This episode of UNBOUND explores the intersections of protest, performance, and digital culture with Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker Stanya Kahn. We focus on her decade-spanning video work Stand in the Stream (2011-2017), an “ambient digital film” that fuses personal and political narratives. Centering her unique approach to performance and filmmaking, this episode not only highlights Kahn’s artistic practice but also raises broader questions about art’s role in responding to personal, societal, and political moments of rupture. The generational transmission of artistic and political struggles, a central issue in Kahn’s work, is also present in this episode through the comments of two younger artists, Fritjof Mangerich and Mona Varichon, who each give us their take on Stand in the Stream.  

Speakers: Stanya Kahn, Fritjof Mangerich, Mona Varichon

Hosts: Line Ajan and Lisa Long

This episode of UNBOUND examines the political implications of performance art with Amelia Jones, a leading scholar in performance and gender studies. Jones discusses how performance serves as a powerful tool for critique and disruption, particularly from a feminist perspective. Listeners are invited to reflect on key questions: How does performance expose power structures linked to identity? Can it transcend simple representation to drive societal change? And why has it remained difficult to integrate into traditional art history?

Speakers: Nao Bustamante, Amelia Jones, Stanya Kahn

Hosts: Line Ajan and Lisa Long

Together with renowned scholar Peggy Phelan, this episode of UNBOUND explores the foundations of performance art—its essence, limitations, and evolution alongside lens-based and digital technologies. Phelan argues that twentieth century performance is unique because of its elusive nature, as “something (that) could be enacted and then disappear.” This gives performance the potential to be inherently political, especially in a system that places value on objects. Later in the episode, the words of early video art pioneer peter campus and the work of Pipilotti Rist illuminate the fusion of technology and the body, while art critic Marilena Borriello re-actualizes their perspectives with insights on the impact of digital culture on performance.

Speakers:Marilena Borriello, peter campus, Peggy Phelan

Hosts:Line Ajan and Lisa Long