Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and political activist who has been named the most influential artist alive. A retrospective of his work has been touring the U.S., and his name is constantly in the news (whether for his art, his run-ins with Chinese authorities, or his internet memes). While his activism has earned him international acclaim, it tends to overshadow his art; in this episode, we focus on looking closely at three of his major works, in order to understand the importance of his choices as an artist (and not only as an activist).

Ai Weiwei

Hosted by Dr. Sarah C. Schaefer (Assistant Professor, Art History, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) and Dr. Tina Rivers Ryan (Assistant Curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY).

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If you live in or have visited a major city over the past year, chances are you've come across some version of the various new "immersive" "Van Gogh" "experiences." Staged by for-profit companies and marketed heavily on Facebook, these "environments" promise to bring audiences closer to the beloved paintings of Vincent Van Gogh through the magic of digital enlargement, animation, and projection. In this episode, Sarah and Tina are joined by Swagato Chakravorty, a fellow at the Philadelphia Museum of Art whose doctoral work in art history and film and media studies focused on the history of screens. Together, they attempt to get to the bottom of just what makes these experiences so appealing to audiences, and how we might think about them as aspects of visual culture related to ideas in art history, instead of just dismissing them as unsatisfying reproductions outright.

Van Gogh Light Shows: A Roundtable

A clip from the newest episode of our SEEN series, a benefit of becoming a patron of the podcast: www.patreon.com/arthistoryhappyhour

Teaser - SEEN: American Psycho

Back in February 2015, we discussed the history of 19th century French political satire in response to the tragedy of the mass shooting at the offices of the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. In the wake of the insurrection at the Capitol in January 2020, our minds turned once again to the relationship between politics and the visual arts. This time around, we thought we would extend our conversation into the early 20th century, focusing on the Russian painter Kasimir Malevich and "Suprematism," which he developed in the heady years leading up to the Russian Revolution.While Malevich's iconic "Black Square" paintings can seem like a radical break with the past, in this episode, we look at the trajectory of his career to understand how they emerged out of the context of early 20th century Russian and European avant-gardes. We conclude by discussing how a non-representational painting can still "represent" political ideals, and also touch on recent scholarship that revealed the painting's origins in anti-Black racism.

The Revolutionary Language of the Black Square

In this follow-up to our discussion of NFTs and the NFT market, we consider how so-called "cryptoart"--or digital art that is bought and sold with NFTs--relates to the history of Conceptual art, which is often cited by those in the crypto community as its precedent. While most cryptoart is not "Conceptual art," it's not unrelated to it, either: both raise questions about the nature and value of art. The episode concludes with a brief discussion of some artworks by artists who are using blockchains to make art that really IS Conceptual, and who treat blockchain as a medium, and not just a transactional tool.

Two Art Historians Discuss NFTs, Part 2: Cryptoart vs. Conceptualism

Please enjoy this clip from our forthcoming episode of SEEN focusing on the Hulu series The Great. Become a Patreon member to get full access to our SEEN series: www.patreon.com/arthistoryhappyhour

Ai Weiwei

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