Raw Material: Recent Episodes
SFMOMA
Raw Material is an arts and culture podcast from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Each season focuses on a different topic, featuring voices of artists working in all media and exploring the inspiration and stories behind modern and contemporary art.
As an epilogue for the Raw Material: Disability Visibility Mixtape, we’re honored to share an audio piece by this season's podcaster-in-residence Alice Wong. The story first aired on KQED Perspectives, a show that features opinions from folks living in the Bay Area. If you haven’t already, check them out at kqed.org/perspectives. Thank you for listening and learning with us this season. Full episode transcript available below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16gg7FbeIus45ltihrb1qA-i3i6xlBgMnwGmHXqVBURc/edit?usp=share_linkEpisode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) Episode Artwork Description: Digital portrait of Alice Wong, an Asian person smiling. She is wearing a trach at her neck and wearing a crew neck blouse. She is sitting in her power wheelchair. There is a cream colored circle crown on a purple background.
In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Amanda Cachia, an independent curator and critic whose work focuses on contemporary art, activism, and disability language in visual culture. Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) Full episode transcript available below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yz6gvmvR623muzyvxbkgHyMyJpYuvPyYHSQ4mu7Qhz4/edit?usp=sharing
In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Finnegan Shannon, a multidisciplinary artist making work about disability culture and access. Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) Full episode transcript available below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b5mnmutrmxGUAci1nSxkQT1y6o--8dZ4HX6Eypzc6yY/edit?usp=sharing
In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Lindsey D. Felt and Vanessa Chang, curators who collaborated on the multidisciplinary art exhibition "Recoding CripTech". Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com)Full episode transcript available below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rW9gUlWx_jbxLV7aRTBimrIyoCbfCFY9NvoBiGfBxRI/edit?usp=sharing
In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Jeff Thomas, an urban Iroquois photographer, researcher, public speaker, and curator. Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) Full episode transcript available below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13hGXKXo1tJokHHKtpobdaHdJBG03eb0D-fL_-EAFm38/edit?usp=sharing
In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to India Harville, an African American queer disabled femme dancer, somatic bodyworker, activist, and educator.Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com)Full episode transcript available below:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TlOETTK70geysFM9MpBmYLmQ1ADhCF825M_6DZFC-Ws/edit?usp=share_link
Raw Material is excited to share The Mission Muralismo Audio Zine – Volume I with our listening audience — because we know how much you love ART about ART! Local writers Olivia Peña and Josiah Luis Alderete interweave their perspectives on the history of the Mission Muralismo movement with stories from the muralists themselves.
This zine expands storytelling related to SFMOMA’s Summer 2022 exhibition Diego Rivera’s America, centering voices of The Mission community and Muralism movement.
Featured Artists: Juana Alicia, Susan Cervantes, Daniel Galvez, Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez, Nancy “Pili” Hernandez, John Jota Leaños, Consuelo Mendez, Irene Perez, Patricia Rodriguez.
Cast and Crew: Josiah Luis Alderete – Narrator and Co-Writer Javier Briones – Interviewer, Sound Recordist Natalia De La Rosa – Production Assistant Erica Gangsei – Executive Producer Stephanie Garcés – Interviewer Camilo Garzón – Voice Director, Co-Writer, Sound Designer, Interviewer, Sound Recordist, and Lead Producer Santino Gonzales – Sound Designer, Sound Recordist, and Score Composer Christo Oropeza – Score Composer Olivia Peña – Narrator and Co-Writer Myisa Plancq-Graham – Executive Producer, Interviewer, Sound Recordist Gustavo Vera – Sound Recordist
Collage by Myisa Plancq-Graham, with photos by Frevi, Carol M. Highsmith, and Myisa Plancq-Graham
Table of Contents: 00:00 – 02:37 - Prologue: Land & Language Acknowledgement, featuring a poetry excerpt of Holding Space Inside a Colonized Place by Josiah Luis Alderete.
02:38 – 06:12 - What does the Mission mean to you? Featuring Nancy “Pili” Hernandez & Consuelo Mendez.
06:13 – 08:18 - Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez reflects on the origins of Balmy Alley.
08:19 – 13:43 - Juana Alicia on her murals La Llorona Sacred Waters & Las Lechugueras.
13:44 – 16:43 - Susan Cervantes and Juana Alicia meet for the first time.
16:44 – 21:57 - La Misión a short story excerpt by Olivia Peña.
23:31 – 28:06 - Patricia Rodriguez & Irene Perez discuss the origins of The Mujeres Muralistas and share their artist manifesto.
28:07 – 35:36 - The impact and history of the Women’s Building’s MaestraPeace Mural.
35:37 – 39:25 - Artist and educator John Jota Leaños on Contemporary & Digital Muralism.
39:26 – 42:15 - The Galeria de la Raza Blues poetry excerpt by Josiah Luis Alderete.
42:16 – 44:52 - A collage of community member voices reflect on what the Mission means to them.
44:53 – 46:30 - Credits
46:31 – 48:21 - Epilogue: Daniel Galvez & Camilo Garzón on cave art, muralismo, & oral storytelling.
In Episode 7, Babette reconnects with EJ, and we hear her loud and clear. Babette talks with KQED’s Pendarvis Harshaw + former Oakland head librarian Dorothy Lazard about what makes Oakland soulful. NIAD artists Deatra Colbert and Halisi Noel-Johnson tell us about being Black and legendary.
Featured: Deatra Colbert, Nan Collymore, Susan Goldman, Pendarvis Harshaw, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Halisi Noel-Johnson, Dorothy Lazard, Evangeline Montgomery, Stephany Neal, and Babette Thomas.
Audio excerpt from Portfolios: E.J. Montgomery, ©Printmaking Legacy Project®, www.printmakinglegacyproject.org. Used with permission.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
In Episode 6, Babette is welcomed into the home of artist Mildred Howard. Twice. Listen to Mildred speak about letting her materials inform her, reflecting light through glass bottles, and giving Black women their flowers.
Featured: Elizabeth Catlett, Mildred Howard, Evangeline Montgomery, Betye Saar, and Babette Thomas.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
In Episode 5, Babette connects with artist Cheryl Fabio to discuss the work, impact, and foresight of her mother, poet and activist Sarah Webster Fabio. Rapper and fellow writer Nappy Nina reflects on the role of community in building an art career and practice.
Featured: Cheryl Fabio, Sarah Webster Fabio, Evangeline Montgomery, Nappy Nina, and Babette Thomas.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
In Episode 4 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette shares an update on their search for Evangeline. Plus, we hear two episodes of Rightnowish hosted by Pendarvis Harshaw, exploring what it looks like to build liberated Black spaces in the Bay Area.
Featured: Deanna Van Buren, Pendarvis Harshaw, Tajai Massey, Evangeline Montgomery, and Babette Thomas.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
In Episode 3, Babette tries to answer the question, “Where will we host our Black art spaces of the future?” In the woods, by the ocean, or in a city center? They turn to artists who deal with matters of space, place, and land: Octavia Butler, Richard Mayhew, and Bay Area artist Sage Stargate. Follow us, as we trace the footsteps our ancestors have left behind.
Featured: Richard Mayhew, Evangeline Montgomery, Bí Oke, Sage Stargate, Babette Thomas, Jay Thomas, and Veronica Thomas.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
In Episode 2 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette visits a museum with no walls: the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Museum in Joshua Tree, CA. Purifoy tells us what led him to the desert and Cauleen Smith creates a Black, feminist utopia in the spaces he built. Even our dreams have rhythm, let’s go together, moving through time + space — funkin to the beat of “One.”
Interview of Noah Purifoy provided by the Center for Oral History Research, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
Featured: Evangeline Montgomery, Bí Oke, Noah Purifoy, Cauleen Smith, Babette Thomas, and Jay Thomas.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
In Episode 1 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette Thomas takes us on a journey through time. We travel to a 1968 Black arts exhibition in Oakland, California, called New Perspectives in Black Art. It was the first of its kind in the country and, in this episode, we meet the woman behind it all, a Black artist and curator named Evangeline "EJ" Montgomery.
Featured: Etta Moten Barnett, Dewey Crumpler, Zora Neale Hurston, Evangeline Montgomery, Ma Rainey, Bobby Seale, Babette Thomas, and Sarah Vaughn.
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
Babette sets the sonic table for Season 7 of Raw Material with a playlist of songs inspired by the ethos of the Black Bay Area during the 1960s and 1970s.
Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3pfCBgY
Featured: Evangeline Montgomery, and Babette Thomas
Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae
The art of postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer and the poetry of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan are both layered, dense, and hard to read. Sometimes the best starting point is through the layered, dense, and idiosyncratic ways that an individual processes trauma. So grab a spelunking hardhat and together we'll mine these layers of metaphor and materials, texture and text, golden straw and blackened ash, that comprise the unimaginable.
This episode was produced by The Lonely Palette. More episodes at www.thelonelypalette.com.
This episode talks about a number of pieces by Alexander Calder. Calder is most well known for his mobiles, giant hanging pieces that move subtly with the currents in the room.
This episode was produced by Accession. More episodes at accession.fm.
Roxane Gay reflects on Kara Walker's Christ's Entry into Journalism (2017).
The Way I See It, "Roxane Gay and Kara Walker's Christ's Entry into Journalism" was produced by the BBC in association with the Museum of Modern Art New York. More episodes at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009bf6.
The best-selling novelist and essayist, Olivia Laing explores the influential abstract artist Agnes Martin (1912-2004). Martin – a gay, working class woman who forged a path in a male-dominated art world – embraced solitude and didn’t have her first solo show until she was 46.
This episode was produced by Reduced Listening © Frieze. More episodes at frieze.com/article/bow-down-podcast-women-art-history.
Art History For All guides you through Roberto Matta’s surreal mental landscape, Invasion of the Night (1941), and explores its connections to physics and psychology.
This episode was produced by Art History for All. More episodes at arthistoryforall.com.
This episode focuses on Betye Saar (b. 1926). In a 1975 interview, she discusses the diverse sources for her art and how she prevailed in the face of racism and gender discrimination.
This episode is produced by the J. Paul Getty Museum Museum. More episodes at getty.edu/recordingartists/.
“A painting is not a picture of an experience. It is the experience.” — Mark Rothko
This episode is produced by The Lonely Palette. More episodes at http://www.thelonelypalette.com/.
Connor is a portrait of President William Howard Taft. He's hanging on a wall, but is anybody looking at him?
This episode is produced by Everything Is Alive. More episodes at https://www.everythingisalive.com/
This episode, "The Many Deaths of a Painting" was produced by 99% Invisible. More episodes at 99percentinvisible.org.
Catch a sneak peak of what’s coming this season on Raw Material's "summer mixtape," from SFMOMA.
Season update: Raw Material is temporarily suspending this season to create space for more urgent stories and conversations. Black lives matter.
Welcome to Raw Material from SFMOMA! Start here for a quick introduction to our seasonal arts + culture podcast, by SFMOMA Content Producer and Raw Material creator Erin Fleming.
Sayre Quevedo, Raw Material’s podcaster-in-residence for Season 6, is at the end of his journey. It all started with a curiosity about the surprising ways humans are connected, and a wild plot to make his way to various artists through “degrees of separation.” When we first meet Sayre, he’s stealing love letters back from an ungracious ex. In this final episode, where does this experiment leave him?
After a series of false starts, rabbit holes, and mind maps, the time has come for Sayre to (possibly) meet internationally acclaimed artist Nikhil Chopra, the sixth degree of separation. Nikhil is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, splayed upon the floor. Sayre is intimidated, alone, and buried behind a crowd of Nikhil’s friends and fans. Will the two finally connect, or will fate have it otherwise?
Nooshin Rostami is a United States–based Iranian artist living in exile. While her father was dying in Iran, Nooshin was 6000 miles away from home. How will she process her grief without physical contact—without seeing her sisters, her mother, and the body of her father? What will it take to cross the insurmountable distance between her and her closest connections? Her answer: light.
The sounds of rain, a family kitchen, a song, a late-night conversation—do the moments they encapsulate make us who we are? In this episode, Sayre Quevedo travels through artist Yetunde Olagbaju’s memory via a series of intimate recordings that constitute what they call a “living archive.”
Jazmin Jones is pathologically inept at returning phone calls. In an attempt to clear her conscience (and voice-mail box), the artist decides to make a series of anxiety-inducing phone calls she’s put off for far too long. Listen in as Jazmin painfully catches up with friends, family, and accusatory ex-lovers.
Sayre Quevedo begins Raw Material season six by breaking into his ex-boyfriend’s apartment. His goal is to retrieve twenty-two love letters he wrote to a man who doesn’t deserve them. Join Sayre as he searches for signs, symbols, closure, and perhaps, real connection.
Season 5 of Raw Material takes inspiration from a 41 x 37-foot scale model of the city that was recently unearthed, refurbished, and distributed in pieces to neighborhood libraries. Listen in as residents tell stories of life in this vibrant, diverse, and ever-changing frontier city. Produced by award-winning radio documentarians the Kitchen Sisters, this season examines themes of urban development and identity in a city poised on the edge of the continent and built on landfill, steep hills, and the dreams of immigrants and pioneers. From memories of the luminous Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island to recollections of the freaky fun house at Playland, from North Beach to the Mission, Stories from the Model City brings to life the fascinating and troubled evolution of San Francisco.
Facing persecution in her native Uganda and unwilling to live an inauthentic life, fierce queer artist Leilah Babirye made a choice. She fled her home to discover a world of sexual and artistic exuberance in a new creative community on Fire Island, New York. Learn more about her extraordinary life and her bold body of work in this episode of Luvvers.
Photo: Leilah Babirye
The connection between the art world and the queer scene has not always been as openly discussed as it is today. Delve into the complex relationships between art, activism, and queer identity, and discover the power of making noise through making art.
Photo: Douglas Crimp by T.L. Litt, 1990.
Interview with Douglas Crimp is courtesy of SFMOMA's Open Space, from a conversation with Claudia La Rocco at the Lab in San Francisco.
Through looking at a variety of relationships, Chelsea investigates the many ways desire can be expressed. Hear the famed love letters Frida Kahlo sent to Diego Rivera, as well as to the lesser-known, though no less poetic answering machine messages left by Chelsea’s husband.
Sex sells. In this episode, Chelsea Beck analyzes the history of persuasive sexual imagery, and imagines a world where titillation fosters compassion rather than divisiveness.
Image: Carolee Schneeman, "Interior Scroll," (1975). Courtesy Carolina Nitsch, NY; photography by Anthony McCall.
Nayland Blake doesn’t create art to express who they are, they create art to investigate the possibilities of identity. Hear the artist discuss their explorations of the queer, BDSM, kink, and furry scenes, and learn more about their unique approach to one of art’s oldest subjects—sex.
Image © Nayland Blake, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
In the long history of portraits of First Ladies of the United States, none has drawn a reaction quite like the painting of Michelle Obama by Baltimore native Amy Sherald. Hear the artist discuss art in the age of Instagram.
This episode is produced by WNYC Studios and Note to Self. More episodes at .
Carolee Schneemann and Yoko Ono have created provocative art throughout their careers. Learn how these artists have dedicated their lives to exploring the pleasures and the vulnerabilities of the human body.
This episode is produced by WNYC Studios and MoMA. More episodes at https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/pieceofwork.
Back when Patti Smith and Judy Linn were kids, they used art to shape the world around them, posing for each other in photographs and starring in each other’s home movies. Hear Linn discuss how the two young Brooklynites weren't just "dreaming a future, they were dreaming a present."
This episode is produced by The Kitchen Sisters © The Kitchen Sisters 2015. More episodes at http://www.kitchensisters.org/.
An Oklahoman of Osage heritage, Maria Tallchief rose to stardom through years of hard work and dedication. Peek behind the curtain at the globetrotting life of America's first prima ballerina—her loves, her losses, her joys, and her sorrows.
This episode is produced by Stuff You Missed in History Class © Stuff You Missed in History Class 2014. More episodes at www.missedinhistory.com/.
Hazel Scott was a child prodigy, a New York jazz icon, the first African American woman to host her own television series, and an outspoken critic of discrimination in all its forms. Find out how her courage made her a role model for many and a target for some.
This episode is produced and hosted by Nathan DiMeo © The Memory Palace 2016. More episodes at http://thememorypalace.us/.
Many people know Georgia O’Keeffe for her flower paintings and depictions of the New Mexico landscape. Discover the very different setting that captured O’Keeffe during her time as a commissioned artist for the Hawaiian Pineapple Company—now the Dole Food Company— and how an initial distaste turned into great inspiration.
This podcast was hosted and produced by Abigail Cain © Artsy 2017. You can find more episodes of The Artsy Podcast at on Apple Podcasts.
Gertrude Stein is often credited as a driving force behind Modernism and Cubism while her lifelong partner, Alice B. Toklas, is frequently left out of the story. Learn about this power couple and their roles as movers and shakers in the world of 20th century art.
This episode is produced by Stuff You Missed in History Class © Stuff You Missed in History Class 2018. More episodes at https://www.missedinhistory.com/.
Women artists are often compared to one another but not to their male contemporaries. Learn how Mary Cassatt became one of the most important Impressionist painters of—and ahead of—her time by using the nineteenth-century Paris Opera House as an unlikely backdrop for feminist commentary.
This episode is produced and hosted by Tamar Avishai © The Lonely Palette 2017. More episodes at http://www.thelonelypalette.com/.
Catch a sneak peak of what’s coming this season on Raw Material's "summer mixtape," from SFMOMA.
Music used in this this track: Klymaxx “Meeting In The Ladies Room.” Remix by Bernadette Cooper.
“There is something cartoonish about life in California… something out of proportion, fantastical, even a little absurd.” End this season’s road trip back in the Bay Area, and explore the Emeryville mudflats, where artists upended the monumental, high-cost model of the Land Art movement with whimsical, communal, ephemeral sculptures. Play a road trip game that will broaden your concept of Land Art-- and make traffic more bearable.
Artists featured in this episode: Joey Enos, Everett Turner, Gary Knox Bennett, Penny Daimler, John McCracken
Correction for this episode: The woman who took photographs of the CCAC project was Penny Dhaemers.
“It looks crazy, surreal, like a mirage or magic. You want to walk towards that, don’t you?” Join hosts Jessica Placzek and Maddie Gobbo as they continue their West Coast road trip with a visit to the “happiest place on Earth”: Disneyland. Explore the designs and decisions that go into creating the seductive simulation of Walt Disney’s amusement parks and their utopian visions of the American landscape.
Artist featured in this episode: Kim Irvine
“Great leaders in all ages have sought the desert and heard its voice.” Land artists such as Michael Heizer and Robert Smithson found inspiration in the desert, but they were not the only—or the first—to do so. Hear three artists’ reflections on our relationship to the Great Basin and the art it has provoked.
Artists featured in this episode: Katie Peterson, Young Suh, Melissa Melero-Moose
“If that had been men, doing that for a day, it would have been famous. Everyone would have known about it. But since it was women . . . it’s just gone.” Encounter some of the historically overlooked women of the Land art movement, who often worked in stark opposition to the “plundering of the earth” approach of their male contemporaries. Then leave the macho art world in the dust with a fictional exercise in mediation.
Artists featured in this episode: Judy Chicago, Nancy Holt, Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Image: Judy Chicago, "Purple Atmosphere #4" (1969). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery.
“Earth turns to gold in the hands of the wise.” Meet visionaries who work with and against the landscape to yield something fruitful, shop the local farmers market, and then explore ways to beat the heat and build a home. Consider how far you would go to survive in a hostile landscape with a speculative story that envisions the fate of farming in a warming world.
Artist featured in this episode: Baldassare Forestiere
“As long as you’re going to make sculpture, why not make one that competes with a 747, or the Empire State Building, or the Golden Gate Bridge?” Discover artists who did just that by creating monumental works meant to withstand time or succumb to its passage. Reflect on your own relationship to the land with a post-apocalyptic tale that might dig up more than you expect.
Artists featured in this episode: Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria
Art brings us together. In this episode, members of Bay Area art collectives discuss what it means to make work for, by and with their communities. They reflect on the power of art to heal, inspire, and break down systems of oppression.
Artists featured in this episode: 100 Days of Action, Club Chai, Russell E.L. Butler. Photo: 100 Days of Action, by Ben Leon.
Art is a form of remembrance. This episode features two artists, both born in Iran, discussing the very different ways their practices have been influenced by the country’s turbulent history. They consider how this legacy, whether inherited or experienced firsthand, is impossible to ignore.
Photo: Arash Fayez. Photo by Geraldine Ah-Sue. Artists featured in this episode: Taraneh Hemami and Arash Fayez.
Art is an exercise in perspective. This episode highlights works that invite new ways of seeing. Artists reflect on how they see themselves, how others see them, and how to look at the world through performance, portraiture, and abstract painting.
Photo: Toyin Ojih Odutola. Photo by King Texas © 2015. Artists featured in this episode: James Luna, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Katherine Sherwood.
Art is emotional. This episode examines the concept of “home.” Through their work, a sculptor, a painter, and a singer express feelings about being at home, being in exile, safety, fear, connection, and belonging.
Photo: Ana Teresa Fernández, by Geraldine Ah-Sue. Artists featured in this episode: Mildred Howard, Ana Teresa Fernández, and Diana Gameros.
Art is material. This episode explores art in relation to the body. Hear artists reflect on gender and performance, transform themselves into cockroaches, and sculpt self-portraits from chocolate and soap.
Photo: Xandra Ibarra, Nude Laughing, performance at The Broad, Los Angeles, 2016. Photo by John Tain. Artists featured in this episode: Xandra Ibarra, Cassils, and Janine Antoni.
Art is a journey. This episode considers hidden histories through artworks that explore the movement of people, goods and ideas across distant lands. Hear about works made from curry, a 25-part installation on Angel Island, and an immersive three-channel film piece that uses imagery of the sea to evoke larger themes about history and politics.
Photo: Flo Oy Wong, by Geraldine Ah-Sue. Artists featured in this episode: Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, John Akomfrah, and Flo Oy Wong.
An artist discusses her interest in extraterrestrials, including sightings, abductions, and other memories of aliens. She examines how descriptions of these interactions have both changed with cultural norms and reflected individual, inner feelings.
Image: courtesy of Desirée Holman Artists featured: Desirée Holman
Artists share personal experiences they have had with ghosts and the paranormal. A conceptual sculptor describes creating a piece using a “presence” as his primary material.
Artists featured in this episode: Tom Friedman, India Cook, Rosemary Brown, Elizabeth Robinson, Micki Pellerano
Image © Tom Friedman; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.
Artists discuss how they both add to and draw from from Earth’s vibrations. A conceptual artist presents a chapel he has built for bees, and a free jazz improviser talks about making music with natural biological rhythms.
Photo: Terence Koh, by Ross Simonini. Artists featured in this episode: Terence Koh, Milford Graves, Nat Evans.
Artists discuss intuition and divination, techniques used to perceive and foresee the unknown. They explore the intersections of their work with palmistry, poetry, astrology, and clairsentient readings.
Artists featured in this episode: CA Conrad
To read a transcript of our full interview with CAConrad, visit: http://openspace.sfmoma.org/2016/11/extreme-present-a-conversation-with-caconrad/
Experimental musician, pioneering performance artist, and general cult phenomenon Genesis Breyer P-Orridge reveals the role of magic in h/er life and artistic practice. S/he describes h/er decades-long mystical work with sigils, chaos magick, sex magick, and the philosophies of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.
Image: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge by Ross Simonini Artists featured in this episode: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Micki Pellerano
A folk musician conducts an ayahuasca ceremony, a performance artist describes her shamanic rituals, and a pioneer of conceptual art communes with animals and inhabits his own unconscious.
Image: Joseph Beuys, I Like America And America Likes Me, 1974.
Artists featured in this episode: Santiparro, Dohee Lee, Joseph Beuys.
A performance artist, a philosopher, a violinist, and a new age composer make art by harnessing unknown forces, deities, and interdimensional beings. An artist at the turn of the twentieth century holds a séance with spirits and gives birth to abstract painting.
Photo of Dohee Lee by Pak Han.
Discover Raw Material, a new arts and culture podcast from SFMOMA, coming October 2016.