art institution in an era of deep social complexity, political polarization, and shifting museum ethics.

We cover everything from the social life of objects to the lore of performance documentation, and even pitch a game show based on the varied memories of Chris Burden’s early MCA performance. Orr reflects on social practice, audience authorship, and why curators are public servants—not VIPs. We get deep into what it means to be a meat sack in space, how to radicalize museum engagement, and why reenactments may just be the key to future institutional magic.

This is art talk that grinds, gropes, and glows in the dark. No hot dogs, just conceptual fireworks.

Joey Orr – Deputy Director and Chief Curator at MCA Chicago IG: @joeyorr13 Bio: https://joeyorr.com/about/ Chris Burden – Performance artist Wiki: Chris Burden John Cage – Composer and performance artist Wiki: John Cage Resource: John Cage Trust Dick Higgins – Intermedia artist and Fluxus co-founder Wiki: Dick Higgins Alison Knowles – Fluxus artist IG: @alisonknowlesartist Wiki: Alison Knowles Mary Jane Jacob – Curator of public art and socially engaged practice Wiki: Mary Jane Jacob Bio: SAIC Faculty Page Pablo Helguera – Artist and educator working in socially engaged art IG: @pablo_helguera Website: pablohelguera.net Book: Education for Socially Engaged Art Diana Taylor – Performance theorist; author of The Archive and the Repertoire Profile: NYU Performance Studies Book Info: Duke University Press Naomi Beckwith – Curator, formerly at MCA and Guggenheim IG: @naomibx Article: Guggenheim Chief Curator Announcement MCA Chicago (Museum of Contemporary Art) Website: mcachicago.org IG: @mcachicago School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Website: saic.edu IG: @saic_news High Museum of Art (Atlanta) Website: high.org IG: @highmuseumofart The Louvre Website: louvre.fr IG: @museelouvre Queens Museum Website: queensmuseum.org IG: @queensmuseum Fluxus – Movement reference MoMA: Fluxus Overview - https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/fluxus#:~:text=Founded%20by%20George%20Maciunas%20and,to%20integrate%20art%20and%20life .

Broadcast live from Rice University (yes, in Houston ), this episode of Bad at Sports brings together the curator of comics and cartoon art at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Caitlin McGurk , and the Richmond-based zine publisher and comics obsessive behind Bubbles Fanzine , Brian Baynes .

We dive deep into McGurk’s new book Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund , a biography and art book reclaiming one of the first women to work for The New Yorker . McGurk details her decade-long research process, Shermund’s punk rock lifestyle in the 1920s, and the bittersweet reclamation of her uncredited legacy.

In the second half, we sit down with Brian Baynes, who champions comics culture from the DIY trenches. He shares his mission behind Bubbles , how it draws on punk zine culture, why it stays in print forever, and how he's preserving overlooked voices from India to local comic shops.

From feminist cartoon history to cassette-label archaeology and typewriter ribbon obsession, this one’s a love letter to the weird, wonderful, and un-archived margins of visual culture.

Names Dropped:
Caitlin McGurk – Curator at Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, author of Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins Brian Baynes – Publisher of Bubbles zine Bubbles Zine – Indie comics fanzine Barbara Shermund – Early New Yorker cartoonist and subject of McGurk’s book Spain Rodriguez – Underground cartoonist who created Granny McGurk The New Yorker – Home of Shermund’s work in the 1920s–40s Rea Irvin – The New Yorker’s founding art director Harold Ross – Founding editor of The New Yorker Art Students League of New York – Where Shermund studied California School of Fine Arts (now San Francisco Art Institute, recently closed) – Shermund’s California alma mater Hearst Newspapers – Syndicated Shermund’s comic strip Maximum Rocknroll – Long-running punk zine Punk Planet – Chicago-based punk zine, aesthetic cousin of Bad at Sports Soft Boys / Archer Prewitt – Musician and cartoonist interviewed in Bubbles Ludwig Wittgenstein – Language philosopher referenced by Baynes Cameron Arthur – Cartoonist behind The Hidden Islands Anand Radhakrishnan – Likely creator of Stories from Zoo (not named directly, based on context) Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum – At Ohio State University, world’s largest cartoon archive Overlooked No More (Barbara Shermund) – NYT’s obituary project

This week on Bad at Sports , Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller cruise their way into a murder mansion fever dream with Jake Nickell and Lance Curran, two of the minds behind Threadless —the Chicago-based t-shirt empire that helped invent crowdsourced artwear before we’d marketed terms like “creator economy” or “drop ship.”

What begins as a nostalgia trip (setting the stage for how the business developed through DIY screenprinting and forum culture) quickly becomes a deep dive into ethics, art careers, AI disruption, licensing chaos, and why having your work sold in Hot Topic definitely still counts as making it.

We unpack:

The founding of Threadless on a secret art/code forum

Shifting from screen printing to digital on-demand

Working with artists, bands, and comic book creators

Parody vs. IP theft (and WTF the DMCA is)

Building safety and anti-hate moderation into a global platform

Why Chicago still rules

And why Punch Nazis continues to be a top seller

Along the way, we also discuss vending machines, Karl Marx, Cheetos, the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, and what happens when art school turns into a startup.

And, importantly, how capitalism can be leveraged using Foucauldian power for artists—rather than for their subjugation.

Jake Nickell is the founder of Threadless , and a pioneer in crowdsourced design and artist-first merchandise models. He started Threadless in 2000 while still in art school.

Lance Curran is the VIP Accounts Director at Threadless, a longtime champion of artist partnerships, muralist collaborations, and weird comic book projects. He joined the company in 2005 and once described the warehouse as “the Foot Clan layer from Ninja Turtles.”

Names Dropped: Jake Nickell
Lance Curran
Threadless
Tony Moore
The Walking Dead
Hot Topic
Hope for the Day
The Trevor Project
Redbox
Columbia College Chicago
Four Seasons Total Landscaping
Nathan Fielder
Disney Warner Bros. Universal Studios Marvel Harvard Business School Case Study on Threadless
Silicon Valley
Chicago Art Scene

Recorded live at the Comics Without Borders / Sans Frontières gathering at Rice University, this episode dives deep into international comics publishing, aesthetic risk-taking, and how underground networks drive a truly global comics culture.

David Schilter, publisher and editor of Latvia’s acclaimed kuš! comics, joins us alongside Pedro Vieira de Moura, Portuguese critic, writer, and co-founder of the bookstore/gallery Mundo Fantasma. We talk about how a small-format anthology changed Latvian comics forever, why RAW magazine changed Pedro's life, and how comics have always been a place for outsiders to find their people.

It’s about pornographic comics, lipstick in mirrors, misnumbered anthologies, institutional resistance, aesthetic weirdness, bookstores as public educators, and why no one in Latvia is publishing Maus .

Guest Links:
kuš! comics (David Schilter): https://www.komikss.lv

Pedro Vieira de Moura : http://www.laboratori.net

Mundo Fantasma (Porto bookstore/gallery) : https://www.mundofantasma.pt
Names Dropped :
Art Spiegelman – Creator of Maus , influence on RAW magazine: Art Spiegelman on Wikipedia

Barbara Shermund – queer comics history: Barbara Shermund

Basil Wolverton – Iconic MAD magazine illustrator: Basil Wolverton on Wikipedia

Charles Burns – Known for Black Hole and RAW magazine: Charles Burns on Wikipedia

Gary Panter – RAW magazine artist, punk comics icon: Gary Panter on Wikipedia

Al Jaffee – Fold-in master at MAD Magazine: Al Jaffee on Wikipedia

Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli – Daredevil and Batman: Year One :

Frank Miller

David Mazzucchelli

Moebius – Legendary French comics artist: Moebius on Wikipedia

Neil Adams, George Pérez, Jim Lee –

Scott McCloud – Author of Understanding Comics : Scott McCloud

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro – Early Portuguese cartoonist and comic pioneer

David B. – French cartoonist and co-founder of L’Association: David B. on Wikipedia

Adrian Tomine – Acclaimed alternative cartoonist: Adrian Tomine

Marjane Satrapi – Creator of Persepolis : Marjane Satrapi

Brian Baynes – Publisher of Bubbles Zine : Bubbles Zine

In this episode, we sit down with architect, editor, and curator Florencia Rodriguez , Artistic Director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB ) 6 . We dig into the ideas shaping this year’s edition—titled “Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change” —and her approach to curating a biennial that centers transformation, public space, and critical imagination.

Rodriguez reflects on her journey from Buenos Aires to Chicago, the founding of PLOT and SOILED , and her evolving relationship to criticism as both practice and provocation. We explore how writing and curating can act as architectural tools, shaping not only discourse but the environments we inhabit.

We also soft-launch Bad at Sports ’ partnership with CAB 6—an evolving audio collaboration that will track the biennial’s voices, urgencies, and ideas throughout the year.

Mentioned in this episode:
Chicago Architecture Biennial CAB 6: Shift – Architecture in Times of Radical Change Florencia Rodriguez – SOILED Florencia Rodriguez – PLOT Journal (Spanish/archived)

Recorded live at Comics Sans Frontières, Houston

For our milestone 900th episode, we headed to Houston and sat down with the brilliant Robert Pruitt, live at the Cats Conference: Comics Sans Frontières —a gathering of artists, thinkers, and cultural workers reshaping the future of comics, narrative, and speculative visual worlds.

Live at a bar after the second conference day. So, this is never going to make it to the radio. Cuss-y MacCusserson shows up and healthy arguments occur.

Pruitt, known for his richly layered drawings and deep engagement with Black cultural production, walks us through the politics of representation, the influence of comics and sci-fi on his work, and the shifting cultural landscape of the Gulf Coast. We talk materials, mythology, the beauty of inconsistency, and what it means to make work that traffics in both critique and care.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on what it means to reach 900 episodes of Bad at Sports —and what’s next for us in the ever-evolving, ever-weird world of contemporary art discourse. Nah. Let’s do it later this week at EXPO Chicago.

Mentioned in this episode:
Robert Pruitt – Artist Website The Drawing Center Comics Sans Frontières Conference The Studio Museum in Harlem Project Row Houses EXPO Chicago 2025 Bad at Sports: The Center of Discourse (link coming soon!)

Gremlins, Borders, and Recipes for Resistance

This week we’re joined by Jessica Snow and Liga Spunde , two artists navigating the world through comics, street theater, and occasionally letterpress and photoshop.

Jessica Snow walks us through her wide-ranging practice—from illustration and letterpress to building massive puppets and organizing street performances to attempting to confronting the entangled realities of border politics, ecological collapse, and resistance. Her work with Kitchen Table Press and collaborative projects like Recipes of Resistance blend protest and performance into shared, tangible experiences that challenge the quiet violence of contemporary life.

Meanwhile, Liga Spunde brings us deep into a psychological terrain. Working with a unique computer-generated drawing style, Liga explores the emotional weight of the traumas of contemporary life—from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the various ways we experienced the pandemic to the existential task of making a 6 page comic. Her work resists tidy narratives, instead making room for ambiguity, emotional excess, fragile and detailed humor, and a specific fascination with Gremlins.

This episode was recorded as part of Chris Sperandio’s Comics Without Borders (but say it in French) event at Rice University—an international gathering of artists, publishers, and thinkers reframing what comics can do in turbulent times. (More here: Comics Without Borders.)

We cover a lot of ground—Latvia’s premier comic publisher, post-crisis psychology, DIY print culture, and why strange books and big puppets might still save us all. This is Bad at Sports at its finest: loose, live, urgent and embedded, and full of strange joy.

Links & Projects Mentioned:
Jessica Snow: jessicasnowart.com Kitchen Table Press: kitchentablepress.org Recipes of Resistance: recipesofresistance.com Liga Spunde: ligaspunde.com kuš! komikss: https://komikss.lv/ Comics Without Borders @ Rice University: https://cats.rice.edu/comics-sans-frontieres-march-20-24-2025/ Christopher Sperandio: https://pinkojoe.com/

This week. Dana’s back?

She and Duncan sit down with artist Wafaa Bilal and curator Bana Kattan to discuss Bilal’s powerful and deeply personal mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago . Known for his provocative, often participatory works that grapple with war, trauma, displacement, and surveillance, Bilal has long made the body both a site of resistance and a vessel of memory.

We talk through key moments in Bilal’s practice—from early performance pieces like Domestic Tension to newer, installation-based works—and reflect on how his work has shifted, expanded, and endured over the past two decades. Kattan, who curated the exhibition, shares insights into the retrospective’s structure and the challenges of contextualizing work that refuses easy categorization.

While reminiscing, Duncan and Wafaa also talk through what it means to make art as a form of witnessing, how museums hold space for pain and politics, and why Bilal still believes in the power of beauty…

(Spoiler: Duncan isn’t sure, but Bana and Dana side with Wafaa.)

Links & References:
Wafaa Bilal's website: http://wafaabilal.com MCA Chicago Exhibition Info: https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2024/Wafaa-Bilal Bana Kattan bio & curatorial work: https://mcachicago.org/About/Who-We-Are/Staff/Bana-Kattan Domestic Tension (aka “Shoot an Iraqi” project): https://wafaabilal.com/domestic-tension Book: Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life, and Resistance Under the Gun (co-authored with Kari Lydersen) – https://www.amazon.com/Shoot-Iraqi-Life-Resistance-Under/dp/087286491X @wafaabilal on Instagram @mcachicago on Instagram

In this episode, we talk Architectural Doucmentaries, Graphic Design, the cross over of the art and design audiences, and whether or not social practice could be a job:
Kyle Bergman , is the mastermind behind the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF), takes us through the wild ride of showcasing global architectural stories and films. He shares the festival’s international charm and its role in making architecture the star of the show. Ashley Lukasik , filmmaker and Principal of Murmur Ring, joins us to talk about The New Bauhaus documentary (Maholy’s got swag) and the work she’s producing at Murmur Ring. They’re out to change the minds of makers and using social practice and design thinking strategies on the practioneers and the designers.
Links and Resources:
Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF): ADFF’s global tour of must-see design docs. (adfilmfest.com ) Chicago Architecture Center (CAC): The CAC is where the architectural magic happens. (architecture.org ) Murmur Ring: Ashley Lukasik’s team is all about immersive experiences that challenge what it means to be human in a digital age. (murmur-ring.com ) 'The New Bauhaus' Documentary: Get the lowdown on the Bauhaus movement and why it’s still cooler than you might think. (https://www.thenewbauhaus.com/ )

In the final episode recorded live from Stitch and Staple: The Artist Book Fair , we’re thrilled to sit down with two incredible comic creators, Beth Hetland and Kyle O'Connell. This conversation dives deep into the world of comics and graphic narratives, with Hetland and O'Connell offering insights into their creative collaborations and shared comic interests.

Beth Hetland, known for her heartfelt and intricate autobiographical comics, discusses the power of graphic novels to explore memory, identity, and storytelling. She and Kyle O’Connell also shed light on how their collaboration allows them to push the boundaries of traditional comic narratives, creating work that resonates on both emotional and humorous levels.

In a fun aside, Duncan revisits the origin story of how Ryan joined Bad at Sports . Initially approaching artist Jennifer Mills to be a co-host, Duncan found himself "thrown under the bus" when Mills suggested Ryan instead—and the rest is podcast history! The dynamic duo share their complicated vacation-sharing arrangement and how Jennifer, hilariously, isn’t speaking to either of them anymore.

In this episode, everyone embraces the playful, witty energy that makes comics such an accessible and engaging medium. We reflect on what comics can uniquely access within the world of art, and how the medium functions as a powerful tool for both personal expression and social commentary. Plus, in true Bad at Sports style, there’s plenty of humor, banter, and storytelling along the way.

We’re airing this episode just as Duncan and Ryan gear up for their next adventure—heading to Houston for the Comics Sans Frontières: An International Graphic Narrative Conference at Rice University. Be sure to catch the conversation before they hit the road!

Links and Mentions:
Beth Hetland's website Kyle O’Connell's website Stitch and Staple: The Artist Book Fair https://www.stapleandstitchfair.com/ Comics Sans Frontières at Rice University https://cats.rice.edu/page/2/ Bad at Sports live from Houston Upcoming! Jennifer Mills' website

In this episode, Bad at Sports welcomes artist, writer, and thinker Emma Bergman to discuss a range of fascinating topics that blend the personal, the theoretical, and the speculative.

We delve into Emma's ideas about utopian conviction and how they intersect with the looming specter of the coming apocalypse, and the games we can play with what is becoming our practical nightmare. From philosophical musings to creative solutions, we explore how different utopian ideologies might intersect and prepare (or fail to prepare) us for the crisis of our future.

Personality testing also enters the conversation, as we examine how modern and historical approaches to assessing character and behavior might offer insights—or generate traps—for individuals navigating this new world order and Berman runs the boys of B@S though her system and we learn if they are ready.

We also explore the concept of bureaucratic realism , digging into how institutional structures shape our experience and sense of agency in the world, and how to creatively play within these constraints and out side them can establish new paths forward.

Throughout this conversation, we playfully touch on ways to solve the future —how art, culture, and speculative thinking offer new ways of envisioning what lies ahead, and how individuals can act within systems and system collapse.

Join us for a thought-provoking episode filled with visionary ideas, humor, and practical philosophical discussions.

Live for the 21C Chicago!

In this episode, Bad at Sports dives into the world of independent publishing, printmaking, and the intersections of art, academia, and production with two innovative presses pushing the boundaries of their respective fields.

Hoof Print Press , based in Pilsen, Chicago, is not just a print shop, but a thriving print publisher that explores multiple media, including ceramics. Known for their dynamic exhibition series, they bring a unique perspective on the art of printmaking, combining tradition with modern experimentation. We talk about how they balance the fine art of print with the hands-on craft of ceramics and what it means to operate as both creators and curators in the community-driven Pilsen neighborhood. - Gabe Hoare on mic.

Next, we’re joined by Immaterial Books , a quasi-academic press that’s redefining the possibilities of academic publishing. Immaterial tests the limits of what it means to produce knowledge and content outside the conventional capitalist distribution and production models. They explore nontraditional forms of publishing that challenge the boundaries between art and academia. In this conversation, we dive into how their radical approach to publishing engages with academia, art practices, and the broader cultural conversation around knowledge production. Phillip Kalantzis-Cope on mic.

Together, we discuss how both presses navigate the evolving worlds of independent publishing and art production, and how their work is changing the ways we think about community, art, and knowledge distribution.

Tune in for an insightful episode that explores the intersection of artistic practices, publishing, and the role of independent presses in today’s creative and academic landscapes.

Live from 21C Chicago!

In this episode, we sit down with Cecilia Beaven, a dynamic Mexican-born artist, muralist, and illustrator whose work bridges the worlds of fine art and public spaces. Beaven's pieces have graced both urban environments and galleries, transforming her surroundings with a unique blend of surrealism, humor, and critical commentary. Her work explores themes of myth, identity, and the fantastical, reflecting on the human experience through vibrant, intricate visual narratives.

Recently, Beaven has been making waves with exhibitions at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago and the Hyde Park Art Center. These shows highlight her ability to combine intricate storytelling with visual spectacle, drawing viewers into her vibrant, often surreal world. Beyond gallery spaces, Beaven's public art projects have continued to expand, with large-scale murals that engage communities and address themes of identity, history, and the urban environment.

We discuss her process, influences, and the challenges of creating art that resonates across cultural contexts. Tune in to hear about her experiences painting murals, collaborating with communities, and navigating the international art scene. Beaven also delves into her ongoing projects and the role of storytelling in her artistic practice.

https://www.ceciliabeaven.com/

Strap in, print nerds, because this week we’re coming to you live from the wild and inky trenches of the Staple and Stitch Artist Book Fair at 21C Chicago !

First up, we’ve got Angee Lennard and Jessica Cochran from Process Process Print Publishers —the dynamic duo that’s doing god's work by helping artists get their process-based, experimental prints out into the world (or at least onto some beautiful paper). These two are the real deal: no pretentious art-speak, just raw, creative energy making print magic happen.

Then, just when you thought the paper party couldn’t get any better, Madeleine Aguilar from Bench Press Publications joins us to lay down some serious knowledge about the Chicago art book scene. Bench Press is the indie press you want to be in the know about—they’re cranking limited-run artist books that’ll make you want to throw all your digital content in the trash.

We recorded this maudlin crew, so enjoy the ambient sounds of over-caffeinated art students and print enthusiasts buzzing around, plus a few awkward microphone mishaps. It’s all part of the charm!

Episode Highlights:
Angie and Jessica talk about the blood, sweat, and squeegees behind Process Process Print Publishers —and why the process is as important as the product. Bench Press Publications : indie publishing that’s both scrappy and impossibly cool. Madeleine breaks down the beauty of small-batch, collectible art books and why limited edition is more than just a buzzword. The absolute chaos and joy of recording this episode at Staple and Stitch in the heart of the art scene at 21C Chicago . (Spoiler: You’ll want to be there next year.)

Process Process Print Publishers : Website Bench Press Publications : Website Staple and Stitch Artist Book Fair : Website

Live from the wild, eclectic, art-riddled halls of Stitch and Staple at the illustrious 21C hotel, we’re diving into the deep blue—conceptually, at least—with this episode. We chat with the incredibly thoughtful Dawit L. Petros and Art History powerhouse Onur Öztürk about their work in the exhibition Prospetto a Mare at the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP). What’s it about? Well, think: migration, colonial histories, and the ever-shifting geopolitical sea. No big deal, right?

Petros’ breathtaking, multi-layered visual narratives bring the past and present of migration into view, while Öztürk’s sharp, historically-grounded insights connect the dots across time and space. Together, they turn the exhibition into a thought-provoking journey across borders—geographical, historical, and artistic.

Also, we recorded this episode at 21C’s luxurious digs, so enjoy the ambiance of clinking glasses and gallery buzz in the background. Join us as we unpack how art and history collide in one of the most important conversations about displacement and identity today.

Links & Mentions:
Dawit L. Petros: dawitlpetros.com Onur Öztürk: Onur Öztürk's TedX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC_Etz5go8U Prospetto a Mare Exhibition at MoCP: MoCP Exhibition Page Stitch and Staple at 21C Hotel: Stitch & Staple Info Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP): mocp.org

Live from Stitch and Staple at the illustrious 21C Hotel (because, why record in a normal studio when you can do it in a fancy hotel?), we dive into the deep end with Kris Graves , photographer extraordinaire and head honcho of KGP | Monolith , along with the relentlessly kind crew from Have a Nice Day Press .

We grill Kris on everything from the role of documentary photography in social justice to navigating this wild political landscape we call life, all while discussing how photo books aren't just pretty—they're political weapons (but, you know, in a good way). If you’ve ever wondered how to make a photo book that doesn’t just sit on a shelf, but sparks a revolution, this one’s for you. Kris Graves might just be the guy to show you how.

And then, we meet Have a Nice Day Press , who are all about making art books with the simple goal of being, well... nice . Like, refreshingly nice. They break down why making art books is their way of spreading good vibes and making the world a slightly less terrible place. Turns out, being nice is a radical act in the art world—who knew?

Want more Kris Graves magic?
KGP | Monolith (Warning: May cause sudden urges to buy all the books) Kris Graves Photography (Yes, he's that good)
Curious about Have a Nice Day Press?
Check them out here (Prepare to be showered with niceness)
Join us for a wild ride filled with book love, kindness overload, and Kris Graves’ no-nonsense take on everything from politics to photography. Grab your headphones and get ready for some serious (and not-so-serious) art talk.

In this episode, we catch up with Meg Duguid , the new Executive Director of Spudnik Press , Chicago’s premier community printmaking studio. Meg shares her vision for the future of the Press, an organization known for fostering an inclusive environment where artists of all levels can access printmaking resources, develop their craft, and engage with a vibrant, supportive artistic community.

Spudnik Press , since its founding in 2007, has stood at the intersection of traditional printmaking and innovative artistic practices. The Press offers an array of services, including an open studio , workshops, residencies, and exhibitions that elevate both established and emerging printmakers. Its mission extends beyond the art of printmaking, positioning itself as a vital hub for creative expression, collaboration, and education within Chicago’s art landscape.

Meg discusses how she plans to continue and expand on Spudnik’s role in the local and national printmaking communities, emphasizing inclusivity, experimentation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. She brings her years of experience as an artist, curator, and arts administrator to this dynamic role, sharing insights into how Spudnik Press will continue to push boundaries and serve as a crucial space for artistic growth.

Tune in to hear about Meg’s journey , her thoughts on leadership, and what lies ahead for Spudnik Press as it enters an exciting new chapter under her direction.

A strange and lucky number for an episode packed with the profound! This week, we dive deep into design, architecture, and the unique culture of Chicago. We kick things off with an interview featuring Sharon & Guy , the dynamic design collaborative whose thought-provoking artworks are included in The Spaces We Call Home , currently on view at the DePaul Art Museum . They're joined by Marin R. Sullivan , the curator of this important show, to discuss how their work reflects on identity, place, and home.

Next, we talk to Brandon Johnson , publisher of Almighty & Insane Books , about his exploration of Chicago's gangland ephemera, the hidden histories of modern architecture, tagging, visionary art, and why Chicago continues to inspire generations of creators. Brandon's work uncovers the city's gritty and delightfully creative underbelly, presenting it in a way that both honors and challenges conventional narratives.

Join us as we unpack all things Chicago: from its built environment to its street art, this conversation covers it all, with plenty of love for the city that shapes so much of our work.

All from Staple and Stitch #1

In this episode of Bad at Sports , we’re coming to you live from the Stitch and Staple Artist Book Fair at 21C Museum Hotels! Join us as we chat with Jennifer Murray , about the evolving landscape of artist book fairs and the growing role of alternative exhibition spaces. We also dive into the mind of Evan Fusco , a rising artist and art producer whose multidisciplinary practice explores themes of identity, memory, and transformation.

Our hosts discuss the significance of the 21C Museum Hotels as a cultural space that bridges hospitality and contemporary art, creating opportunities for artists and visitors alike.

Highlights:
The history of the 21c and public art with Jennifer Murray Evan Fusco’s artistic process and how his work challenges conventional forms The role of 21C Museum Hotels as an alternative platform for art in unexpected spaces Insights from the Stitch and Staple Artist Book Fair at 21C Hotels
Tune in for a dynamic conversation on the future of art in unconventional spaces and the work of emerging artists like Fusco!

Suggested Links: (more links soon)
21C Museum Hotels – Learn more about 21C Museum Hotels and their fusion of art and hospitality. Jennifer Murray – Former Director of Filter Photo and a key figure in contemporary photography, now Curator at 21C Chicago Evan Fusco – Explore Evan Fusco’s portfolio. Stitch and Staple Artist Book Fair – Find out more about the event and participating artists.

In this milestone episode of Bad at Sports , we welcome back Scott Speh, the founder and director of Western Exhibitions , to celebrate 20 years of the gallery’s existence and its significant role in shaping the Chicago art scene. It’s been 19 years since Scott’s last appearance on the show, and in this conversation, we dive deep into the journey of Western Exhibitions, its impact on the city’s art landscape, and the evolving nature of the gallery's programming.

From the early days of launching the gallery to navigating the challenges and rewards of running an independent space in Chicago, Scott offers a unique perspective on the state of contemporary art and its communities. We discuss the dynamic relationships between artists, collectors, curators, and the broader public, and reflect on how Western Exhibitions has not only supported emerging artists but also helped to foster a rich cultural dialogue in the city.

As the art world continues to change, Scott shares his thoughts on the future of galleries, the role of physical spaces, and how the local art ecosystem has evolved over the past two decades. Tune in for an insightful and engaging conversation about the intersection of art, community, and sustainability in Chicago.

Names Dropped…

Shannon Stratton, Marc Fischer, Anthony Elms, Philip von Zweck, Rhona Hoffman, Dirk Denison, David Salkin, John Neff, Jason Pickelman, Dutes Miller, Pedro Valez, Nick Frank, Stan Shellabarger, 7/3 Split, Tim Fleming, Paul Nudd, Dan Attoe, Lisa Boyle, Rowley Kennerk, Andrew Rafacz, Lou Manilow, Robyn O’Neil, Ryan Christianson, Geoffrey Todd Smith, Edie Fake, Mark Pascalr… There were others…

https://www.shannonraestratton.com/about

https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/39749/

https://lostandfoundlab.org/anthony-elms

https://artadia.org/artist/philip-von-zweck/

https://www.rhoffmangallery.com/

https://www.dirkdenisonarchitects.com/

https://www.davidsalkin.com/

https://artadia.org/artist/john-neff/

https://design.newcity.com/2024/04/05/one-more-day-in-the-life-of-jason-pickleman/

https://www.jmkac.org/artist/miller-dutes/

https://westernexhibitions.com/artist/stan-shellabarger/

https://velezpedro.com/home.html

http://www.thegreengallery.biz/artists/nicholas-frank

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-fleming-772a7618

https://www.artfairmag.com/art-los-angeles-contemporary/

https://www.spudnikpress.org/people/paul-nudd/

https://thehole.com/artists/dan-attoe

https://badatsports.com/2010/rowley-kennerk-gallery-closing/

https://andrewrafacz.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Manilow

https://www.robynoneil.com/

https://www.geoffreytoddsmith.com/

https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/edie-fake-off-the-grid/

https://www.luxcenter.org/artist/mark-pascale

https://badatsports.com/2005/episode-6-scott-speh-and-philip-von-zweck-interviewed/

Image Credit - Credit: Josh Druding for Chicago Reader https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/the-past-and-future-of-western-exhibitions/

In this episode of Bad at Sports , we sit down with Chicago-based artist and sculptor Betsy Odom , whose work uniquely blends high craftsmanship with intentional moments when the craft fails. Odom’s sculptures often serve as playful critiques of mass cultural phenomena, gendered objects, and sporting culture, creating pieces that are both visually stunning and conceptually layered.

With a deep fascination for sports culture and the ways it intersects with identity and gender, Odom’s work delights in crafting objects that are as charmingly imperfect as they are thoughtful. These "flawed" sculptures often act as queer-ed interpretations of familiar items, inviting us to question the norms surrounding them. We discuss Betsy’s approach to materials, her exploration of identity through sculpture, and how humor and subversion play key roles in her work.

https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/get-in-the-game/

https://www.betsyodom.com/

In this episode, we explore Ours Is The Hand That Sews Time , a two-person exhibition at M. LeBlanc featuring new work by father and son, Peter and Jake Fagundo. Both artists challenge the notion of painting as a finished product, instead embracing it as a continuous, evolving process. Peter, a longtime professor at SAIC, draws from his deep archive of past drawings and appropriated imagery, creating works that bridge abstraction and figuration. His son Jake, shaped by the digital age and a dynamic array of artistic influences, balances historical references with playful figurative work. Together, their pieces create a dialogue across generations, blending tradition with contemporary exploration. We are joined by Taylor Payton and Marc LeBlanc.

https://peterfagundo.com/home.html

https://www.artsy.net/artist/jake-michael-fagundo

https://www.sulkchicago.com/

https://mleblancchicago.com/oursisthehandthatsewstime

https://gruntsrarebooks.us/

In this episode, the Bad at Sports crew heads to the Center for MAD Culture to dive into the powerful intersection of art and mental health. They sit down with the Center’s current featured artist, Meghann Sottile, and Director Matt Bodett to explore what it means to embrace "MAD culture" and the crucial role that madness plays in shaping our broader cultural landscape. Sottile shares insights into her exquisitely crafted sculptures, discussing the influence of her personal experiences and the broader implications of creating work that navigates the boundaries of beauty and mental health. Bodett adds to the conversation, offering a glimpse into the mission of the Center for MAD Culture and the ways in which madness informs creative expression, societal perceptions, and cultural contributions.

Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation about art, madness, and the way we think about the relationship between creativity and mental health.

https://www.madculture.org/

https://www.meghannsottile.com/

https://www.mattbodett.com/

Eric Von Haynes is a Chicago-based artist, printmaker, and community organizer. He founded Flatlands Press , a print studio that creates art objects and printed ephemera for artists worldwide, with a focus on community engagement. His work blends traditional and contemporary printmaking techniques, creating unique monoprints that invite viewers to reflect on time and memory. Haynes’ work is characterized by his use of slow media, non-repeating patterns, and an emphasis on process-driven art.

In addition to his artistic practice, Haynes is deeply involved in community-based initiatives. He co-founded The Love Fridge Chicago , a mutual aid group focused on food sovereignty, and serves as the President of the Chicago Printers Guild . His dedication to collaborative art practices extends to his residency at the Chicago Art Department , where he engages in projects that promote public participation and social connections through art.

He has exhibited works like Drawn Through Restraint , a series of lithographs exploring the intersection of design, time, and memory. This exhibition included participatory workshops to engage the public in risograph printing, highlighting his commitment to blending art with community-building.

https://www.flatlandspress.com/

https://www.thelovefridge.com/

https://www.chicagoprintersguild.org/

https://chicagoartdepartment.org/

https://www.tigerstrikesasteroid.com/chi-/-eric-von-haynes-drawn-through-restraint

This week on Bad at Sports Duncan MacKenzie and Amy Kligman check in with Sean Nash! Thanks to the glory of the Charlotte Street Foundation.

Sean Nash is a visual artist whose work often intersects with fermentation, social practice, and ecological themes. His projects integrate fermented foods into sculptures and exhibitions, exploring the cultural and biological aspects of fermentation. Nash has exhibited at various venues including the Kniznick Gallery at Brandeis, Plug Projects in Kansas City, and Black Ball Projects in Brooklyn.

Notably, his "Lactobacillus Amongus" exhibition used sourdough starters and bacteria as a form of portraiture, blending biology with visual art. He also engages with social practice art, such as his long-term project "Trans Fermentation," where he collaborates with other transgender individuals to ferment food, creating a platform for dialogue and community building. Nash’s work challenges traditional boundaries between disciplines, bringing together art, food, and social issues​

Additionally, he recently earned the Charlotte Street Visual Art Award, and his upcoming work will be featured at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. His pieces often comment on environmental and agricultural themes, creating art that envisions a hopeful, sustainable future​

https://kcstudio.org/honors-sean-nash/

https://emerge.asu.edu/artist/sean-nash/

https://www.townsend-gallery.com/artists/seannash

https://charlottestreet.org/

https://www.amykligman.com/

https://senash.com/

In this episode our intrepid art adventure enthusist, Duncan MacKenzie, is joined but KC rockstar ED, Amy Kligman. Together they catch up with two of the next generation of Kansas City's art world grinders charting the next phase of KC contemporary art. Sam Hann and Cesar E. Lopez Mejia.

https://www.plug.gallery/team-1

https://www.artskcgo.com/organization/curiouser-curiouser/

https://lopezcesar.com/

https://www.samanthahaan.com/

https://www.amykligman.com/

https://charlottestreet.org/

In this episode of the Bad at Sports Podcast, we sit down with Caleb Taylor, a dynamic artist and influential figure in Kansas City's vibrant art scene. Join us as we delve into Caleb's creative journey, his work, Plug, curating, and his deep roots and connections with the local Kansas City art scene.

https://charlottestreet.org/

https://charlottestreet.org/exhibition/site-seeing/

Corey Antis (Kansas City)- https://cargocollective.com/coreyantis

Avantika Bawa (Portland)- https://www.avantikabawa.net/

Dan Devening (Chicago)- http://dandevening.com/

Marcie Miller Gross (Kansas City)- https://www.marciemillergross.com/

Mie Kongo (Chicago)- https://www.miekongo.com/

Cybele Lyle (Los Angeles)- https://cybelelyle.com/

Armin Mühsam (Kansas City)- https://arminmuhsam.com/

Erin O’Keefe (New York)- https://www.erinokeefe.com/

Christopher Spaw (Alma, KS)- https://www.instagram.com/christopherspaw/

Caleb Taylor (Kansas City)- https://calebtaylorstudio.com/Information

http://deveningprojects.com/

https://www.plug.gallery/

On this episode of Bad at Sports, Wisconsin artist Colin Matthes gets descriptive about his ongoing series of discursive drawings and sculptures. His unconscientious images come from a daily drawing routine made around the home with his wife and two children, portraying confabulated narratives from books and TV intertwined with imagined and lived moments.

ColinMatthes.com

Instagram

https://www.thealicewilds.com/

Description: Join hosts Jesse Malmed and Duncan MacKenzie as they chat with Jen de los Reyes about the future of arts education. Jen shares her innovative teaching methods and syllabus, sparking a lively discussion on how to nurture creativity and adapt to a changing art world. Jesse gets thoughtful. Duncan mic drops.

About Our Guests:

Jesse Malmed is a Chicago-based artist, curator, and educator known for his interdisciplinary practice that includes performance, video, text, and curatorial projects. Jesse's work explores the intersection of art and media, challenging traditional forms and pushing creative boundaries. He teaches at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Jen de los Reyes is a visionary artist, educator, and community organizer. She is recognized for her pioneering work in socially engaged art and her commitment to rethinking and reshaping art education. Jen's teaching philosophy emphasizes inclusivity, creativity, and real-world impact, making her a leading figure in contemporary arts education. She teaches at Cornell University.

Duncan MacKenzie is an artist, educator, and co-founder of the Bad at Sports podcast. With a background in print, painting, sculpture, and art criticism, Duncan brings a keen analytical eye to the podcast, facilitating in-depth discussions on art practice and education. He teaches at Columbia College Chicago.

https://www.jendelosreyes.com/

https://www.jendelosreyes.com/teaching

https://www.jessemalmed.net/

https://uwm.edu/

https://www.cornell.edu/

https://www.colum.edu/

https://coprosperity.org/

In this episode of Bad at Sports, Daniel Tucker travels to Seoul, South Korea, to attend the Arts in Society conference 2024, where he sits down with two influential figures in the global arts community.

Solana Chehtman , a New York-based cultural producer and curator originally from Buenos Aires, joins Daniel as a plenary speaker at the conference. Solana is currently the Director of Artist Programs at Joan Mitchell Foundation, where she focuses on supporting visual artists through unrestricted funding and career development opportunities. Her commitment to equity in the arts has shaped her roles as the inaugural Director of Creative Practice and Social Impact at The Shed and Vice President of Public Engagement at Friends of the High Line. Solana’s extensive experience includes teaching at the MA in Arts Administration at Baruch College and collaborating with organizations such as Artadia and Creative Capital.

Jaeyong Park , a curator, writer, and translator based in Seoul, shares insights from his work at the Seoul Reading Room and as an organizer at Curating School Seoul. Jaeyong co-founded Work on Work and has curated numerous impactful projects, including "HIT and RUN" and "The Ideological Guide to Venice Biennale." His individual projects, such as "TOTAL RECALL" and "Center for Selfie Studies," explore themes of technology, connectivity, and social context in art. As a researcher, Jaeyong delves into structural changes in the art system in Korea and Asia, emphasizing the intersection of art and society.

Join Daniel Tucker as he engages Solana Chehtman and Jaeyong Park in a conversation that delves into their experiences, perspectives, and the evolving landscape of arts and culture on a global scale.

https://artsinsociety.com/2025-conference

https://artsinsociety.com/

https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/solana-chehtman

https://www.jaeyongpark.net/

Welcome to another episode of Bad at Sports. In this episode, Jesse and Duncan sit down with Jen de los Reyes, an artist, organizer, and activist known for her transformative projects that bridge art and community engagement.

Jen de los Reyes is perhaps best known for her role in founding and organizing the groundbreaking Open Engagement conference, a platform that explores various facets of art and social practice. Through Open Engagement, Jen has created a space where artists, thinkers, and activists converge to discuss critical issues and forge connections that transcend traditional boundaries.

During our conversation, Jen de los Reyes shares insights into the origins of Open Engagement, its evolution over the years, and its impact on the contemporary art scene. We delve into the conference's role in fostering dialogue around social justice, environmental sustainability, and collective action within artistic practices.

In addition to her work with Open Engagement, we discuss: Garbage Hill Farm. This innovative urban farming initiative challenges conventional notions of sustainability and community building. The Garbage Hill Farm project transforms its urban landscapes and serves as a platform for education and empowerment within local communities.

All from inside of her exhibition “In Concert With” at Chicago’s Co-Prosperity Sphere.

https://www.jendelosreyes.com/

https://www.instagram.com/garbagehillfarm/

https://openengagement.info/

https://www.disappearingbirds.org/

In this captivating episode of Bad at Sports Podcast, we bring you a special recording of a panel discussion held at the Goldfinch Gallery. The event, which saw an enthusiastic turnout with every painter in Chicago turning out for this standing room only discussion, delves into the intricate world of painting. "Team Contemporary Painting" panelists, Leslie Baum and Andreas Fischer, share their insights on a range of topics, including painting techniques, materials, subjects, and the generation of content. They also explore the dynamics of collaboration among painters, shedding light on how artists work together and maintain their individuality in the art world.

Leslie Baum, a distinguished painter known for her vibrant and dynamic works, joins Andreas Fischer, whose thought-provoking pieces have garnered critical acclaim, in a conversation moderated by Justin Witte. Justin, the Curator and Director at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, guides the discussion with his profound understanding of contemporary art and its evolving

https://www.atthemac.org/cleve-carney-museum-of-art/

https://goldfinch-gallery.com/

https://lesliebaum.net/

https://goldfinch-gallery.com/artists/66-andreas-fischer/overview/

Image Andreas Fischer, "Grandma is Mountians", 2024

Join the Bad at Sports team as they delve into the vibrant world of contemporary art in their latest episode featuring two influential figures from the gallery scene: Haynes Riley of Good Weather and Kai Matsumiya of his eponymous gallery.

In this engaging conversation, Haynes Riley shares insights into the vision and mission behind Good Weather Gallery, a dynamic space known for its cutting-edge exhibitions and support for emerging artists. From discussing the curation process to the challenges and triumphs of running an independent gallery, Riley provides a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the contemporary art world.

Kai Matsumiya brings his unique perspective as a gallery owner, offering listeners a glimpse into the ethos driving his own gallery's endeavors. With a focus on fostering community engagement and pushing artistic boundaries, Matsumiya shares anecdotes from his journey in curating thought-provoking exhibitions and collaborating with diverse artists.

Throughout the episode we attack the evolving landscape of contemporary art, the role of galleries in shaping cultural discourse, Chicago, Little Rock, and New York City, and the intersections between art and society.

Tune in as the Bad at Sports Podcast team explores the intersections of art, culture, and creativity with Haynes Riley and Kai Matsumiya, two trailblazers shaping the future of the art world through their respective galleries. Whether you're an art enthusiast, a seasoned collector, or simply curious about the power of visual expression, this episode offers an illuminating exploration of contemporary art's ever-evolving landscape.

https://goodweather.llc/

https://www.barelyfair.com/

https://kaimatsumiya.com/

https://www.expochicago.com/

In this episode of Bad at Sports Podcast, we delve into the puffy painting and bulging canvases with Chicago-based artist Christina Ballantyne. Live from the opening day of EXPO Chicago 2024. We are the very heart of fabulous in the center of art world fortune and glory.

Guest Bio: Christina Ballantyne is a Chicago-based artist known for her dynamic and thought-provoking artwork. Her work explores themes of identity, culture, and the human experience, drawing inspiration from her surroundings and personal reflections. With a background in fine arts and a keen eye for detail, Christina's creations have been exhibited in galleries and art spaces across the country.

Image: Christina Ballantyne, Madonna, child and little bird, 24"x20", oil, burlap, polyfill on canvas, 2024

https://www.christinaballantyne.com/

https://www.instagram.com/xtinaballantyne2.0/?hl=en

https://www.expochicago.com/

https://colorclub.events/

https://www.juliuscaesarchicago.net/

The artists of Hilma’s Ghost join us from the inside of Secrist Beach Gallery, Chicago’s newly opened and probably most gorgeous gallery, Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray, treat us to magic, haunting and an introduction to tarot. Beyond that, they revel in the radical feminist histories of art and witch craft looking for knowledge beyond the rationally conceived.

Beyond Hilma’s Ghost they also chat about putting together the exhibition “Cosmic Geometries the Prairies Edge.” Including Candida Alvarez , Elijah Burgher, Holly Cahill, Mike Cloud, Gianna Commito, Edie Fake, Vanessa Filley, Julia Fish, Beverly Fishman, Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Azadeh Gholizadeh, Michelle Grabner, Christina Haglid, Rachel Hayes, Gina Hunt, Michiko Itatani, Miyoko Ito, Anna Kunz, Alice Lauffer, Aya Nakamura, Deb Sokolow, May Tveit, Georgina Valverde, Susan C. White, Amy Yoes and Jade Yumang.

https://www.hilmasghost.com/

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hilma-af-klint

https://www.secristgallery.com/exhibitions/2024/hilmas-ghost-spectral-visions-a-feminist-collective-signals-magickal-futures/

https://www.secristgallery.com/exhibitions/2024/cosmic-geometries-the-prairies-edge/

https://www.octaviaartgallery.com/artists/dannielle-tegeder?view=slider#4

https://sharmistharay.com/work/tantra-series-2020-ongoing-works-on-paper/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot

https://m.facebook.com/hilmasghost?locale2=my_MM

https://hyperallergic.com/330790/the-unnamed-woman-artist-revealed-in-the-monogram-of-your-tarot-cards/

This week Bad at Sports favorite art world wanderer, Nato Thompson. We chat through all of Nato’s current diversions such as independent curationg, building the 21st Century Museum and AI’s role in that work, the Alternative Art School and the value proposition of contemporary arts education, and Dreaming in Public.

https://thealternativeartschool.net/

https://www.dreaminginpublic.com/

Compound Yellow's featured artist Gary Cannone dominates every part of the compound with his LA from Chicago brand of conceptual art. Fun name drops include Bernini and Maritizo Catalan. Tune in for the rest.

bio:

Gary Cannone (G uerino Giovanni Cannone) was born in 1964 to Italian immigrants working factory jobs in Chicago. He learned english from American 70s television and was obsessed with Norm Crosby, Carol Burnett, the Three Stooges, Mad Magazine, Wacky Packages, and the Marx Brothers. His grandfather (and namesake) was crushed to death by a pool table the day before Cannone’s eighth birthday in a warehouse accident.

He played in the early 80s leftist punk rock band The Leeches but, as his interest in performing music waned, he saw Vito Aconcci lecture and decided to become an artist. Cannone exhibited conceptual and often dadaistic art while headquartered from Chicago, Rome, and Los Angeles until he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2013. As the disease took a toll on his body, he took a hiatus but began to work again digitally using social media to distribute art and jokes. Interest in his communal project of parody album covers “Albums by Conceptual Artists” led to invitations to exhibit again. He began exploring the effects of his disease on his body and brain which led him back to the comedic tropes he loved so much as a youngster; adressing his disability through the lens of slapstick rather than advocacy.

Cannone’s recent work can be described as a decidedly reductive art executed with the deft skill of a prop comic. The resulting ensemble explores fragility, instability, urges, communication, humiliation, tension, torture, gravity, parody, dexterity, and death.

https://compoundyellow.com/

https://garycannone.studio/

Live for WY! The return of art world mega force Sharon Louden and music empresario Vinson Valega! We talk Sustaining your Creative Life and the Institute for it! Always working to better your artistic life! Get your Art World hustle on.

Asia Freeman/Bunnell Arts Center (Homer, AK): https://www.bunnellarts.org/

Andreana Donahue/Arts of Life (Chicago): https://artsoflife.org/about/

Ruby Lerner: www.rubylerner.com (AMAZING WEBSITE/RESOURCE)

Ray Johnson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Johnson

Evan Penny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Penny

Phil Ross: https://www.mycoworks.com/our-heritage and https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2013/designandviolence/mycotecture-phil-ross/

Wyoming Initiative Partnership (WIP): https://www.uwyo.edu/as/wip.html is connected to the Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts: https://www.uwyo.edu/as/neltje-center/index.html

Sheridan College: https://www.sheridan.edu/

Whitney Center for the Arts: https://www.sheridan.edu/academics/arts/

New Yorker/Lincoln Financial Sponsored Video: Watch [PAID POST] Sustaining Creativity for a Lifetime | The New Yorker

New Yorker/Lincoln Financial Sponsored Article: https://www.newyorker.com/sponsored/story/sharon-louden-a-lifetime-of-championing-working-artists

https://www.vinsonvalega.com/

Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books

Twitter: @LoudenStudio
Instagram: @SharonLouden

www.sharonlouden.com

www.livesustain.org

This week Dorothy Dubrule catches up with Dana Bassett and Duncan, about “Being Work” her new book of essays on the performer’s experience performing art. Essays written by effie bowen, Casey Brown, Dorothy Dubrule, Jessica Emmanuel, Paul Hamilton, Allie Hankins, Kestrel Farin Leah, and Mireya Lucio. Brilliant Illustrations by Eileen Wolf Echikson.

Dorothy Dubrule is a choreographer and performer based in Los Angeles. Her choreography is often made in collaboration with people who do not identify as dancers and has been performed in theaters as well as bars, clubs, galleries, sound stages and sports arenas. She has performed in the work of artists, choreographers and directors such as alexx shilling, Alison D'Amato, Lea Anderson, Melinda Ring, Milka Djordjevich, Narcissister, Tino Sehgal and Zoe Aja Moore. Dorothy received an MFA from UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance and has been the director of Pieter Performance Space since 2017. Prior to moving to LA, she danced with DIY performance collective Club Lyfestile and comedy fly-girl crew Body Dreamz in Philadelphia. A board member of Grex, the West Coast Affiliate of the AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, Dorothy organizes workshops and writes about issues of social identity and power as they arise in art contexts. Following the publication of her essay, "What I'm Doing When I'm Selling Out," on SF MoMA's Open Space, she is currently working with 53rd State Press to edit a collection of writing by performers who have been contracted by visual arts institutions to work in live exhibitions.

https://cargocollective.com/dorothydubrule

https://insert.press/products/being-work

https://apnews.com/article/moma-marina-abramovic-nude-imponderabilia-b3443d3706d2a46bdd02b4f08895e1d5

https://eileenechikson.com/about

Artwork by Eileen Wolf Echikson

Paddy Johnson, the Paddy Johnson! The Blogo-sphere legend behind Art F City joins us to talk about how to make the art world better for Artists! Her new-er venture "Netvverk" and the magic that is artists helping artists. Maybe we dish a little on the current state of arts journalism, art ed and which museum sucks at wall labels.

https://www.paddyjohnson.com/

https://netvvrk.art/

https://www.vvrkshop.art/

https://filthydreams.org/2024/01/27/why-do-biennial-curators-still-talk-like-this/

Paddy Johnson is the founder and CEO of VVrkshop, a company that helps artists get the shows, residencies, and grants of their dreams. She is the founding editor of Art F City (2005-2017) and co-founder of the public art initiative PARADE (2018-2020). Her writing has appeared CNN, The New York Times, and New York Magazine. Johnson is best known for her ability to help artists produce their best work.

You are not what you own. Unless what we mean is art and we are guests in your house... Then you are exactly what you own. Dr. Cala Coat's joins us for a trip into learning and her new book "New Materialisms and Embodied Encounters in Education: Curiosity's Vital Potential." Part art education, part 18th century journey into embodied experience, part treatise on the nature of creative... This conversation is one more step in an exploration...

https://search.asu.edu/profile/3365383

https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350278776

https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/show/hamiltons-pharmacopeia

Chicago. Designer. Artist. And. Jazz fan. Norman Teague, joins us to touch on craft, music, Mies van der Rohr, bringing one’s cousins along. Come along us as we dance through a racialized modern, Martian Puryear, craft and art, and the affect of music. All while we investigate “A LOVE SUPREME” at the Elmhurst Art Museum.

Image... Install at Elmhurst Art Museum

Elmhurst Art Museum https://elmhurstartmuseum.org/

Norman Teague https://www.normanteaguedesignstudios.com/

John Coltrane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane

Rose Camara https://www.rosecamara.com/

Chipstone Foundation https://www.chipstone.org/

Terra Foundation https://www.terraamericanart.org/

Art Design Chicago https://artdesignchicago.org/

Martian Puryear https://matthewmarks.com/artists/martin-puryear

Mies van der Rohe https://www.moma.org/artists/7166

Straight out of Omaha - In the first of several conversations with residents of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, we get cosmogonal with multi-disciplinary artist Lee Hunter. Like Hunter's expansive Cosmogenesis project we cover almost all of the things contained within this universe, and it gets fervent y'all.

https://www.bemiscenter.org/

http://www.leehunter.net/

Pasakorn Intoo-Marn and Sorayut Aiemueayut

This dialogue covers artist-led research projects taking place over the last decade of political transformation in Thailand with Pasakorn Intoo-Marn (Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Practice at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Thammasat University) and Sorayut Aiemueayut (Lecturer in Visual Culture at the Dept. of Media, Arts & Design at Chiang Mai University). The interview was conducted at the 2023 Arts in Society conference in Krakow Poland.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/pasakorn.intoomarn/

https://www.facebook.com/sorayut.aiemueayut/

https://artsinsociety.com/

On this week's harrowing tale of Art, Bad at Sports visits the Salt Shed for Shred the Shed , an event celebrating the latest release of Portable Gray , a biannual journal published by The University of Chicago Press . In the first segment, Duncan and Ryan get the scoop from Megan Jeyifo from Chicago Abortion Fund on how to throw a righteous abortion party. In part two, Duncan and Ryan are interviewed by brothers Shane Heyl, founder of Shake Junt - a skateboard/apparel company, and Brent Heyl, Director of Music at 16 on Center , co-organizer of Shred the Shed. Obviously it is all too much to explain, so just listen.

This week we are joined by great Chicago Artist Devin T. Mays. We talk dressing Wisconsin, Poetry, Humor, how “Everything is Everything”, and how dislocation is a meaningful strategy. We do it all live from the Salt Shed in Chicago for the “Shred at the Shed” with the Chicago Abortion Fund, Portable Gray Magazine, Quimby’s and more… Also this episode feature the first appearance of “Other Ryan.”

Devin T. Mays – https://regardsgallery.com/artists/devin-mays/

Chicago Abortion Fund – https://www.chicagoabortionfund.org/

Portable Gray Magazine – https://graycenter.uchicago.edu/portablegray

Quimby’s – https://www.quimbys.com/

Other Ryan – https://www.ryanlucasart.com/

The Salt Shed – https://www.saltshedchicago.com/

Image Devin T. Mays - Gather, Light. Fluorescent light fixtures, Variable dimensions, 2021

c/o Regards Gallery - https://regardsgallery.com/

This week we bring several things never meant to meet, together. EXPO Chicago and the artist featured in Hyde Park Art Center’s booth: Farah Salem and Regina Agu . We explore personal and historic cultural lineages, trauma response, and alternative cultural teachings as they bridge the space between research and practice. Then we jump over to our dear friends at A Very Serious Gallery and Allan Weinberger and we dance through graffiti, “high art”, kissing booths and a plea for love. All in all a single amazing day from the heartland’s greatest art fair. And don't think we didn't notice that Frieze bought it. We are just as curious as you are.

See you next time Internet.

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Hyde Park Art Center – https://www.hydeparkart.org/

Jackman Goldwasser Residency Program - https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/434646/jackman-goldwasser-residency-2022/

Mariela Acuna - https://www.instagram.com/mariela.acuna/?hl=en

Chicago Artist Collation – https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/

Bolt Residency – https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/residencies/bolt

Farah Salem – https://www.farahsalem.com/

Regina Agu – https://reginaagu.com/

A Very Serious Gallery – https://veryseriousgallery.com/

Allan Weinberger - https://www.instagram.com/bergart_vsg/

Frieze - https://www.frieze.com/

Welcome back to a monster week at Bad at Sports. (We took an unscheduled vacation in August [cringe emoji]. This week we drop three shows the first of which is episode 851 from Kansas City with Kevin Demery. A great conversation about art, life, and the intersection of race and justice.

This conversation is amongst several you will hear in the next few weeks are brought to you through the support of Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City , where they are doing a remarkable job of bedrock-ing the Kansas City art world and its artists.

You should also know that you can expect us back on the radio on Wednesday with an episode from Expo Chicago. Excitingly, EXPO just sold to Freize and what that portends for our local International Art Fair, we will do our best to find out.

And, this Friday we will drop a third show with Andrew Mcilvaine who is currently doing an exhibition with our friend and now your’s Kevin Demery.

Our friend Duncan. (He works here.) Is also hoping that we will let you know about an opportunity he and a West Coast artist and theorist, Ted Hiebert (former guest of the show) are hosting at the College Art Association conference in February 2024. They are hosting a panel on post-rational visuality and all that that could mean. How do we re situate human-ness now (post-ai, hyper bureaucratized, justly, and constantly observed and ordered), and what can those parts of being human which don't feel rational or computable mean to us? How do we foreground them? What kinds of art allow us to get enough intellectual space that we can reflect on these conditions? If you've got ideas about a human future through art, they've got the panel for you.

Kevin Demery - http://www.kevindemery.com/

Charlotte St. Foundation - https://charlottestreet.org/

Andrew Mcilvaine - https://www.andrewmcilvaine.com/

CAA Panel “Post-Rational Visuality” With Duncan and Ted Hiebert (it is a bit of a scroll) - https://caa.confex.com/caa/2024/webprogrampreliminary/meeting.html

Sarah Higgins and Art Papers - https://www.artpapers.org/people/sarah-higgins-2/

Live from EXPO Chicago! Kalamazoo Institute of Art Chief Curator, Rahema C Barber and artist, writer, and curator Lola Ayisha Ogbara! We chat all things Michigan and just how Kalamazoo came to be a hot bed of Michigan art and thought. Then we check in with Chicago Local Lola Ayisha Ogbara talks about her work all over EXPO, Billboards, the South Side Community Art Center, St. Louis and Chicago, and the African Diaspora.

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Lola Ayisha Ogbara - https://lolaogbara.com/

Kalamazoo Institute of Art - https://kiarts.org/

Rehema C. Barber - https://wmich.edu/asia/rbarber

South Side Community Art Center - https://www.sscartcenter.org/

Image Lola Ayisha Ogbara courtesy LVL3 - https://lvl3official.com/lola-ayisha-ogbara/

Bubblegum, Bubblegum, 2021, Ceramic stoneware, acrylic varnish, nylon, 30” x 18” x 20” & Hopscotch (A Safe Space to Land), 2022, Stained birch wood, concrete, black tourmaline. 36” x 36” x 8”

This week we present the last of the “lost hard drive episodes” and find the thoughtfully strength of Robert Raphael. Interviewed at NADA art fair in New York City by the brilliant Amanda Browder and the amazing Caroline Burghardt. These three great humans play their way through the craft, sculpture, history, and ceramics, from inside a Claire Ashley sculpture. Editing support provided by the always perfect, Martin Ortiz de Taranco. Off the top Duncan reads a PSA from our friends at the Terrain Biennial who are looking for proposals for this year's exhibition. They are due on July 18th so sharpen your pencil and get them in today.

Robert Raphael – https://robraphael.com/

LAMK Gallery – https://lmakgallery.com/

Terrain Biennial – https://terrainexhibitions.org/

Sabina Ott – https://sabinaott.net/home.html

Caroline Burghardt - https://carolineburghardt.com/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Tom Sanford - http://tomsanford.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

This week we return to the lost hard drive and find the brilliance of Robin Kang. Interviewed at NADA art fair in New York City by Amanda Browder and Caroline Burghardt. These three brilliant humans chew their way through the history of craft and what it taught us about technology, and how that may pull us back to a human-ness from our tech, and playfully bounce around the New York art world and it's fairs. All from inside a Claire Ashley sculpture. Editing support provided by the always perfect, Martin Ortiz de Taranco.

Image care of Robin Kang and https://newyorkarttours.com/blog/2019/07/17/robin-kang-in-pool-party-at-c24-gallery/

Robin Kang – https://robinkang.org/home.html

Yours, Mine, and Ours – https://www.instagram.com/yoursmineandoursgallery/?hl=en

Parlor Gallery – https://www.parlor-gallery.com/

Mathilde Hatzenberger Gallery – http://www.mathildehatzenberger.eu/wordpress/

Zurcher Gallery - https://www.galeriezurcher.com/

Caroline Burghardt - https://carolineburghardt.com/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Tom Sanford - http://tomsanford.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

Today on Bad at Sports we’re presenting two panel discussions held this April as part of Minor Matters, the programming arm of Barely Fair, a 1/12th scale art fair produced by Julius Caesar at Color Club! First up, MINOR EXPORTS: Exhibition Programs Across Cities with Michelle Grabner (The Suburban, Milwaukee, Umbria), Tarik Kentouche (Scherben, Berlin), Aron Gent (DOCUMENT, Chicago, Lisbon), moderated by Josh Dihle (BARELY FAIR, Julius Caesar). After the break, SCALING UP: Emerging Artists Presented in Large-Scale Spaces with Torey Gaines (Anthony Gallery), Mickey Pomfrey (MICKEY) and Abby Pucker (GERTIE, Art in Common), moderated by Roland Miller (BARELY FAIR, Julius Caesar).

https://www.barelyfair.com/minormatters

https://www.juliuscaesarchicago.net/

http://www.thesuburban.org/

https://poorfarmexperiment.org/

https://www.jamescohan.com/artists/michelle-grabner

https://scherben.in/

https://tarikkentouche.com/

https://documentspace.com/

http://www.joshdihle.com/

https://colorclub.events/

This week on Bad at Sports we’re presenting more panel discussions from Minor Matters, the programming arm of Barely Fair, a 1/12th scale art fair produced by Julius Caesar at Color Club this April! First up, CURATORIAL CONFINES: Scaled Selections Within and Outside Institutions moderated by Scott Campbell (Independent Curators International) with panelists Nolan Jimbo (Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), Adia Sykes (Independent Curator) and Kate Sierzputowski (Airlock, BARELY FAIR, Julius Caesar, EXPO CHICAGO) then, SCALE AS SUPPORT: The Architecture Behind BARELY FAIR Moderated by Roland Knowlden (Future Firm) with the Directors of the fair itself, Josh Dihle, Tony Lewis, Roland Miller, and Kate Sierzputowski. Finally, in a podcast *exclusive* (sorry terrestrial radio only listeners!), STARTING SMALL: A Look at the Beginning of a Collection, moderated by Roland Miller (BARELY FAIR, Julius Caesar) with panelists Courtney Sherrer, Josh Rogers, and Megan Green Rogers.

https://www.barelyfair.com/minormatters

https://www.juliuscaesarchicago.net/

https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/21995-scott-vincent-campbell

https://mcachicago.org/about/who-we-are/people/nolan-jimbo

https://www.adiasykes.com/

http://katesierzputowski.com/

https://future-firm.org/

http://www.joshdihle.com/

https://www.blumandpoe.com/artists/tony_lewis

http://www.rolandwm.com/

https://colorclub.events/

This episode from the now found lost hard drive of Bad at Sports. SF based not all the time photographer and conceptual artist Phillip Maisel! From a NADA NYC of the past we share this great chat about aesthetics, photography, formalism, and the construction of an image with Amanda Browder and Duncan MacKenzie, live from inside a Claire Ashley! Big thanks to Martin for editing support.

In the intro Duncan talks about Bad at Sports's friends at Carol Fox hooking B@S with tickets for "The Empire Strips Back" and how we don't really know how to judge or make sense of it but we all had a delightful time. Also 2 out of the 4 of us lamented that they did not purchase the "Wookie Playboy" magazines. So that would make a kind Xmas present for the podcast.

Philip Maisel – https://www.phillipmaisel.com/

Document and Aron Gent – https://documentspace.com/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

The Empire Strips Back - https://theempirestripsback.com/

Carol Fox and Associates - https://www.carolfoxassociates.com/

Image c/o Phillip Maisel

Encants (5184)

Archival pigment print

25.5 x 17” / 65 x 43 cm

2020

This episode from the now found hard drive of Bad at Sports. Alex Gingrow! From a NADA NYC of the past we share this great chat about aesthetics, time, angst, and text art hosted but Caroline Burghardt and Duncan MacKenzie, live from inside a Claire Ashley! Big thanks to Martin for editing support.

Alex Gingrow – https://alexgingrow.com/home.html

Caroline Burghardt – https://carolineburghardt.com/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

Image care of Alex Gingrow.

Today on Bad at Sports, live from inside EXPO Chicago, we try to get to the bottom of what the Monira Foundation is up to and what exactly it has to do with MANA Contemporary? So, we catch up with Anne Muntges, Director of Residencies and Grants Development. Then we are joined by the CEO of Apollo, Michael Miller and Chicago artist Sarah Raskey, and we look into the future of digital art delivery and what it would mean to have access to the world's greatest collections from your home. Efficiency

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Monira Foundation – https://monirafoundation.org/

MANA Contemporary – https://www.manacontemporary.com/

Anne Muntges – https://www.annemuntges.com/

Apollo – https://apollo.art/

Michael Miller - https://modernluxuryinteriors.com/apollo-digital-art-platform

Sarah Raskey – https://www.sarahraskey.com/

This week we check in with independent Curators International through Scott Vincent Campbell and Becky Nahom, and they break down the exciting curatorial connection event hosted through EXPO Chicago for the last five nine years. The conversation touches on the value of curators having an informal, yet art infused context in which to connect. All participants fail to recognize that the proper noun for a group of curators is a “hubris.” As in, “a hubris of curators approached the young artist.” This chat is a followed by LA based but Chicago drenched brilliant image maker John Knuth and we get down, full on EXPO style but with flies, as we tailgate our own booth and try to change the world one T-shirt at a time. EXPO Chicago in full effect.

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Independent Curators International - https://curatorsintl.org/

Scott Vincent Campbell - https://svcstudio.com/

Becky Nahom - https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/becky-nahom-of-halt-gallery-talks-curating-phoenixs-art-scene-and-moving-to-new-york-7286642

John Knuth - http://www.johnknuth.com/#/

Hollis Taggart - https://www.hollistaggart.com/

MOCA - https://www.moca.org/

Image care of John Knuth from https://www.hollistaggart.com/artists/36-john-knuth/

This episode we return to the land of the lost episodes of Bad at Sports. As your friendly neighborhood art world podcasters return to action after a bit of a post EXPO meltdown, we are back in action. And in glorious preparation for NADA NYC we present two fantastic interviews we did in conjunction with NADA in Miami. Art world megaphone jaw dropper, Chloe Wise, breaks down art fashion and how we consume both and the ideas that trail in their wake. Kevin Arrow gets into what is lost as we turn away from Obsolete Media and the joy we can find in rediscovery. Amanda Browder, Tom Sanford, and Duncan MacKenzie split the hosting duties, live from inside a Claire Ashley! Big thanks to Martin for editing support.

Chloe Wise - https://www.chloewise.com/

Obsolete Media - https://miamirail.org/winter-2015/obsolete-media-miami/

Kevin Arrow - http://voyagemia.com/interview/meet-kevin-arrow/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Tom Sanford - http://tomsanford.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

Image = Chloe Wise from Cultured Magazine https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2018/11/29/chloe-wise

Jennifer Reeder is back! It's been a decade since our last conversation with the legendary Chicago filmmaker, artist and educator and she has been busy! Her newest feature, Perpetrator, features (the!) Alicia Silverstone and recently premiered at the Berlinale on its way back stateside. Together with Jesse and Brian, Jennifer gets into genre, the short as form and shape, her own personal journey through different mediums and more in a rolicking and fascinating conversation.

This episode also functions as an oblique invitation to our EXPO activities and activations. If you'll be at the fair this weekend, come visit our booth to see some exciting new realities!

https://thejenniferreeder.com/

https://www.wtfilms.fr/portfolio-item/perpetrator/

https://www.criterionchannel.com/short-films-by-jennifer-reeder

https://www.expochicago.com/

This week Amanda and Duncan return to the magic of the passed of Bad at Sports with a brilliant interview with Molly Zuckerman-Hartung! Zuckerman-Hartung kicked off this years set of Dialogoues at EXPO Chicago! And we return to a blissfully naive pre-pandemic artworld while physically celebrating the return to form of EXPO 2023! Editing support by Martin and we did this interview inside a Claire Ashley sculpture in NYC!

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung - https://corbettvsdempsey.com/artists/molly-zuckerman-hartung/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

Amanda Browder and Duncan have a word with Mumbai based curator Sumesh Sharma! We chat about all things internationally challenging and the context for both international and American art. We cover why NADA is such an important international fair! All from inside a Claire Ashley in NYC. Editing support by Martin!

Sumesh Sharma - https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/5399-sumesh-sharma

Clark House Initiative - https://www.space118.com/mapping-residencies/clark-house-initiative/

Thanks Arterritory for the image - https://arterritory.com/en/visual_arts/interviews/22636-sumesh_sharma_in_riga_the_grandson_of_a_trade_merchant_on_diversity_and_exchange/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

Once again Bad at Sports brings back a little audio that we recorded several years ago at NADA Miami which for no good reason never made it to air. We blame our day jobs but these would not have seen the light without the editing support of Martin Ortiz de Taranco!

This week we run into Chambliss Giobbi and circle around model building, portraits, the relationship between an image and its materials. Then we are treated to the driest wit in Chicago by Alex Chitty thanks to Patron Gallery! Thanks to NADA! Thanks to Claire Ashley who provided the work for our booth. And in a rare twist Dana Bassett and Tom Sanford, in the same show!

Chambliss Giobbi - https://www.chamblissgiobbi.com/

Alex Chitty - http://www.alexchitty.com/

Patron Gallery - https://patrongallery.com/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

Tom Sanford - http://tomsanford.com/

Claire Ashley - https://clairehelenashley.com/

Image:

Alex Chitty
They will bloom without you
Elmhurst Art Museum -McCormick House

BmoreArt’s Editor-in-Chief Cara Ober joins Amanda Browder and Duncan MacKenzie in NYC at NADA NYC of yore. We express the pre-pandemic naive enthusiasm that will one day rule the world. We mine the depths of art publishing, art criticism, middle school sports, why Baltimore is a bad ass town, and why loving magazines will never be wrong!

Cara Ober - https://www.caraober.com/

BmoreArt - https://bmoreart.com/

Baltimore - https://baltimore.org/

Amanda Browder - https://www.amandabrowder.com/

NADA - https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO - Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

National Museum of Women in the Arts - https://nmwa.org/blog/museum-shop/modern-makers-cara-ober/

And extra thanks to Martin Ortiz de Taranco - https://www.martinortizdetaranco.com/

This episode we check in from New York City with two of New York's bright lights, Carrie Gundersdorf (Teaching this summer at fan favorite summer residency, Ox-Bow) and Chloë Bass! We checked in several years ago from a boozy and brilliant NADA NYC! We talk painting and drawing, the price of eggs insurance type, compare New York and Chicago, light beyond the light and the low fi, while getting intimate and bureaucratic with our practices. And we all become Artworldees!

NADA https://www.newartdealers.org/

EXPO Chicago https://www.expochicago.com/

Carrie Gundersdorf https://carriegundersdorf.com/

Chloë Bass https://www.chloebass.com/

Ox-Bow School of Art https://www.ox-bow.org/

Sharon Louden https://www.sharonlouden.com/

Tom Sanford http://tomsanford.com/

Price of Eggs https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/egg-prices-increased-70percent-over-the-last-yearheres-why-.html

Image: Carrie Gundersdorf

Betuline Cone

2022

colored pencil and watercolor on paper

23 x 22"

Episode 834, in which we creep back into the annals of our history and pull forth a conversation which had not seen the light before, Harold Mendez. Hero to many. We talk Whitney Biennial, Cuba, Tiffany's, and just exactly how the art world works. Thank You NADA!

https://www.newartdealers.org/

https://haroldmendez.com/

https://www.amandabrowder.com/

https://whitney.org/artists/17713

https://haroldmendez.com/filter/2017%3B-Tiffany-%26-Co .

https://icamiami.org/exhibition/harold-mendez/

Thanks to https://tamarind.unm.edu

For the image.

A few years ago, we put together so much content in the context of NADA art Fair Miami and New York that we have been sitting on a handful of great stuff (like for years)… And you are going to get to hear it all as we get prepared for Chicago’s EXPO this spring!

Kicking it all off this week Dana and Duncan chat with Miami legend, Agustina Woodgate.

We talk…

Miami Water and Power

RADIOEE

The Whitney Biennial

Hopscotch

And so much more… Live from inside a Claire Ashley sculpture!

https://agustinawoodgate.com/

https://radioee.net/

https://www.newartdealers.org/

https://clairehelenashley.com/

PS. Dana makes a joke at the end that you have to hear, little does she know… no one really gets out. Once you are Bad at Sports, you just are.

Language lovers rejoice — the blab at sporkers transmit live to tape from the exhibition Glossolalia, hosted at ACRE (hosted by Drama Club) with our guests David Sprecher and Jeff Prokash. Their collaborative show, which performs a complicated material translation of an excerpt of a Franny Choi poem, is up through the weekend and includes a series of readings this Saturday (2/25/23) amidst and among their sculpture-phonemes. We talk about talking and think about thinking in what Zagat’s is calling “ə ˈrɪli ɡreɪt ˌɛksəˈbɪʃən ... wɜrθ ˈsikɪŋ ænd ˈsiɪŋ ɪf ju hir wɑt ɪts ˈseɪɪŋ θru ˈbiɪŋ sin …” and we’ll agree.

https://davidsprecher.org/home.html

https://www.jeffprokash.com/

https://www.acreresidency.org/exhibition/glossolalia

This week Duncan sits down with Paul Gray in front of a live audience at Columbia College Chicago to talk about the history of Gray Gallery, the legacy of Richard Gray, how “the sausage gets made” in the art world, 60 years of supporting artists and what the next 60 years will look like, and Marcel Proust? Just another day of spectacular work for Gray Gallery, Coulumbia, and Bad at Sports.

This week we come at you live from Printed Matter in New York City with Christopher Sperandio of the Kartoon Kings . We talk about his recent flurry of publications, how the pandemic has impacted publishing and the art world, the potency of Instagram, and the failure of NFTs. Max Schumann Jumps in from the audience to talk about the mission of Printed Matter and query the separation between artist book and art publication, while challenging the techniques and labor used to generate Artist books. Brilliant painter Michael Cline grabs Duncan a couple of glasses of wine because if you are talking politics and art, there has to be at least one or two drinks.

Wowow! Around an arts and crampy table in an anonymous but lively third space in the Southern Loop of Chicago, some of our top minds and movers convene to chat about past, present and futures of Chicago DIY/DIT artist-organizing. Jesse, Duncan and eventually Ryan — slouches in their own rights — lead by following a disparate flow. A champagne bottle to share with 300 people! Leave a masterpiece, take a masterpiece! Should everything become a library? These notions and more are offered up in a freewheeling conversation that’s not to be missed.

This week Bad at Sports catches up with Wisconsin’s pride, the Wormfarm Institute, with Jay Salinas. We learn more about a long running experiment in arts funding between the fine states of Wisconsin and Minneapolis. We learn about how sustainable agriculture and contemporary art have found an unusual marriage, and take a D-Tour. Then we open the door two adventure and the future of contemporary placemaking, and artist run endeavors with Nicholas Wylie and Brandon Alvendia, who speculate on the future of the MdW fair and the new infrastructure we have been building together to strengthen the future of Midwestern art making.

Image of a work by Brenda Baker , photograph by Eric Bailles from the Wormfarm Institute, link below.

https://www.wormfarminstitute.org/

https://www.mdwfair.com/

https://chicagolx.org/community/members/nicholas-wylie-public-media-institute

https://www.alvendia.net/

Live from our tailgate at the MdW fair we bring you part two of a series we are doing with the organizing members of the MdW and a wrap up conversation that looks at the current state of arts organizing. But this week we have Confluence Studio, Duaba Unenra and Sam Gould, then are joined by Amy Kligman of the Charlotte Street Foundation. We learn about contemporary policing practice in MN and how residents mobilize through art and stories. Then we shift over to Kansas City MO and touch the other side of artist run culture through a 25 year old entrenched arts org. Good times had by all!

https://confluence-studio.org/

https://www.mdwfair.com/atlas

https://charlottestreet.org/

Here we are here we are finishing out our roundup with the end of our “spot check” in Calgary Alberta, Canada, and we close out with the Western Canadian performance art legend Rita McKeough.

Rita McKeough is an installation and performance artist whose practice is based in Calgary. Her work incorporates audio, electronics and mechanical performing objects. Since the late 70s, McKeough has been committed to creating thoughtful and fully immersive spaces that push and unbalance our underlying assumptions which we use to navigate our everyday lives. She uses interactive technologies to represent natural interdependencies and to create weave together her musical and artistic practices. McKeough work’ are formerly rooted in a long established feminist perspective, and she brings that lense to content that deals with the environmental impacts of land development and industrial extraction. Her’s is the voice of agency and articulates the forces of resistance mobilized by the natural world.

Thanks again to the Esker Foundation, all the friends we made in Calgary, and especially Naomi Potter!

https://www.ritamckeough.com/

https://eskerfoundation.com/

https://www.truck.ca/shop/rita-mckeough-works

The Badlands Art Department - Jason de Haan and Miruna Dragan

In this episode Duncan visited "Drumheller" in the "Badlands" of "Alberta." We learn a little about life, love, and the magic that can happen way outside the centers. CONTEMPORARY ART FOR ALL! And natural beauty and leisure for artists!

Jason de Haan is a multidisciplinary Canadian artist working in installation, sculpture, video, drawing, collage, photography, and bookworks. This includes the exploration of uncertain and unexpected spaces, temporal flux, natural phenomena and systems, transmissions, and open timelines, with a focus upon the points at which the invisible and residual reveal their contingencies.

Miruna Dragan is a post-conceptual artist whose work reflects themes of locality and dispersion through questions of imminence and transcendence. Operating within and between various modes of studio research including drawing, lens-based media, site-specific intervention and others, her work interprets surreal geographies through the reanimation of archetypes, myths and symbols.

https://www.jasondehaan.com

https://www.mirunadragan.com

Names Dropped:

Corbin Union collaborator: Warren McLachlan. - www.warrenmclachlan.net

Artist from Queretaro: Raphael Rodriguez - www.raphealrodriguezart.com - @rafarodriguez_art

Artists in Residence at B.A.D.:

Los Angeles: Brody Albert - @brodyalbert - www.brodyalbert.com

Alberta: Stacey Watson - @staywats - www.stacey-watson.com

Alberta: Megan Feniak - @fenny__.__ www.meganfeniak.com

Alberta: Lindsay Sutton - @henriettaquiltshop

Northern Alberta Artist: Peter von Tiesenhausen - www.tiesenhausen.net

Book: Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarestani

@badlands.art.department

Image David Robbins, 2014, care of... Contemporary Art Library

Kate gives us the low down on what ACRE has been up to and why we aught to be filling out our Chicago Arts Census. In a magic episode in which Brian is introduced to the cult of ACRE and we glimpse the utopia of artistic support, community, and friendship.

Book: Understanding the Arts and Creative Sector in the United States Edited by, Joni Maya Cherbo, Margaret Jane Wyszomirski, Ruth Ann Stewart

The River is a reference to a conversation between adrienne maree brown and sonya renee taylor

The brilliant Census team: Adia Sykes , Stephanie Koch , and Alden Burke

https://www.acreresidency.org/

https://www.acreresidency.org/chicago-arts-census

This week we check in with two members of the MdW art fair and assembly brain trust, Nicholas Wylie and Brandon Alvendia and learn a little bit about drifts. This marks a true return to form as we tailgate an art fair and record while feeding hot dogs, Marz beer, and vegetarian chili to all those true lovers of art. Then we spend a few minutes chatting with the brilliant John Engelbercht and Kalmia Strong from Iowa City's Public Space One and try and get the lowdown on what is going on in Iowa, and figure out why the art world need to know about it.

http://www.publicspaceone.com/

https://www.mdwfair.com/

https://www.mdwfair.com/drifts

Teresa Tam’s practice utilizes spaces and experiences that are familiar and then alters them into something a bit foreign through re-interpretation and re-creation. She likes to conceive her projects as sketches: iterations of ideas and systems rendered but never reaching finality. Her work is also developed to include and emphasize visitor interactions as integral components. She focuses on themes that touch upon alienation within nebulous belonging, the position of an individual within a community, excessive labour, and an obsession with objects that contextualize relationships and realities of diaspora individuals. She specializes in digital platforms, functional installations, all things shaped in paper, and body-based exchanges and objects. She graduated from AUArts in 2014 and is the other half of Yolkless Press.

We talk alternative and artist economy, the traditions of preforming industry, the inscription of labor, and publish artist books. Duncan learns that Teresa’s studio is in the same building as his studio from 25 years ago. That makes him feel a touch old, also they have put a lot of work into the building.

https://eskerfoundation.com/exhibition/teresa-tam-seasons-end/

https://calgaryherald.com/uncategorized/qa-with-artist-teresa-tam

https://www.instagram.com/neondaandaan/

https://www.instagram.com/yolklesspress/?hl=en

https://www.stencil.wiki/atlas/yolkless-press

Today on Bad at Sportscenter: Devin Balara and Bobby Gonzales! Another little transportive interview from summer sessions at the Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, be ears now and listen in to what a porch-hang with two generous geniuses and (whatever we’d call a) Jesse. Enjoy a careening, ebullient conversation in never mids west.

http://cargocollective.com/devinbalara

https://bobby-gonzales.com/

Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal is a mixed-media artist, community activist, and perpetual learner. Born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, she has been a visitor to Otôskwanihk/Mohkinstsis (Calgary) for the past nine years. Cardinal traces her ancestral roots back to both Nêhiyaw and Deutsch decent. Graduating from AUArts in 2015, Cardinal has since been a recipient of the National BMO 1st Art! Competition Award as well as the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Young Artist Award in 2017. Cardinal has been an active member in the urban Indigenous community within Treaty 7 Territory, activating roles through Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society, Native Counselling Services of Alberta, the Midewiwin Teaching Lodge Society of Alberta, and currently through Miskanawah’s Diamond Willow Youth Lodge. Cardinal’s work continues to be a reflection of the teachings she receives along her journey; it is an invitation for others to become a part of the process, to partake in its making.

Our conversation takes place in the wake of the revelations about the abuse suffered by indigenous humans at the hands of religiously motivated colonialists in Canadian communities schools and we discuss how art can be a site of healing and how we must all be attentive and responsible for that healing.

http://tamaraleeannecardinal.com/

The Earth is changing. Quickly. Should we be afraid? Or can we embrace the changes and challenges and boldly look ahead? Can we build a new, better life on this planet? Ryan and Brian sit down with curator Nick Butcher and artists Allen Moore and Kat Jarvinen of The New Earth to find out.

https://publicworksgallery.com/blogs/exhibitions/the-new-earth
https://publicworksgallery.com/
https://katjarvinen.com/
https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/artists/allen-moore
https://www.sonnenzimmer.com/

Artists duo Sans façon (Charles Blanc and Tristan Surtees) began working together in 2001 in Glasgow, Scotland. Their diverse practice responds to the relationship between people and place. Collaborating with architects, composers, geographers, or perfumers, they work internationally on projects ranging from ephemeral performances, temporary installations in public space, large scale permanent artworks, to developing and implementing city wide strategies. Their approach renews awareness and tempts interaction, inviting one to look and think differently about our relationship to our surroundings and one another.

In this conversation we trace the core of Sans façon’s work and use their almost decade long residency with the City of Calgary to open up the dimensions of what is truly a unique and singularly impactful practice.

www.sansfacon.org

Selina Trepp—visual musician, collage animist, radical recycler—talks time, process, performance, material and more on the occasion of An Instrument in the Shape of a Woman at the Chicago Cultural Center. Our dynamic and inspired conversation zooms through the multiplicities of ways Selina 's playful practice breaks open the forms and formats she's drawn to (and drawing on). Once again we're joined by curator Annie Morse and the ambient sounds of meaning being made and publics being formed.

https://selinatrepp.info/home.html

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/instrument.html

asmaa al-issa (b. Baghdad, Iraq) immigrated to Mohkínstsis/Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her family in 2001. Her interdisciplinary practice engages her lived experiences with the land, materials, and people around her. She is continually building knowledge of recipes, traditions, philosophies, theories, and histories of the Middle East while developing her practice as an artist and educator. asmaa holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from the University of Calgary (2013) and a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from Simon Fraser University (2017).

Our wide ranging conversation seeks the roots of her practice and voice, post-colonialist futures, the nature of interdisciplinarity, and what we think when we speak of home.

Socially engaged watercolor sampler and plein air painter extraordinaire Leslie Baum and curator Annie Morse join us for part two of our series interviewing the three artists featured in An Instrument in the Shape of a Woman at the Chicago Cultural Center. Baum's sumptuous, joyous paintings are attended in this exhibition by a "pedagogical shelf", a vitrine that runs perpendicular (both physically and conceptually) to her work, revealing the nestled, intimate process by which they are made.

https://www.lesliebaum.net/

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/instrument.html

Today, your Bad at Sportscenterers take refuge in Diane Christiansen's room at the Chicago Cultural Center's exhibition An Instrument in the Shape of a Woman . Her enrapturing paintings and animations play tricks in the cosmic sands as we feel and laugh our way through the existential biggies, buoyed by bodies, icons and acorns. Curator Annie Morse helps lead our sense of the exhibition and takes us through the long, pandemic-wrought fraughtness that permeates the space. Part one of a three part series!

https://rulegallery.com/artist/diane-christiansen/

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/instrument.html

image:

Diane Christiansen, Last Days of Capitalism , 2020, Gouache, acrylic, ink and plaster on paper, 55 x 50 in.

Nura Ali’s wide-ranging practise investigates the linguistic scaffolding upholding the assumptions we bring to the act of reading and writing. We speak about her most recent exhibition, blackness, whole-ness, the power of language, and the power of cultural unions.

Nura Ali is a visual artist, writer and curator, living and working in Calgary, Alberta. She received a BFA in Visual Art from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, a BA in English Literature, Art History and Italian from the University of Leicester and a BA in History from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her work has been shown nationally and received numerous awards and grants; most recently from the Calgary Arts Development, the Rozsa Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts. She is a founding members of the Vancouver Artists Labour Union; a unionised workers cooperative whose mission it is to transform labour practises in the arts sector and create fair, equitable and sustainable working conditions for artists and cultural workers.

https://www.instagram.com/nuranura1986/

http://www.stride.ab.ca/

Today on Bad at Sportscenter: Kelly Lloyd! Yes, that one. Kelly and Jesse sit down in the cupola at the Ox-Bow School of Art — mere hectometers from where they met almost a decade ago — to talk about practice (and practice talking), about the naming of the thing, about art education and parties. Kelly’s practice spans genre and form and most actively in this moment revolves around her research and its public instantiation, the (excellent) podcast This Thing We Call Art, for which she interviews artists about their livelihoods and labor. You can probably find it wherever you found this (including on WLPN).

http://www.k-lloyd.com

https://www.thisthingwecallart.com/

(photo credit: Cat Garcia)

Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett explore the interspace between seemingly polarized entities: light + dark, nature + culture, DIY + institutional, individual + collective. Based in Calgary/Mohkinstsis, the duo centres their practice in relational space, conceptualizing installations and interventions primarily for the public realm. Their projects beckon viewers with novel materials and participatory contexts, inviting strangers to share in collaborative viewership. Beautiful, subversive, playful, and radically inclusive, their works transform the everyday through a critical shift in perspective.

We talk through hibernation, place as space, the magic of light, a physical glitch art (the show image is an image of the work "Carbon Copy", 2022)and the magic that could be in post-social practice "New Genra Public Art." Oh, and Duncan tries to defend the Stampede.

https://incandescentcloud.com/

This is part of a series of conversations curated by Naomi Potter and the Esker Foundation in service of evolving a portrait of the future of Calgary’s contemporary art world.

It is an idea about investigating places though conversations with artists. As though, through a series of conversations with sensitive and emblematic makers we could come to a greater understanding of a context, not just artistic practices.

This week, a little nod to the Lore is Ness sector of our collective imaginary as John Rossi and Mac Akin join Jesse in a conversation about their practices, their lives at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency in Saugatuck, MI and their intersects. Through a meandering exploration of the psychic and physical, we learn more about the folk horror legend of the Prickerman, the strange shibboleths of souphead and some of what it takes to make and maintain a community of openness and improvisation.

@shesnotachristian

@miwolf156

In this episode Duncan reaches out to Naomi Potter and the Esker Foundation to curate a series of conversations, in the hopes of evolving a portrait of the future of Calgary’s contemporary art world.

It is an idea about investigating places though conversations with artists. As though, through a series of conversations with sensitive and emblematic makers we could come to a greater understanding of a context, not just artistic practices.

It is kind of an experiment.

The Esker Foundation is Calgary’s and one of Canada’s premier contemporary art venues, and an incredibly unique Canadian investigation into alternative arts funding and philanthropic artistic support thanks to arts patron, Jim Hill. We did a show about it.

Here is a link...

https://badatsports.com/2019/episode-695-naomi-potter-and-the-esker-foundation/

This week Maryam Taghavi casts a spell over Brian and Duncan. Will they recover? We don't know. What we know is this... Taghavi plays and pulls codes at the edge of beauty and language. What about languages beyond languages? In her work she uses and recreates a language of the occult practices derived from Islamic mysticism. Her sigils promise to evoke real and active metaphysical powers. These forms become channels, lovely and beyond form itself – concept to volition, presence to absence. The works are a wish invoked. The conversation a wish fulfilled. Will Brian and Duncan ever be the same?

https://www.maryamtaghavi.com/

https://artadia.org/

The Bad at Sports crew is joined by Azadeh Gholizadeh. Her works explore the body, landscape, and the fragmentation of memory. Her works use weaving and needle work to generate and worry her images and objects. The works call to mind a powerful connection to place and dismantle that connection through a glitchy digital memory and build towards a reassembled experience. Azadeh Gholizadeh is a Chicago-based artist and educator, and a 2022 Artadia awardee.

https://www.azadehgholizadeh.com/

https://artadia.org/

Splitting her time between Spain and Chicago, Selva Aparicio is a research based interdisciplinary artist, whose work includes sculpture, installation and performance. On today’s episode of Bad at Sports Center, Jesse and Ryan speak with Selva following the announcement of her 2022 Artadia Award. We discuss the origins of her medical research, the ethical means by which she sources her materials, and the context of community and place in her practice.

https://www.selvaaparicio.com/

https://artadia.org/awards/

On today’s harrowing episode of Bad at Sports Center the we are back in the WLPN studio (and we brought our old mixing board bumbles with us)! Polish-born artist, Inga Danysz , and gallerist, Hayes Riley, join Jesse and Ryan to discuss Danysz’s solo exhibition In Ancient Rome at Good Weather . We discuss the materiality and ontology of Danysz’s sculptural sarcophagi, and our orientation to the physical and metaphysical space they delineate. We also accept the fact that puns have been and will continue to be a part of our process.

Everything Must Go, so let’s. Jeffrey Michael Austin — interdisciplinary artist and musician — joins Ryan Peter Miller and Jesse Something Malmed to talk about their reflective new exhibition at the Chicago Art Department. Hope in the dark, illusion, allusion, elusiveness, late capitalism, climate crisis, the collective, the needing-tending, the tenderness of a phrase like *help wanted* and enduring questions of scale and capacity guide our winding conversation. What else?

https://www.jeffreymichaelaustin.com/

https://chicagoartdepartment.org/

Bad at Sports welcomes Ashanté Kindle and Josie Love Roebuck from LatchKey Gallery and their exhibition "CROWN" at Expo Chicago 2022.

Working from a place of healing, "CROWN" explores and rejoices in the legacy of Black hair. The exhibition, named after the CROWN Act - a law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination which is the denial of employment and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including braids, locs, twists or bantu knots - luxuriates in the scope, range, beauty, and legacy that is black hair.

https://www.latchkey-gallery.com/

https://www.latchkey-gallery.com/woks-by-ashant-kindle

https://www.latchkey-gallery.com/artist-josie-love-roebuck

This week the Midwest's greatest contemporary art podcast crew have what can only be described as an "encounter" with one of the Midwest's greatest living artists, Chis Larson! Hailing from St. Paul Minnesota, Larson's newest body of work started its life in Tennessee and slowly spun and wove its way to Engage Projects, Chicago. Taking up a former manufacturing space Larson asks that we consider our relationship to labor from the intimate to the global supply chain in a triumph of an exhibition. The Residue of Labor , April 8 - May 21, 2022

http://chrislarsonstudio.com/

https://www.engage-projects.com/