Art and Obsolescence

A very special episode! Today we are chatting with Pippi Zornoza, co-founder of the Dirt Palace, a feminist artist-run collective/residency program/space that has been a pivotal part of the artistic community in Providence for over 20 years, and this interview is part two of a three part series focused on the Dirt Palace and its two co-founders: Xander Marro and Pippi Zornoza.Pippi’s art and music defy boundaries of media, genre, and context, embodying an intensity and a meticulous approach to detail, often exploring the intricate, macabre, and the obsessive.  Pippi’s work spans textiles, embroidery, lace-making, knitting, sculpture, electronics, and performance — be it within an exhibition context, on stage, or, or in a dark and cavernous warehouse. Pippi’s musical projects are almost too numerous to name: Throne of Blood, Sawzall, Vulture, Bonedust, RETRIX, and currently HARPY. This series was made in collaboration with Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA), and was recorded in December 2022 in Pippi’s studio. In a first for the pod, you can *watch* the interview, including clips of Pippi’s work here. In our chat we delve into Pippi’s origins as an artist, her early years in Providence, and how her creative practice has evolved to its current interdisciplinary state that refreshingly blurs the boundaries between contemporary art, performance, and musicStay tuned for the final episode in the series where we sit down with both artists to discuss their decades long collaboration.Links from the conversation with Pippi> Pippi’s Bandcamp: https://bonedustprov.bandcamp.com/> HARPY: https://harpyprovidence.bandcamp.com/album/a-sacrifice > A SACRIFICE (music video): https://youtu.be/kpo_PRLyuYI?si=8ZkNzf8Rni3QVXP4 > https://www.dirtpalace.org> https://www.dirtpalace.org/wchbnbGet access to exclusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

A very special episode! Today we are chatting with Xander Marro, co-founder of the Dirt Palace, "a feminist cupcake encrusted netherworld located along the dioxin filled banks of the Woonasquatucket river, which is to say in Providence, RI USA". The Dirt Palace is a feminist artist-run collective/residency program/space that has been a pivotal part of the artistic community in Providence for over 20 years, and this interview is the first in a three part series focused on the Dirt Palace and its two co-founders: Xander Marro and Pippi Zornoza.This series was made in collaboration with Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA), and was recorded in December 2022 in Xander's studio. In a first for the pod, you can *watch* the interview, including clips of Xander's work here: https://vimeo.com/889901548In the interview, we discuss Xander's creative origins, explorations in puppetry, animation, printmaking, film, live performance, and community arts organizing.  We don't normally share guest-written bios, but Xander's is a work of art in its own right, so we simply must: "Xander Marro has been living the good life in the feminist sub-underground for too many years to count on her long bony fingers.  She draws pictures (usually narrative), makes movies (usually not narrative), produces plays with elaborate sets and costumes (usually narrative, but confusing), and then makes stuff like posters, quilts and dioramas (probably narrative?). Her work is often about spiritual relationships to the material stuff of this world. Co-founder of the Dirt Palace in 2000 (feminist cupcake encrusted netherworld located along the dioxin filled banks of the Woonasquatucket river, which is to say in Providence, RI USA). Her studio (and heart) is there still. Xander currently serves as co-director of Dirt Palace Public Projects. She cut her teeth in community arts management serving as the Managing Director of Providence’s legendary AS220. She teaches a class on poster design at RISD and serves as The Board Chair of One Neighborhood Builders, a community development/affordable housing organization."Stay tuned for our conversation with Pippi, and the final episode in the series where we sit down with both artists to discuss their decades long collaboration. Links from the conversation with Xander> http://xandermarro.com> https://www.dirtpalace.org> https://www.dirtpalace.org/wchbnbGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Help shape the future of the show! Take our listener survey: https://forms.gle/Pr8kThnNUGU6hasF6If you listen to this show chances are you are familiar with some iconic images of time-based media art that has taken place in Times Square — in fact I think perhaps the first image I ever saw of Jenny Holzer’s work  was a grainy black and white photo of one of her truisms on display on an LED sign in Times Square. Public art has been occurring in Time’s Square for many decades, but in fact, as we’ll hear from guest Jean Cooney, Time Square Arts has only existed for about 12 years. Before serving as their director, Jean was deputy director at Creative Time, another organization of course that is absolutely central to public art in NYC — I was really keen to sit down with jean to hear how she came to work within this particular niche, and in this convo we get to hear some really cool behind the scenes ins and outs of what it takes to help artists create art for the public, in perhaps one of the most public locations in the US, as well as, how the heck do artists create video art for 65 displays of various shapes and sizes in Times Square? All this and more in today’s chat with Jean Cooney.Links from the conversation with Jean> http://arts.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/index.aspx> https://creativetime.org/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Today we are revisiting an episode that aired originally two years ago to the day featuring artist Ian Cheng. This episode was one of our most popular in 2021, so we are pulling it out of the archives for our more recent subscribers to enjoy. Since 2012, Ian has been building a universe of sentient software, creatures, and elaborate systems of logic in the form of self-playing video games, installations, drawings, and prints. In this extended chat Ian shares some of his deepest influences, past mentors, childhood, studio practice and rituals for creativity.Links from the conversation with Ian> Ian's website: http://iancheng.com> Life After Bob: https://theshed.org/program/142-ian-cheng-life-after-bob> Pierre Huyghe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Huyghe> Paul Chan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Chan_(artist)Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

In our latest episode we visit with artist legacy specialist Ursula Davila-Villa. In her crucial work, Ursula helps artists and their families put appropriate plans in place to ensure that their work and archives will exist in a way consistent with the artist’s wishes after they are gone. This unique work draws upon conservation, archives, estate planning, curation, and more. Despite how critical this work is, it isn’t really something you can go to school for. Tune in to hear the fascinating path that led Ursula to become a leader in this field, working countless artists including Cecilia Vicuña, Lorraine O'Grady, Carolee Schneemann, and many more.Links from the conversation with Ursula> https://blantonmuseum.org> https://www.fundacionjumex.org> https://www.alexandergray.com > Davila-Villa & Stothart: https://dvs.art> Aspen Institute Artist Endowed Foundations Initiative: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/program-on-philanthropy-and-social-innovation-psi-2/artist-endowed-foundations-initiative Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

In Episode 68, we sit down with Jill Sterrett, Director of Collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Before her tenure in Wisconsin, and even before her time as director at the Smart Museum of Art, Jill dedicated over 28 years to SFMOMA. There, she led the conservation department during its formative years, establishing SFMOMA as a pioneer in the field of time-based media conservation. Throughout Jill’s extensive career, from her early years at SFMOMA to her current work in Wisconsin, she's consistently challenged predefined norms. She combines a deep respect for traditional conservation methods with a drive for big-picture innovation. Tune in to hear Jill’s story!Links from the conversation with Jill> https://cool.culturalheritage.org/byorg/bavc/pb96/> https://www.sfmoma.org/read/team-media-action-contemplation/> https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/24_2/dialogue.html> https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Today we are diving deeper into the world of digital preservation in our visit with Crystal Sanchez, digital archivist for the Smithsonian Institution. So far, over the past two years and sixty six episodes we’ve visited with all kinds of folks involved in different aspects of preservation of works of art — but something we haven’t really looked at closely is the infrastructure that makes all of this possible. Without proper digital preservation storage, systems, procedures, protocols, and the people to build and maintain all of this — time-based media conservation would be impossible.  Crystal is just one of those people — at the Smithsonian she is responsible for managing a Digital Asset Management system that serves 22 Smithsonian Museums, even including the zoo. In this chat we’ll hear all about how this works, and what it takes to maintain a system like this, as well as the winding path that led Crystal from mathematics, to film studies, and finally to digital preservation.Links from the conversation with Crystal> https://www.si.edu/tbma/> https://www.si.edu/openaccessGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

For episode 66 we are back in the conservation lab, visiting with the one and only Joanna Phillips. For any listeners familiar with time-based media conservation, Joanna hardly needs any introduction — she was among the first generation of practitioners in this field,  and the second ever time-based media conservator at a US museum. At the Guggenheim Joanna established the first museum time-based media conservation lab. Her work has been incredibly influential in the field — she developed a series of incredibly helpful templates for documenting time-based media while at the Guggenheim that went on to be borrowed, copied, and iterated on by museums all over the globe. Joanna has always been incredibly generous in sharing her work — years ago she used to host these fantastic gatherings where TBM conservators in NYC could gather in the Guggenheim’s lab to hear about the latest research that she and Deena Engel’s NYU students were conducting as part of they Conservation of Computer Based Art Initiative. In our chat we hear all about these origins, and what Joanna has been up to in recent years in Düsseldorf where she has not only been leading the Düsseldorf Conservation Center, but also recently published volume co-edited with Deena Engel, with contributions from time-based media conservators, curators, registrars, and technicians from all over the globe. Tune in to hear Joanna’s story!Links from the conversation with Joanna> https://www.guggenheim.org/conservation/the-conserving-computer-based-art-initiative> https://www.guggenheim.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/guggenheim-conservation-iteration-report-2012.pdf> https://www.duesseldorf.de/restaurierungszentrum> https://www.routledge.com/Conservation-of-Time-Based-Media-Art/Engel-Phillips/p/book/9780367460426Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

On today’s show we are visiting with Salome Asega, a true multihyphenate  who not only leads New Inc, the New Museum’s incubator for people working at the intersection of art, design, and technology, but who has also maintained a vibrant artistic practice all throughout the years that her career as an arts administrator has been thriving. This might be due to the fact that when you look at Salome’s work as a professional, it really is just an extension of her work as an artist — delightfully speculative, collaborative, participatory, critical of technology’s role in society, and in many ways engaged with questions of expanding access and inclusion. In our chat we hear about Salome’s hijinks as a teen growing up in Las Vegas, pretending to window shop in high end shops and casinos so that she could sneak glimpses at the Marilyn Minter and James Turrell installations. We delve deep into Salome’s participatory and community oriented artistic practice, and we also hear about her role in co-founding POWRPLNT, a digital art collaboratory in Bushwick.Links from the conversation with Salome> Demo 2023: https://www.demo2023.org/> Iyapo Repository: http://www.salome.zone/iyapo-repository> POWRPLNT: https://www.powrplnt.org/> http://www.salome.zone/about> https://www.newinc.org/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This month we’re in the studio visiting with contemporary artist Nikita Gale. Gale's work employs objects and materials like barricades, concrete, microphone stands, and spotlights to address the ways in which space and sound are politicized. Last year in episode 32 we visited with gallerist Ebony L. Haynes, director of 52 Walker, and it was in preparing for that conversation that I visited the gallery, and had the treat of seeing Nikita Gale’s work in person for the first time in the exhibition titled End of Subject. I wasn’t really sure what to expect as the documentation online was deliciously cryptic — installation views showed a space sparsely populated by metal panels on the wall, and on the floor numerous sets of metal bleachers that appeared to have been crushed, thrown on their sides, spotlights strewn about the room, and wires — lots and lots of wires everywhere. With the beautiful wooden floors and opens space of the gallery, it looked as though a dance piece or some performance art had gone horribly wrong. This was all I knew, as well as the fact that there was some kind of sound element to the piece. When I arrived, the gallery looked just as it did in the photos online, but there was no sound. I was tiptoeing through the empty gallery, when suddenly the whole space sprung to life — voices erupted through the space, and the previously inert spotlights began to dance around the room. Over the course of several minutes I witnessed an incredible choreography of sound and light, until silence and stillness eventually returned to the room for an extended period of time before a new score and choreography eventually emerged. I sat in the room for an hour watching people come and go — some visitors who missed the performance entirely, some who only saw one or the other. It was incredible to see the space repeatedly transform from a spectacle, to a space where the viewers themselves became the performance. Being a conservation nerd of course my mind went directly to wondering how in the world a piece like this might be documented and migrated through generations of technology over decades, and I knew I just had to have the artist on the show to find out. Tune in to hear Nikita’s story.