Pass/Fail/Incomplete

Well, what a difference a decade makes! Does it make one wiser? More insightful? More curious about the world? Perhaps. And, for all these reasons as well as those that defy reason itself, we decided to relaunch our podcast, Pass/Fail/Incomplete.

Produced by Oliver Wasow, Peter Rostovsky, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud

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Well folks you asked for it. PFI is back just after the holidays and in time for Valentine’s Day. Double the fun, double the guests and 2/3rds the sound quality –because we’re on the road, and well, we’re still figuring things out. Join us for this very special holiday/Valentine’s Day ‘couples segment’ with none other than artist Nina Katchadourian and her partner, publisher of Cabinet magazine, Sina Najafi. Want to hear them bicker–like couples–discuss silence, breakfast shakes, populism, attempted murder and gentrification–like couples? Then tune in! Special features include the early beginnings of Cabinet, Nina’s hippie past, bad jobs and the critical issue of whether New York is still fit for artists. Plus Peter has a headache, Sina quotes Hegel, and Oliver elaborates his 'fluffy not stuffy’ aesthetic. Couples rejoice, singles rejoice, everyone rejoice, for the chicken has risen. (Listen in to get that inside joke.) Couples!

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

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If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes a mountain range on the horizon or a branch which casts its shadow over you, you might wonder: Hey how does photography get curated in major museums? Or maybe, what is the proper way to peal a banana? Well, wonder no more, but go down the rabbit hole with this photography in the age of social media discussion featuring none other than Mia Fineman, the Metropolitan Museum’s Associate Curator of Photography. Mia talks to Oliver and Peter about her childhood in Queens, artistic beginnings, brief stints in child-grooming and eventual career as a photography curator at one of the nation’s premiere institutions. What’s the importance of the photographic document in a time of photographic overload? How does the museum handle the tricky tango between populism and the canon? How does the notion of the fake follow photography from its very beginnings? And also, how do you commune with a donkey? Join us for this engaging conversation, featuring smart people in a room, talking photography, eating bananas, opening up and crying. Ok, that last part is not true, but you should listen anyway. Next time you take a picture, you might think of this episode, and next time you go to the Met to see a photography exhibit, you might think of this conversation. Remember, as part of this special PFI return, the 300th listener gets to listen to a podcast! Go ahead, press play.

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

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Interested in Performance Art, the secret life of characters and art that doesn’t reveal itself as art? Well you’re in luck. Join us for this special ‘secret’ podcast as we sit down with none other than artist, writer, David Levine who talks to us about his life as a lonely teenager growing up in New York, his family’s close ties to Rothko, authenticity in the digital age and all things Performance. Do we perform in this episode? Maybe just a little. But we also discuss twist ties and their relation to globalized labor, privilege bubbles, the-ater and robots. Plus we foreshadow our search for PFI’s ideal sponsor: drones. If you’re in the drone industry, call us. But the rest of you, just listen and shhhh… This episode is secret. (Recorded on 3/23/15)

For more on David’s work, see: http://www.david-levine.net/

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

Send us a comment at [email protected]

PFI is more than just the visual arts, folks, and today’s theme is fiction. For this episode, we sit down with the brilliant Lebanese-American writer Rabih Alameddine, a man with more prestigious award nominations than Susan Lucci and a past almost certainly as interesting. Rabih shares stories from his much travelled international childhood and expounds on his creative endeavors which run the gamut from engineering to painting, and finally, to writing. Everything is fair game as we explore the pros and cons of MFA programs, pathos-laden personal memoirs, loneliness, Satan, Schnabels, social media, and of course, soccer. So pull up a seat or pull to the side of the road and take a listen. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll almost certainly never look at a Matisse the same way again. (Recorded on 3/13/15)

For more on Rabih:

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

Send us a comment at [email protected]

Ok painting nerds, we’ve got what you’ve been waiting for. The theme of this episode is Painting as we sit down with the Iranian-born painter, Kamrooz Aram. Kamrooz talks to us about his youthful bad boy days, growing up in Iran, his passion for music and the pivotal differences between abstraction, ornament and décor. Join us for this thoughtful and engaging conversation as we delve into the mysterious forces that intoxicate artists in their studios. This is as good as painting talk gets, people. If you are a painter, painting enabler, painting-curious, or even considering dating a painter, then what can we say? You’re welcome. (Recorded on 1/30/15)

For more on Kamrooz Aram:

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

Send us a comment at [email protected]

Join us for this very belated but engaging episode, where our guest is Mark Alice Durant: photographer, performance artist, musician, blogger and founder of the photography website Saint Lucy. We talk to Mark about the changing role of photography in an increasingly digital world and what it means to have meaningful encounters with images in a world overloaded with images. Oliver waxes poetically, Peter takes some ibuprofen, again, and we discuss the great behemoth of image culture and the loneliness that it both creates and ostensibly staves off. Shutterbugs and melancholics rejoice, this episode is for you. (Recorded on 12/4/14)

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

Send us a comment at [email protected]

Prepare to be charmed, but also to cringe a little. The theme of this episode is “delicate negotiation”; sub-theme: “Jews,” and also “light within the darkness.” Did we also mention that this is a very belated Christmas episode? For this special PFI, our guest is artist, film-maker, Alix Lambert. Alix talks to us about her various projects that include the “Mark of Cain” (a documentary filmed inside the Russian prison system), writing for “Deadwood,” and her most recent documentary “Mentor” which tackles the subject of bullying. Join us for some serious but mostly hilarious conversation and truly some delicate negotiation as Oliver shares possibly too much. But then, how else would you usher in the new year? Get a cup of hot tea and put some frozen peas on your groin. And if that seems like an inside joke, then just press play. (Recorded on 12/16/14)

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

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Critique may be a tired and especially urgent term these days. It’s also the theme of this episode (with anxiety as the sub-theme). Our special guest is the scurrilous artist-provocateur, William Powhida, who for many years made it his business to critique the business of the art world. We’ll talk to Bill about his past as well as his concerns and efforts to reform the financial asymmetries and dangerous myths of his chosen profession. Can this be done? Should one just leave town for their own utopia? Can Peter get a word in in this heated and dynamic conversation? Tempers flare, torches are lit, “Matt” is almost asked for assistance, and we talk about Ridley Scott and the band Tortoise a little. Listen in on this exciting discussion where we all slowly expose our cards, investments, untarnished romanticism and belief in the value of criticality. This is one for the studio and the classroom, folks. No winners here, only questions to ponder while you sharpen your pitchfork or contemplate your cake. (Recorded on 11/20/14)

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

Send us a comment at [email protected]

Identity Crisis is the theme and adult acne the leitmotif of this episode featuring painter, writer and co-editor of Paper Monument, Dushko Petrovich. Dushko talks to us about his search for his identity from Toledo Ohio to Serbia, while Peter reluctantly shares some family details as well. Tune in on this conversation where painting, writing, humor and sports are all topics of discussion. As a bonus feature, Oliver reflects on Kim Kardashian, the Call of Duty franchise and the possible demise of culture. This episode is brought to you by our official sponsors: nobody, free access to broadcast equipment and a shadowy SVA student known only as “Matt.” (Recorded on 11/13/14)

Season 1 Produced by Oliver Wasow and Peter Rostovsky

Send us a comment at [email protected]