Looking and More Looking with Roberta Smith | Previously Unknown | Episode 8

Recorded at the fourth edition of Independent 20th Century, the live conversation series Downtown Dealers continued with a special “uptown edition” episode, bringing together Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, founder of Salon 94 in New York, and Alma Luxembourg, partner at Luxembourg + Co. in New York and London, moderated by Puck’s Art Correspondent Marion Maneker. They discussed how selling art is “more like detective work” than a retail experience, how fairs offer opportunities to meet new people, and how historical art can carry contemporary relevance.

On this episode of Previously Unknown, Maureen Paley reflects on 40 years of her groundbreaking London gallery in conversation with Matthew Higgs, director of White Columns and founding curatorial advisor of Independent. Recorded live at the 16th edition of Independent this May, the talk traces her journey from a conceptual photographer in punk-era London to a pioneering gallerist helping to shape the city’s contemporary art scene. Paley shares candid insights into her early influences in New York and London, the indie spirit of her East End gallery, and why she still favors the intimacy of chapel-like spaces over cathedral-scale spectacle.

Downtown Dealers returns with a new podcast episode spotlighting two influential gallerists whose practices evolved out of publishing, curating, social justice, and non-profit initiatives. Phillip March Jones, founder of MARCH, and Cay Sophie Rabinowitz of OSMOS join Independent’s founder Elizabeth Dee for a conversation about becoming “accidental dealers,” bridging between the Southern and New York art scenes. From Rabinowitz’s editorial roots at Parkett magazine to Jones’s early leadership of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, the episode traces how both dealers draw on a deep sense of place, community, and purpose.

Downtown Dealers, Independent’s conversation series uniting New York art dealers across generations, continues with a new podcast episode exploring the transatlantic dynamics of gallery practice. After launching Galeria Wschód in Warsaw and the time-shared space ECHO in Cologne, Piotr Drewko expanded to New York in 2023 with a curated program of exhibitions and video projects. Silke Lindner, meanwhile, relocated from Berlin at the start of her career and went on to found her eponymous Tribeca gallery in 2022. They join Independent’s founder Elizabeth Dee for a candid conversation about navigating the art world from Europe to the “beautiful chaos and amazing competition” of New York. 

On this episode of Previously Unknown, we present a conversation between Hua Hsu, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Stay True, in conversation with New York-based artist Andrew Kuo, who will exhibit new paintings with Broadway Gallery at this year’s edition of Independent. They discuss the many influences that appear in Kuo’s work, from his New York City upbringing in an artistic family to the making of his 1990s zine Trash Heap—through which Hsu first encountered Kuo—and his love for basketball and music.

On this episode of Previously Unknown, we present a conversation between Adam Lindemann, founder of Venus Over Manhattan, and Brad Kahlhamer, a multimedia artist of Native American heritage, moderated by Puck’s Art Correspondent Marion Maneker, which was recorded live at Independent 20th Century’s public talks program with Puck. They discuss Kahlhamer’s journey in the art world and the growing prominence of Indigenous contemporary art in the industry.

On this episode of Previously Unknown, we present a conversation between James Barron, founder of James Barron Art, and Sandra Zalman, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Houston and author of Janet Sobel: Primitive Modern and the Origins of Abstract Expressionism. They discuss the life and work of Janet Sobel, an artist overlooked in her lifetime but whose legacy is now being rediscovered both in the art market and the art historical canon.

On this episode of Previously Unknown, we present a conversation between journalist Marion Maneker, Puck’s Art Correspondent, and Loïc Gouzer, the founder of curated auction platform Fair Warning, recorded live at Independent 20th Century’s public talks program with Puck. Gouzer discusses Fair Warning’s ambition to select works from artists who “go against the grain” of the market, such as Takako Yamaguchi and John Kacere. “The idea is to expand the field,” he says, “especially now, in a world where all the energy in every field and sector is focusing on a consolidation towards a few brands, a few names.”

On this episode of Previously Unknown, we present a conversation with Amy Whitaker, Associate Professor at New York University and author — with Nora Burnett Abrams — of The Story of NFTs: Artists, Technology, and Democracy, and Zachary Small, investigative reporter for The New York Times and author of the recently published book Token Supremacy: The Art of Finance, The Finance of Art, and The Great Crypto Crash of 2022. On the occasion of the release of Small’s book, our guests delve into its backstory and key figures, discussing the NFT rise and fall and its impact on artists, collectors, and the art market.

On this episode of Previously Unknown, we present a conversation featuring Roberta Smith, in her first public appearance since retiring as co-chief art critic at The New York Times and a highlight of the 15th edition of Independent in May. Joining her is Matthew Higgs, Independent’s founding curatorial advisor and director of White Columns. Together, they reflect on Roberta Smith getting her start as an art critic in the 1970s, her sense of loyalty to the readers, and the multitude of changes that have come with her lifetime of looking at, and writing about, art in New York.