Exhibitionistas – Conversations about Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Artists and Theory–For Everyone – Details, episodes & analysis

This is a different kind of episode... We decided to record smaller formats here and there for you to explore a topic related to exhibitions that everyone thinks is a given. There are no givens for us, we like to question everything. 

And we know that unlike cinemas, or bookshops, exhibition galleries can feel intimidating. And we want you to know that an art lover and an art professional can also feel this discombobulating feeling of alienation in exhibiton spaces, which at times, prompts us to feel embarrassed, out of our depth, or even to make a few faux-pas.

It happens to everyone, especially, I would say, to exhibitionistas.  And by now, you, dear listener, can consider yourself as such! We are a big community!

This is the last episode of this season. We will be back very soon, with a new string of exhibition experiences, and perhaps, who knows, smaller episodes like this one alternating with the big ones. A weekly episode drop?! Who knows, anything is possible. After all, we did start this podcast with innocent and extravagant confidence. And look at us, here we are.

@exhibitionistas_podcast

exhibitionistaspod@gmail.com

Music by Sarturn.

This time we went to the Serpentine gallery in Hyde park. What a nice setting for a contemporary art venue. That walk back to the tube is always a slow and ponderous one. We do talk a lot about walks back to the tube after visiting exhibitions in this episode!

We visited the retrospective exhibition of the feminist pioneer Judy Chicago, whose blueprint was a hitherto unpublished manuscript, Revelations, inspired by Illuminations and myths of the Goddess. You can purchase it online or in the book shop. The show was curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of the gallery.

We exchanged different experiences and thoughts about the exhibition, based partially on the curatorial choices that were made and which puzzled us somewhat, although we support the ecological reasons they are based on.

For more information about the exhibition go here: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/judy-chicago-revelations/

Follow Judy Chicago on Instagram: @judy.chicago

And follow us! @exhibitionistas_podcast

Music by Sarturn.

In this episode, we explore the medium of photography through the lens - pun intended - of Daidō Moriyama's life work. We visited his exhibition at the Photographer's Gallery and we had very different experiences! 

https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/daido-moriyama-retrospective

Curators: Thyago Nogueira and Claire Grafik

We chat a lot about what it means to look at street photography and what it might feel to be in the photograph itself. What if it was you who were on an exhibition poster? We discuss minimalist and maximalist exhibitions, but, mostly, Moriyama's unfussed and iconoclastic relation with the medium. He is just cool.

https://www.moriyamadaido.com/en/

@exhibitionistas_podcast

Music: Sarturn

In this third episode, we explore the work of Tania Kovats after having visited her exhibition "as above so below" at Parafin Gallery. We go back to her beginnings and appreciate how far she's come into her exploration of the elements, with a big emphasis on bodies of water.

@kovats66

This is the first time we visit a commercial gallery for the podcast and there is some discussion about the advantages of visiting this type of exhibition space. 

https://www.parafin.co.uk

https://www.parafin.co.uk/exhibitions/2023/exhibitions-2023-tania-kovats

There may be some reading as well, as the artist's work led to some new books ! We find out that Kovats' work takes us on a journey into the history of the earth and our own place in it, which means thinking and feeling geologically, politically, socially and even, perhaps, metaphysically... 

Music: Sarturn.

In this episode, we explore the work and life of Philip Guston, after having visited his exhibition at Tate Modern. Talk about plot twists! Guston's life and exhibitions, even this last travelling one, caused tremendous controversy. But above all, it's his ability to question himself and follow his own ideas that really impressed us.

Music: Sarturn

In this first episode of Exhibitionistas we look back on one of the most exciting exhibitions of last year, Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy. What better way to start a podcast than chatting about the retrospective exhibition of the grandmother of performance art?

Music: Sarturn.

In this episode we discuss Matthew Krishanu's exhibition The Bough Breaks at Camden Art Centre, a place we adore. We chat about loss, childhood, overlapping times, grief and the colonial residue of authentic relationships filled with love.

We didn't always agree but that is the power of exhibitions: we shared diverging experiences, which made the episode even more compelling and at times hilarious. There a few hilarious anecdotes about 80's parenting - or lack thereof.

For more information about the exhibition: https://camdenartcentre.org/whats-on/matthew-krishanu-the-bough-breaks

Music by Sarturn.

When small displays convey the biggest experiences and stories.... This episode is dedicated to Lubaina Himid's display of drawings and collages  for her Turner Prize installation Naming the Money at the Royal Academy.

As often, but particularly at the RA, exhibition going is full of encounters, idiosyncratic journeys, rushes and meetings.  

We explored Himid's biography and other projects, namely her Guardian artist residency.

For more information about the project: https://lubainahimid.com/portfolio/naming-the-money/

Enjoy this new episode! 

And follow us at @exhibitionistas_podcast.

Music by: Sarturn.

Soufiane Ababri's work took us to The Curve, a difficult space at the Barbican that Ababri worked to his advantage and to the delight of these two exhibitionistas. The artist's work explores notions of diaspora, immigration, colonial trauma, post-colonial issues, queerness and much more. But most of all it is a delightful installation of magnificent drawings for their skilled unskillfulness and their recording of queer love, tenderness, sex and life.

The exhibition is called "Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated", and it was a commission specifically for the, well, curved space of The Curve. 

For more information:  https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2024/event/soufiane-ababri

Follow Soufiane Ababri on Instagram:  @soufianeababri

Follow us: exhibitionistas_podcast

Music by: Sarturn

Have you ever been to an exhibition that changes your heart rate, slows you down, and inspires you to take a nap with a cat? Such was our experience at Zeinab Saleh's exhibition at the heart of Tate Britain, part of the Art Now program, which welcomes contemporary young artists in one of the many rooms of the museum.

We discuss the notion of quiet, how it is dismissed in our culture, and how the artist not only embraces it but also almost magically creates it through mixed media paintings and drawings. A simple setting eliciting mindful dreaming and sheer presence.

The exhibition was curated by Amy Emmerson Martin (assistant curator) and Nathan Ladd (curator).

For more information visit the Tate's webiste: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/zeinab-saleh

@exhibitionistas_podcast

Music: Sarturn