The Taino civilization was decimated by Christopher Columbus and other European explorers during first contact, but the legacy of these people, who inhabited what is today called the Caribbean, continues to this day.

In a small exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, titled Arte del mar: Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean, Assistant Curator James Doyle showcases some of the rare wooden objects, along with the intricate gold pieces, fascinating stone stools, and other objects that have survived over the centuries. He explains what makes the artistic objects of the Taíno unique, why bats and other animals are common in the imagery, and what we know about a civilization that was drastically impacted by the devastation and genocide of European colonization.

Also, some good news: the run of the exhibition has been extended until June 27, 2021.

The music for this week’s episode is “The Shady Road” by artist B. Wurtz. His debut album, Some Songs, will be released on October 16 by Hen House Studios. 

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Reporters Valentina Di Liscia and Hakim Bishara join me to discuss the Whitney Museum’s decision to cancel the exhibition Collective Actions: Artist Interventions In a Time of Change, which was scheduled to open on September 17. 

They both reported on the story this Tuesday, and now offer their own insights into the larger questions raised by this controversy, including how museums should collect, what role should artists have in the acquisition process, and if museums are getting better or worse at dealing with issues of racial and economic equity in their collections.

This episode will get you up to speed about the fast-moving story and what it tells us about the Whitney and other contemporary museums today.

A special thanks to Tyler James Bellinger for providing his track “Champagne” for this week’s episode. You can visit Apple Music or YouTube, for more information.

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The recent news that the White House may ban the social media platform TikTok has people wondering, why? While Silicon Valley social giants, like Twitter and Facebook, have avoided similar threats, the question remains why TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company but has headquarters in the UK and the US, is causing so much condemnation.

I invite author, artist, and technologist An Xiao Mina to discuss her recent article "Break and TikTok for the Mass," and why the social platform continues to irk the powers that be. We also discuss the passing of poet Dinos Christianopoulos, whose line “They Tried to Bury Us, They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds” has become a staple of protests the world over.

Thanks to YutaY for providing the music to this week’s episode. His new track “Run” is available on Apple Music and Spotify, and you can follow him on Facebook.

Hyperallergic continues to be on top of the biggest stories in the art community during the pandemic. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date.

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Recently, Hyperallergic reported that the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania will be removing a cranial collection from display in a basement classroom. The group of crania, which was donated by a 19th-century Philadelphia-born and UPenn-educated physician named Samuel George Morton, includes many skulls of enslaved Black people. The collection is a product of racist, pseudoscientific "race science" that Morton and his peers perpetuated. Members of the UPenn community actively denounced its display at the institution for many years prior to the museum’s recent decision.

Hyperallergic's news editor Jasmine Weber and reporter Hakim Bishara join me to discuss this story and what Police Free Penn, a group consisting of UPenn students and local activists, is demanding the museum abolish the collection.

The music this episode is an instrumental version of "Begin Again" by Kill the Alarm.

Hyperallergic continues to be on top of the biggest stories in the art community during the pandemic. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date.

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Hyperallergic news editor Jasmine Weber and reporter Valentina Di Liscia joined me to parse the latest PPP loan news and discuss the list of beneficiaries.

Previously, we reported on galleries, museums, and nonprofits in New York and Los Angeles that received loans, and noted that the world’s most exclusive art galleries received millions of dollars of taxpayer money. In this conversation we offer some additional details and thoughts about the news.

We also discuss the evolving discussion around the blurring of faces in protest photographs, following a statement issued by ICP Center Blackness Now on the need for guidelines for protest photographers. Photographer Dawoud Bey offered his thoughts in the comments of the post we published, which has extended the conversation. We share our thoughts on the topic.

The music for this episode is “The One” by The Wayves.

Hyperallergic is continuing to cover the biggest stories in the art community during the pandemic. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date.

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In his current position as art critic at the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight has been speaking truth to power for almost four decades. He charted the contemporary art waters in a city that has since become one of the world’s art hubs before most people ever noticed. He doesn’t shy away from controversy, as his recent columns about the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s renovations suggest. This year he was awarded two special honors: the Rabkin Lifetime Achievement Award for Art Journalism and the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

In this episode, he shares stories about his years in LA, his work as a newspaper art critic, and even a very curious letter he received from actor Charleton Heston about artist Andrew Wyeth.

The music featured in this episode is the track “Zuma" by Austin David.

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This week, I talk to Hyperallergic news editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Hakim Bishara and Valentina di Liscia, to discuss some of the major stories they’ve been reporting on. Art’s role in upholding the status quo has been long diminished, but we’ve seen major developments to challenge this, including the removal of Confederate statues across the United States; the toppling of a Columbus statue in Minneapolis by members of the American Indian Movement; the decision by MCA Chicago to halt its contract with local police; celebrities advocating for justice for Breonna Taylor; and the vow by former Whitney Museum Vice Chair Warren Kanders to sell Safariland divisions that manufactures tear gas.

We also discuss our editorial decision to blur the faces of protesters, as well as two important essays we published on the origins of the word “loot” and the meaning of journalistic “objectivity.”

I also speak to scholar and photographer Artyom Tonoyan about what he saw during the May 29th protests in Minneapolis.

Hyperallergic continues to be on top of the biggest stories in the art community during the pandemic. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date.

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In this episode for Sunday Edition, we welcome Kyle Chayka to examine Silicon Valley’s taste for minimalist design. Is this just the latest development for a style that has a long history but only emerged into pop culture during the 1960s and ‘70s when a contemporary art movement emerged to propel the taste for less into a global phenomenon?

Chayka's book, The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism (Bloomsbury, 2020), is a highly readable book that examines the historical precedents of minimalist design, its incarnation as contemporary art, and how it was co-opted by architecture, design, and fashion companies to represent a new, generic sense of luxury.

The music for this episode is Darkstar’s “Timeaway,” which is taken from the new album News From Nowhere, courtesy of Warp Records (warp.net/artists/darkstar).

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The best news team in art gathers for another conversation about the biggest stories facing the arts community. News editor Jasmine Weber, and reporters Hakim Bishara and Valentina di Liscia, join me to reflect on acts of solidarity across the art world, the growing #CancelRent movement, the bizarre IRS complaint filed by an attorney against the Whitney Museum, museum layoffs, a coalition of artists calling to lift Gaza sanctions, how US cities are dealing with arts funding, Frieze New York going online, and much more.

Hyperallergic continues to be on top of the biggest stories in the art community during the pandemic and subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay up to date.

A special thanks to Jowan Safadi for allowing us to use his track, “Super White Man,” for this episode. You can follow Saladi on YouTube, Bandcamp, or Twitter.

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Few critics are like John Yau, who, for decades, has continued to engage with contemporary art with a voracious appetite, often focusing on figures ignored by the art market and mainstream institutions that chase after the next shiny thing. He has been part of the Hyperallergic Weekend editorial collective since it debuted in 2012.

John's writing about contemporary art cuts through hierarchies and academic jargon while revealing his love of art and innovative ideas. I asked him about his life, how he got into art writing, stories from his childhood, and other influences that help us understand a writer who continues to challenge both himself and readers to look at art with fresh and informed eyes. This special two-hour interview offers a window into the world of one of the country's most respected art critics and poets.

A special thanks to Vinson Valega for providing the music for this interview. You can learn more about his music at VinsonValega.com.

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