The latest episode of The Persistence opens with a very relatable childhood crisis: that first moment when a story you believed your whole life suddenly unravels. Host Angélica Cordero uses this myth-busting moment as a bridge into a larger cultural awakening, tracing how early 20th-century art movements like Dada, Neo-Dada, Judson Dance Theater, and Fluxus began shredding America’s shiny narratives long before the 1960s demanded it. Along the way, she spotlights boundary-pushers such as Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, and Yoko Ono, revealing how their weird, radical, rule-breaking work was not just art but prophecy. These creators exposed cracks in the culture decades before the mainstream could admit the foundations were shifting.
This episode invites listeners to rethink the stories they were raised on, reflect on their own moments of disillusionment, and recognize why challenging the status quo has always been a necessary act of resistance.
This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT.
Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.
Resources For Fellow Wascally Wabbits
Want the full context? Check out the episodes referenced here:
Books
An Audience of Artists: Dada, Neo-Dada, and the Emergence of Abstract Expressionism by Catherine Craft
Autocritique: Essays on Art and Anti-Art, 1963-1987 by Rose, Barbara
The Experimenters by Eva Díaz
Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917 by W. A. Camfield
Neo-Dada 1951-54: Between the Aesthetics of Persecution and the Politics of Identity by Seth Mccormick
Pop Art and the Origins of Post-Modernism by Sylvia Harrison
Specifically:
* “Barbara Rose: Pop, Pragmatism, and ‘Prophetic Pragmatism’”, p. 115–145
Links
A (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana by Jason Farago (New York Times, New York, Dec 8, 2019)
About Peggy Guggenheim, (Peggy Guggenheim, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice)
"The Avant-garde and the Society of Independent Artists", (Movements, Documenting the Gilded Age: New York City Exhibitions at the Turn of the 20th Century, New York Art Resources Consortium, New York, NY, 2011)
“Chapter 23: Dada” by D. Rogers & Julianne Gough Hartley, (History of the Fine Arts: Visual Art, Brigham Young University)
The Creative Act: Marcel Duchamp’s 1957 Classic, Read by the Artist Himself by Maria Popova, (The Marginalian, Aug 23, 2012)
The Creative Act by Marcel Duchamp, (Convention of the American Federation of Arts in Houston, Texas, April 1957)
“Enter Digital Archives of the 1960s Fluxus Movement and Explore the Avant-Garde Art of John Cage, Yoko Ono, John Cale, Nam June Paik & More",” by Josh Jones, (Open Culture, Mar 15, 2018)
George Maciunas. Fluxus Manifesto. 1963., (The Collection, MOMA, New York, 2025)
Marcel Duchamp, (Artist and Musician Biographies, AAEP 1600: Art and Music since 1945, Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, The Ohio State University, 2024)
“The National Purpose” series, Life Magazine
* “‘LIFE’ Present a Crucial New Series: The National Purpose”, (May 23, 1960, Chicago, IL, p. 23-41)
* Part II: Archibald MacLeish and Adlai Stevenson, (May 30, 1960, Chicago, IL, p. 86-88, 93-102)
* Part III: David Sarnoff and Billy Graham (Jun 6, 1960, Chicago, IL, p. 108-110, 117-126)
* Part IV: John W. Gardner and Clinton Rossiter (Jun 13, 1960, Chicago, IL, p. 98-118)
* Part V: Walter Lippmann and Albert Wohlstetter, (Jun 20, 1960, Chicago, IL, p. 114-116, 122)
"Performance Art, The Black Mountain College, John Cage & Merce Cunningham", (Art Terms, Tate, London)
The Restless Innovation of Yoko Ono by Juliet Jacques, (Frieze, Feb 15, 2024)
"See How Marcel Duchamp Broke the Rules and Shocked the Art World Again and Again" by Eli Wizevich, (Smithsonian Magazine, Washington, D.C., Jun 27, 2025)
Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, (Re.Act.Feminism, Berlin)
“YOKO ONO, CUT PIECE documented by The Maysles Bros, Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, March 21, 1965” by Greg Letson, (The Incubator, Dec 16, 2016)
Other
Germany - Dada: and Alphabet of German Dadaism documentary Helmut Herbst (1968)
John Cage on Silence, (Jul 14, 2007)
Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done, (The Museum of Modern Art, Feb 1, 2019)
Merce Cunningham’s Working Process, (Walker Art Center, Jul 28, 2009)
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