Fresh Art International

Sounds of Documenta 14

Today, we explore the sounds of the international contemporary art exhibition documenta 14, in Athens, Greece, and Kassel, Germany. 

Featuring violinist Ali Moraly performing at opening ceremonies and projects by Nigerian Emeka Ogboh, Pakistani Rasheed Araeen, Norwegian Joar Nango, American Rick Lowe, Nigerian  Otobong Nkanga and American William Pope.L.

Sounds of Summer in the City

Some might think that art descends on Miami just once a year in December for Art Week. In fact, this city has a year round cultural life. On our radio show, meet a few of the curators, gallerists and artists who animate South Florida’s year round contemporary art scene. Listen to locals in conversations about urban development and gentrification, racial and social issues, and experimental music and sound art. Featuring Gustavo Matamoros and Alba Triana (subtropics24/ArtCenter/South Florida), Anthony Spinello and Natalie Alfonso of Spinello Projects and Maria Elena Ortiz, Perez Art Museum Miami.

Sound Editor Guney Ozsan | Special audio features courtesy Cara Despain, Sinisa Kukec, Mirza Haroon, Alba Triana and subtropics | Photo credits in gallery

Cathy’s notes:

An Miami field trip gave me the idea for this show’s theme… Four local galleries staged a progressive brunch one Sunday in late June. Mindy Solomon, Spinello Projects, Emerson Dorsch and RedDot welcomed a steady flow of visitors to experience four unique exhibitions in the Little Haiti and Little River Arts Districts. Riffing on the Sunday brunch concept, each gallery offered a special dish simultaneously over from 11am to 3pm. Their goal? To highlight their exhibitions and invite visitors to linger for conversations about art.

One of those conversations will give you an idea of the experience. I recorded with gallerist Anthony Spinello and gallery manager Natalie Alfonso inside the exhibition titled Mere Façade. The word ‘façade’ has a couple of meanings that come into play: one is the face of a building, the side that looks onto a street or open space. Façade also refers to an outward appearance that conceals something unpleasant or insubstantial. From outside Miami looking in, the word might make you think about the superficial side of this city…

Another exhibition that opened this summer invites visitors to play dominoes. Curator Maria Elena Ortiz brought the show about a favorite pastime in Miami—to the Perez Art Museum. In a curatorial collaboration with Arden Sherman of the Hunter College Gallery in New York, Maria Elena shows us that there’s a lot more to dominoes than meets the eye. Also at PAMM, curator Diana Nawi invited London-based artist Haroon Mirza to create an immersive sound experience in the museum’s double-height gallery. You enter a darkened project space to experience A C I D GU E S T. A specialized technical system transmits an electrical current through speakers and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) activated by noise frequencies. sound and light experience based on a concrete poem he wrote. A C I D G E S T takes its name from the phrase “acid test”, (refering to the parties held in the 1960’s where groups of people would come together to legally experiment with LSD).

The last segment of our show features subtropics, the experimental music and sound art biennial at ArtCenter/SouthFlorida organized by sound artist Gustavo Matamoros. Alba Triana tells the story behind her sound and light installation Microcosmos and Gustavo introduces sound art and experimental music performances by David Dunn, Olivia Block, Carles Santos and Abbey Rader.

Diaspora Vibe in Miami

Art with Caribbean roots inspires this episode of our radio show. Franklin Sirmans, Director of Perez Art Museum, Miami, sets the tone, in his conversation with Cathy Byrd about art from the Global South. We’ll introduce the role of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc., in nurturing the work of artists of the Caribbean diaspora in Miami and beyond. You’ll hear from Rosie Gordon-Wallace, founder of DVCAI, Haitian-born artist Asser Saint-Val who lives and works in Miami, and artists in residence Gerard Caliste (Houston, by way of New Orleans) Ashley Teamer (New Orleans) and Nadine Hall (Jamaica).

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan

Sounds of Berlin

In this sonic experience of Berlin, hear drummers performing in the Karneval der Kulturen and experience the music scene in Mauer Park. Learn about the sound art featured on Deutschlandfunk Kultur from curator Marcus Gammel. Meet Ahmet Ögüt, one of the hosts on the documenta 14 radio program coming to Berlin. Visit the studio of artist and musician Satch Hoyt and listen to his Unpacking Sonic Migrations: From Slave Ship to Spaceship. Join our visit to SAVVY Contemporary where we meet co-artistic director Elena Agudio and listen to Oye record store owner Markus Lindner talk about Berlin's vinyl culture.

Encounters with FAT Village Arts District

Join us for our latest Destination Fresh Art adventure to Flagler Arts & Technology Village aka FAT Village Arts District! To set the stage, listen to our conversation with artist and editor Sharon Louden about the role of artists in creating communities. In the studio, we speak to Neil Ramsay, Director of ArtsUp! Concepts, a not-for-profit space dedicated to presenting experimental art concepts, and Ingrid Schindall, Owner/Director/Organization Visionary of IS Projects, a public access printmaking and book arts studio. You’ll also hear field recordings from a recent FATVillage Art Walk and our conversations with architect Maria Fasano, opera singer Shanna Nolan Gundry and choreographer Jenny Larsson.

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan

Alexa Lim Haas on Animating Stories

Artist Alexa Lim Haas talks about Agua Viva, her newest animated short film. Agua Viva was among the twenty-four projects selected for a special one-night screening at the 2017 Borscht Film Festival in Miami, Florida.

Sounds of Contemporary Art in Norway

Our field recordings of conversations, performances and sound art in Oslo and Tromsø, Norway, during the 2017 International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT) Congress hosted by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) and OSLO PILOT.

The Art of the Eclipse

The Art of the Eclipse celebrates the phenomenal event that unfolded before our eyes on August 21, 2017, and explores the connection between art and science at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, in Miami, Florida. Dr. Jorge Perez-Gallego, Curator of Astronomy at the Frost Science Museum calls in to tell stories of his eclipse-viewing adventure outside Madras, Oregon. We share the conversations we recorded that day at the Frost with museum president Frank Steslow and team members Monique Gonzalez and Everett Fraser Ford, journalists Andrea Yanez and Patricia Herrera, and Carl Hildebrand and Evelyne Zapata from the Miami art community. A special feature of this show: sound tracks from films by Delphino Huang, John Akre and Michael J. Ruiz-Unger screened at the Science Art Cinema Film Festival on August 31, 2017.

We broadcast this live streaming program from the studio at Jolt Radio on September 6, 2017, just days before Hurricane Irma made landfall on Florida’s west coast.

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan

Live from Athens on Cannibal Radio

Live streaming from Cannibal Radio in Athens, Greece, we introduce you to four of the city’s young culture makers. My co-hosts are Rena Bak and Simos Ares, two of the independent radio station’s forty producers. They both specialize in electronic music. Joining us in the studio are two Athens residents involved with documenta 14, the  international art exhibition presented every five years in Kassel, Germany. For the first time this year, documenta comes to both Kassel and Athens. Katerina Nikou, assistant curator of document 14 Public Programs in Athens, describes the talks, programs and performances and the television broadcast of a short film series designed to engage locals. Also on the air with us is Nikos Nikolopoulos, a filmmaker working with American Rick Lowe on a community project with residents in the neighborhood surrounding Victoria Square. In the past two years, Victoria Square, historically a neighborhood park and public gathering space, has served as the site of a refugee camp.

Note: Today, May 17, 2017, workers staged a 24-hour general strike in Athens to protest the voting on new austerity measures proposed by the government. The strike halted the metro to the airport, flights to and from Athens and city bus service. The following conversations represent the second take of our program, as a blackout interrupted our first broadcast.

To view on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gXVcGbzKMRs

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan | Original sound file courtesy Cannibal Radio, Athens, Greece

Live from Athens on Cannibal Radio

Live streaming from Cannibal Radio in Athens, Greece, we introduce you to four of the city's young culture makers. Rena Bak and Simos Ares are producers at the independent radio station. Curator Katerina Nikou and filmmaker Nikos Nikolopoulos are involved with the international art exhibition documenta 14.