Art of Interference

In this final episode of season 2, we talk with dancer and dance scholar Mariama Diagne about the art of “heavy hovering”—the ability of modern ballet and dance to teach us a different way of moving and being on Earth. We discuss efforts to relocate human life to other planets to escape the effects of climate change, the beauty of meeting the challenges of terrestrial gravity, the environmental legacy of Pina Bausch’s dance theater, and the transformative qualities of West-African dance practices. And since this is our last episode for this year, AoI's five team members also take a pause to reflect on their favorite moment of this season . . . and their preferred dance moves. 

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

Smoke is a beautiful—yet sometimes strange, or even terrifying—phenomenon. In today’s episode, we explore how the mysterious qualities of smoke open up possibilities for exploration and better understanding of human relationships with the earth and air. First, we get to know the multi-colored, pyrotechnic smoke sculptures of esteemed artist Judy Chicago, who began producing these works in the late 1960s as a response to the male-centric land art movement. Then, we hear from Bill Fox, the Director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno; he has worked extensively with Chicago’s smoke sculpture archive, currently housed by the museum. Finally, we feature a conversation with Dave Petersen, a scientist who’s devoted his entire career to understanding smoke and wildfires.

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

“Wind, wind, wind. If you repeat the word wind often enough, then it will blow by itself.” These are the poetic words of this episode’s featured artist, Theo Jansen, who has spent the last three decades creating and evolving his strandbeests—massive PVC creatures that walk down the Dutch coast powered by the wind alone. Wind propels sail boats, kites, turbines, and strandbeests alike, all with invisibility. Join us as we explore how climate change is actually changing winds, discuss on-shore and off-shore wind farming, and dive into the complexities of making wind art. 

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

Our air and atmosphere require 21% oxygen to sustain life as we know it. Human-induced climate change has put this ratio under pressure. In this episode of Art of Interference, we feature Santiago Sierra’s work 52 Canvases and Ted Chiang’s short story Exhalation as two recent interventions that draw our attention to the precarity of the air around us. We talk with curator Meredith Malone about the strange beauty of Sierra's toxic images and we discuss what can be learned from marine mammals about the future of oxygen on our planet.

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

Temperature regulation has become a deeply political issue in our boiling world. In this episode, we speak with London-based artist Susan Schuppli about her work on the violence of temperature and the inequities of climate control, and with architectural historian Joseph Siry about the role of air conditioning in twentieth- and twenty-first century building design. We ask what it takes to claim universal rights for livable temperatures and how contemporary art can help recalibrate existing ideas about comfort and convenience.

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

“I am working very hard, although this morning... I was terrified to see that there was no fog, not even a wisp of mist: I was prostrate, and could see all my paintings done for, but gradually the fires were lit and the smoke and haze came back.” When Monet wrote this in a letter to his wife in 1900, the term “smog” had not yet been coined. But the artist was certainly describing the eerie beauty of polluted fog. In today’s episode, Tori and Emma speak with artist Kim Abeles about her Smog Collectors series and talk to atmospheric scientist Anna Lea Albright about the surprising ties between Impressionism and climate change. 

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

In this episode, we turn our attention to the carbon footprint of the contemporary art world. What can galleries and museums do to reduce their CO2 emissions? How do curators and museum directors rethink their exhibition and conversation practices to reduce their institutions’ environmental footprint. Our guests are Amanda Hellman, the director of Vanderbilt University’s Museum of Art, and Mark Scala, the chief curator of the Frist Art Museum in Nashville. We discuss how climate considerations shape their respective approaches to preserving and exhibiting art and how we can’t separate conversations about decarbonization from ongoing efforts to decolonize the art world.

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

In this episode of Art of Interference, we turn our attention to the larger-than-life cloud creations of Tomás Saraceno, an artist who creates cities in the clouds and flyable cloud sculptures as a way of imagining more ecological futures. We also hear from  media philosopher John Durham Peters whose book The Marvelous Clouds revolutionizes the way we think about humans, nature, and art. Finally, we learn from a cloud scientist, Andrea Salazar, about the importance of cloud feedback systems on a warming planet. 

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

In this episode, we talk with Grammy-award winning fluteplayer Molly Barth about the relation of breath, contemporary flute music, and climate change. We also hear from pulmonologist Dr. Priya Balakrishnan about the impact of increased air pollution on the work of our lungs. And we explore the connections between good breathing and good listening, and how extractivist economies tend to suffocate both.     

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/

In this first episode of our second season, we speak with three artists and scientists who reach out beyond the atmosphere of our planet in distress: astrophotographer Gerhard Huedepohl, photography historian Katerina Korola, and astrophysicist Erika Grundstrom. Dedicated to the idea of marvelous transparency and luminosity, they remind us to be better stewards of our air on Earth.

For more information about she show, as well as the artists, the experts, the music, and additional materials featured in each episode, visit: https://artofinterference.com/