Fields of the Future: Recent Episodes
Bard Graduate Center
The Fields of the Future podcast amplifies the voices and highlights the work of scholars, artists, and writers who are injecting new narratives into object centered-thinking. Join us for engaging conversations between BGC faculty and fellows and their guests.
In this episode, Jessie Mordine Young speaks with Alejandro de Avila Blomberg, the founding director of the Ethnobotanical Garden and curator at the Oaxaca Textile Museum in Oaxaca, Mexico. They discuss his career in anthropology, the history of cochineal, and the evolution of biodiversity in the region.
In this episode, Juliana Fagua-Arias speaks with Molly and Lara Manzanares from Tierra Wools about life as sheep ranchers, the musicality of weaving, and the intersection between business, artistry, and education.
In this episode, Jessie Mordine Young speaks with Larissa Nez about her contributions to the exhibition Color Riot at the Montclair Art Museum, where she currently is an Art Table Fellow. They also discuss how, in her curatorial career, she is advocating for decolonial disciplines and talk about the individual and collective experience of life on the reservation during a global pandemic.
In this episode, Jessie Mordine Young speaks with Porfirio Gutiérrez about his textile art and its connection to place, specifically to his homeland of Teotitlán del Valle. They also talk about his relationship with natural dye and color and how his practice is deeply rooted in ancestral knowledge.
In This Episode Peter N. Miller speaks to Brandon R. Byrd, historian of Black intellectual and social history, about the scope of intellectual history, the “rise” of Black intellectual history, and the urgent necessity to incorporate stories and knowledges that have been left out of the field. Through lively and deliberate intellectual exchange, Byrd and Miller explore a discipline in flux.
In This Episode Christina De León speaks to Tanya Aguiñiga about Metabolizing the Border, the performative embodiment of her engagement with the people and the landscape at the borderlands between Mexico and the US. With frank candor, Aguiñiga describes her years on the road and the environment, politics, and trauma that animate her work, as well as the emotional and spiritual difficulty of the performance and its aftermath.
In This Episode Elizabeth Guffey speaks to historian Jaipreet Virdi about disability studies, her “path-breaking” approach to research, and the inclusive and collaborative opportunities social media allows scholars. Virdi’s work centers the people who used and adapted disability objects throughout history. Through rich and detailed examples Virdi illuminates the hidden stories behind these objects.
In This Episode Ivan Gaskell speaks to curator, art historian, and professor Sarah Anne Carter about how objects illuminate hidden histories. Carter articulates the importance of collaboration and interdisciplinarity in curation, teaching, and writing. Through recalling her own educational trajectory she highlights the central role objects can play in learning.
In This Episode Aaron Glass speaks with art historian and curator Heather Igloliorte about Indigenous futures, repatriation, and inclusive exhibition making. Using detailed real world examples Igloliorte articulates with alacrity and optimism how universities and museums can work towards being more supportive and inclusive of Indigenous peoples and perspectives.
In This Episode Jennifer Mass speaks with conservation heritage scientist Marc Vermeulen about the links between art and science, the wealth of information carried within the sample, and the microhistories of objects that are contained in data analysis. Listen to this episode to nerd out on the nuances of how materials transform over time.
In this episode Soon Kai Poh speaks to conservator Ellen Carrlee about Indigenous collaboration and the role of the conservator in networks of care. Recounting stories from her professional life, she illuminates the many ways communities can be invited to help care for their cultural objects and in doing so help define the future of conservation practice.
In This Episode Nina Stritlzer-Levine speaks with historian, theorist, and exhibitor Samia Henni about her approach to architectural history informed by her experience growing up in Algeria in the aftermath of French colonial rule. With targeted attention to the crucial role of the archive, both personal and collective, Henni poignantly highlights the significance of personal histories in combating colonial erasure.
In This Episode Anthropologist Hadley Jensen speaks with Diné photographer and curator Rapheal Begay about his life and work and what it means to pay attention to the things we take for granted. Through visual storytelling he foregrounds Indigenous aesthetics, embodied knowledges, and alternative ways of knowing that explore the Diné way of life. Begay describes with visceral clarity the dynamic landscape of the American Southwest and the knowledge systems that animate it.