Fresh Art International

Live from the São Paulo Biennial 8 Sep 2016

Today, we share our final live broadcast on Jolt Radio, Miami, from inside the exhibition pavilion of the 32^nd São Paulo Biennial! We have quite the line-up! Brazilian artist Vivian Caccuri talks about her Afro-Brazilian sound project to kick off the show. Yvette Mutumba and Julia Grosse, Germany-based editors of Contemporary And (C&), follow, with their impressions of the exhibition and an introduction to their latest print publication. Our last guest, Brazilian artist scholar Jorge Menna Barreto, tells the story behind Restauro, a biennial dining experience inspired by local agro-forestry efforts.

Live from the São Paulo Biennial 7 Sep 2016

Today, we’re sharing one of the three shows we broadcast this month on Jolt Radio, Miami, from inside the exhibition pavilion of the 32^ndSão Paulo Biennial! Our special guest is Pia Lindman, an artist from Finland whose project Nose Ears Eyes centers on the hut made of mud and bamboo that you see in the photo gallery below. Later in the show, Eduardo Navarro, an artist from Argentina, drops in to our ad hoc studio, to talk about his Sound Mirror. Pia and Eduardo are two of the biennial artists whose projects connect conceptually and physically with Ibirapuera Park, a gorgeous urban green space that surrounds the exhibition pavilion designed by the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan

Live from the São Paulo Biennial 6 Sep 2016

Today, we share our first-ever Fresh Art International radio broadcast, recorded live in Brazil! For three days only, we were livestreaming from inside the São Paulo Biennial pavilion on Jolt Radio. Our new hour-long show expands on conversations about creativity that we’ve been recording with contemporary artists, curators, filmmakers, and architects since 2011 for the Fresh Art International podcast.

The cultural context for our remote broadcast is Incerteza Viva, Live Uncertainty. The title and theme of the 32nd biennial exhibition revolves around the political, social, and environmental uncertainties of contemporary life. Today’s show features participating artists Eduardo Navarro (Argentina); Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaica), and artist collective Opivivaro! (Brazil), as well as activists from the Aparelhamento movement, a group or artists protesting current politics in Brazil.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Anawana Haloba on Vanishing Cultures

Anawana Haloba, an artist born in Zambia and based in Norway, talks about vanishing cultures in her project for the 32nd Sao Paulo Biennial. Her poetic sound installation titled Close-Up poses questions on the subject of globalization and the loss of cultural diversity. Recorded on Skype, this episode is the first in a new series we’re producing for Contemporary And, a platform for international art from African perspectives.

Sound Editor: Guney Oszan

Amanda Sanfilippo on Public Art

Amanda Sanfilippo talks about public art and Miami’s Fringe Projects, an independent public art agency that commissions temporary art and performance projects in connection with the Miami’s annual Downtown Art Days. Ever since she became curator four years ago, Amanda has been expanding on the potential for temporal public art to make a lasting impression on Miami’s cultural landscape. Listen to this episode to hear the stories behind 2016 projects by Siebren Versteeg, Cara Despain, John Patrick Walsh III, and Alan Gutierrez. 

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan | Cara Despain "Sea Unseen" sound effects courtesy the artist

Maria Alyokhina on Political Art

Maria Alyokhina, a member of the Russian punk performance group Pussy Riot, talks about the political actions she's been involved in since she and band member Nadia Tolakonikova were released from prison in late December 2013. Only days after they were freed, the two artists announced their founding of Justice Zone, an organization that provides legal support to political prisoners in Russia, and MediaZona, an online publication that spotlight incidents of political injustice in their home country. In 2014, they were awarded the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. Now in London, Maria is preparing to make her theater debut in Burning Doors, with the independent Belarus Free Theatre company.

Listen to our podcast episode with filmmakers of the documentary Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer to learn more about the arrests and televised trial that followed Pussy Riot's two-minute performance in a Moscow cathedral on February 21, 2012.

Read English versions of MediaZona coverage published in Vice and the Guardian.

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan | Episode Sounds: Pussy Riot performance of “Virgin Mary, Redeem Us of Putin, Christ the Savior Cathedral, Moscow

Fresh Talk: Amy Sherald

Fresh Art International presents a live podcast event with American artist Amy Sherald at moniquemeloche gallery in Chicago. Recorded on July 9, 2016, at a moment in American history marked with killings that accentuate deep racial issues in this country, our conversation verges on joy and sadness. The timeless sense of black identity described in Amy Sherald’s figurative paintings reminds us how art can be both transcendent and aspirational.

Sound Editor: Jesse McQuarters

Glexis Novoa on Cuba's Past

Cuban artist Glexis Novoa is one of fifty artists that curator Juan Delgado invited to participate in the public art exhibition Detras del muro, in English, “Behind the wall,” during the 12th Havana Biennial. The poetic project he created with homeless residents occupies the ruins of an abandoned building on the Malecón, a five-mile roadway and promenade that run along Havana's seawall. Titled El vacío (Emptiness), the spare installation offers a nostalgic view of the relationship Cuba once had with Russia and Eastern Europe.

Sound Editor: Guney Oszan | Violin: Alejandro Junco

Fresh Talk: Ola Kolehmainen

Finnish artist Ola Kolehmainen talks about his large-scale photographs of imperial Turkish architecture from the 16^th century. Turkish collector Ahmet Kocabiyik–chairman of Borusan Holding company and owner of a significant contemporary art collection—made the project possible by commissioning the artist to photograph buildings designed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. Prior to this commission, Kolehmainen’s work featured abstractions and reflections of contemporary and modern architecture. A six month residency in Turkey was a chance to explore the legendary architect's expansive design history.

Sound Editor: Guney Oszan | Sound performance audio courtesy Oliver Beer 

Fresh Talk: Franky Cruz

Artist Franky Cruz talks about how Miami, and the art space known as Spinello Projects, became the laboratory for his creation of Sistema, an uncommon butterfly experience.

Sound Editor: Guney Ozsan | Sound Effects: Franky Cruz and Cathy Byrd