Bad at Sports Episode 898: Wafaa Bilal and Bana Kattan

Recorded live at the Comics Without Borders / Sans Frontières gathering at Rice University, this episode dives deep into international comics publishing, aesthetic risk-taking, and how underground networks drive a truly global comics culture. David Schilter, publisher and editor of Latvia’s acclaimed kuš! comics, joins us alongside Pedro Vieira de Moura, Portuguese critic, writer, and co-founder of the bookstore/gallery Mundo Fantasma. We talk about how a small-format anthology changed Latvian comics forever, why RAW magazine changed Pedro's life, and how comics have always been a place for outsiders to find their people. It’s about pornographic comics, lipstick in mirrors, misnumbered anthologies, institutional resistance, aesthetic weirdness, bookstores as public educators, and why no one in Latvia is publishing Maus.   Guest Links: kuš! comics (David Schilter): https://www.komikss.lv Pedro Vieira de Moura: http://www.laboratori.net Mundo Fantasma (Porto bookstore/gallery): https://www.mundofantasma.pt   Names Dropped: Art Spiegelman – Creator of Maus, influence on RAW magazine: Art Spiegelman on Wikipedia Barbara Shermund – queer comics history: Barbara Shermund Basil Wolverton – Iconic MAD magazine illustrator: Basil Wolverton on Wikipedia Charles Burns – Known for Black Hole and RAW magazine: Charles Burns on Wikipedia Gary Panter – RAW magazine artist, punk comics icon: Gary Panter on Wikipedia Al Jaffee – Fold-in master at MAD Magazine: Al Jaffee on Wikipedia Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli – Daredevil and Batman: Year One: Frank Miller David Mazzucchelli Moebius – Legendary French comics artist: Moebius on Wikipedia Neil Adams, George Pérez, Jim Lee –  Scott McCloud – Author of Understanding Comics: Scott McCloud Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro – Early Portuguese cartoonist and comic pioneer David B. – French cartoonist and co-founder of L’Association: David B. on Wikipedia Adrian Tomine – Acclaimed alternative cartoonist: Adrian Tomine Marjane Satrapi – Creator of Persepolis: Marjane Satrapi Brian Baynes – Publisher of Bubbles Zine: Bubbles Zine

In this episode, we sit down with architect, editor, and curator Florencia Rodriguez, Artistic Director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) 6. We dig into the ideas shaping this year’s edition—titled “Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change”—and her approach to curating a biennial that centers transformation, public space, and critical imagination. Rodriguez reflects on her journey from Buenos Aires to Chicago, the founding of PLOT and SOILED, and her evolving relationship to criticism as both practice and provocation. We explore how writing and curating can act as architectural tools, shaping not only discourse but the environments we inhabit. We also soft-launch Bad at Sports’ partnership with CAB 6—an evolving audio collaboration that will track the biennial’s voices, urgencies, and ideas throughout the year. Mentioned in this episode: Chicago Architecture Biennial CAB 6: Shift – Architecture in Times of Radical Change Florencia Rodriguez – SOILED Florencia Rodriguez – PLOT Journal (Spanish/archived)

Recorded live at Comics Sans Frontières, Houston For our milestone 900th episode, we headed to Houston and sat down with the brilliant Robert Pruitt, live at the Cats Conference: Comics Sans Frontières—a gathering of artists, thinkers, and cultural workers reshaping the future of comics, narrative, and speculative visual worlds. Live at a bar after the second conference day. So, this is never going to make it to the radio. Cuss-y MacCusserson shows up and healthy arguments occur. Pruitt, known for his richly layered drawings and deep engagement with Black cultural production, walks us through the politics of representation, the influence of comics and sci-fi on his work, and the shifting cultural landscape of the Gulf Coast. We talk materials, mythology, the beauty of inconsistency, and what it means to make work that traffics in both critique and care. Let’s take a moment to reflect on what it means to reach 900 episodes of Bad at Sports—and what’s next for us in the ever-evolving, ever-weird world of contemporary art discourse. Nah. Let’s do it later this week at EXPO Chicago. Mentioned in this episode: Robert Pruitt – Artist Website The Drawing Center Comics Sans Frontières Conference The Studio Museum in Harlem Project Row Houses EXPO Chicago 2025 Bad at Sports: The Center of Discourse (link coming soon!)

Gremlins, Borders, and Recipes for Resistance This week we’re joined by Jessica Snow and Liga Spunde, two artists navigating the world through comics, street theater, and occasionally letterpress and photoshop. Jessica Snow walks us through her wide-ranging practice—from illustration and letterpress to building massive puppets and organizing street performances to attempting to confronting the entangled realities of border politics, ecological collapse, and resistance. Her work with Kitchen Table Press and collaborative projects like Recipes of Resistance blend protest and performance into shared, tangible experiences that challenge the quiet violence of contemporary life. Meanwhile, Liga Spunde brings us deep into a psychological terrain. Working with a unique computer-generated drawing style, Liga explores the emotional weight of the traumas of contemporary life—from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the various ways we experienced the pandemic to the existential task of making a 6 page comic. Her work resists tidy narratives, instead making room for ambiguity, emotional excess, fragile and detailed humor, and a specific fascination with Gremlins. This episode was recorded as part of Chris Sperandio’s Comics Without Borders (but say it in French) event at Rice University—an international gathering of artists, publishers, and thinkers reframing what comics can do in turbulent times. (More here: Comics Without Borders.) We cover a lot of ground—Latvia’s premier comic publisher, post-crisis psychology, DIY print culture, and why strange books and big puppets might still save us all. This is Bad at Sports at its finest: loose, live, urgent and embedded, and full of strange joy. Links & Projects Mentioned: Jessica Snow: jessicasnowart.com Kitchen Table Press: kitchentablepress.org Recipes of Resistance: recipesofresistance.com Liga Spunde: ligaspunde.com kuš! komikss: https://komikss.lv/ Comics Without Borders @ Rice University: https://cats.rice.edu/comics-sans-frontieres-march-20-24-2025/ Christopher Sperandio: https://pinkojoe.com/

This week. Dana’s back? She and Duncan sit down with artist Wafaa Bilal and curator Bana Kattan to discuss Bilal’s powerful and deeply personal mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Known for his provocative, often participatory works that grapple with war, trauma, displacement, and surveillance, Bilal has long made the body both a site of resistance and a vessel of memory. We talk through key moments in Bilal’s practice—from early performance pieces like Domestic Tension to newer, installation-based works—and reflect on how his work has shifted, expanded, and endured over the past two decades. Kattan, who curated the exhibition, shares insights into the retrospective’s structure and the challenges of contextualizing work that refuses easy categorization. While reminiscing, Duncan and Wafaa also talk through what it means to make art as a form of witnessing, how museums hold space for pain and politics, and why Bilal still believes in the power of beauty… (Spoiler: Duncan isn’t sure, but Bana and Dana side with Wafaa.) Links & References: Wafaa Bilal's website: http://wafaabilal.com MCA Chicago Exhibition Info: https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2024/Wafaa-Bilal Bana Kattan bio & curatorial work: https://mcachicago.org/About/Who-We-Are/Staff/Bana-Kattan Domestic Tension (aka “Shoot an Iraqi” project): https://wafaabilal.com/domestic-tension Book: Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life, and Resistance Under the Gun (co-authored with Kari Lydersen) – https://www.amazon.com/Shoot-Iraqi-Life-Resistance-Under/dp/087286491X @wafaabilal on Instagram @mcachicago on Instagram

 In this episode, we talk Architectural Doucmentaries, Graphic Design, the cross over of the art and design audiences, and whether or not social practice could be a job: Kyle Bergman, is the mastermind behind the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF), takes us through the wild ride of showcasing global architectural stories and films. He shares the festival’s international charm and its role in making architecture the star of the show.  Ashley Lukasik, filmmaker and Principal of Murmur Ring, joins us to talk about The New Bauhaus documentary (Maholy’s got swag) and the work she’s producing at Murmur Ring. They’re out to change the minds of makers and using social practice and design thinking strategies on the practioneers and the designers. Links and Resources: Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF): ADFF’s global tour of must-see design docs. (adfilmfest.com) Chicago Architecture Center (CAC): The CAC is where the architectural magic happens. (architecture.org) Murmur Ring: Ashley Lukasik’s team is all about immersive experiences that challenge what it means to be human in a digital age. (murmur-ring.com) 'The New Bauhaus' Documentary: Get the lowdown on the Bauhaus movement and why it’s still cooler than you might think. (https://www.thenewbauhaus.com/)  

In the final episode recorded live from Stitch and Staple: The Artist Book Fair, we’re thrilled to sit down with two incredible comic creators, Beth Hetland and Kyle O'Connell. This conversation dives deep into the world of comics and graphic narratives, with Hetland and O'Connell offering insights into their creative collaborations and shared comic interests. Beth Hetland, known for her heartfelt and intricate autobiographical comics, discusses the power of graphic novels to explore memory, identity, and storytelling. She and Kyle O’Connell also shed light on how their collaboration allows them to push the boundaries of traditional comic narratives, creating work that resonates on both emotional and humorous levels. In a fun aside, Duncan revisits the origin story of how Ryan joined Bad at Sports. Initially approaching artist Jennifer Mills to be a co-host, Duncan found himself "thrown under the bus" when Mills suggested Ryan instead—and the rest is podcast history! The dynamic duo share their complicated vacation-sharing arrangement and how Jennifer, hilariously, isn’t speaking to either of them anymore.  In this episode, everyone embraces the playful, witty energy that makes comics such an accessible and engaging medium. We reflect on what comics can uniquely access within the world of art, and how the medium functions as a powerful tool for both personal expression and social commentary. Plus, in true Bad at Sports style, there’s plenty of humor, banter, and storytelling along the way. We’re airing this episode just as Duncan and Ryan gear up for their next adventure—heading to Houston for the Comics Sans Frontières: An International Graphic Narrative Conference at Rice University. Be sure to catch the conversation before they hit the road! Links and Mentions: Beth Hetland's website Kyle O’Connell's website Stitch and Staple: The Artist Book Fair https://www.stapleandstitchfair.com/ Comics Sans Frontières at Rice University https://cats.rice.edu/page/2/ Bad at Sports live from Houston Upcoming! Jennifer Mills' website

In this episode, Bad at Sports welcomes artist, writer, and thinker Emma Bergman to discuss a range of fascinating topics that blend the personal, the theoretical, and the speculative. We delve into Emma's ideas about utopian conviction and how they intersect with the looming specter of the coming apocalypse, and the games we can play with what is becoming our practical nightmare. From philosophical musings to creative solutions, we explore how different utopian ideologies might intersect and prepare (or fail to prepare) us for the crisis of our future. Personality testing also enters the conversation, as we examine how modern and historical approaches to assessing character and behavior might offer insights—or generate traps—for individuals navigating this new world order and Berman runs the boys of B@S though her system and we learn if they are ready. We also explore the concept of bureaucratic realism, digging into how institutional structures shape our experience and sense of agency in the world, and how to creatively play within these constraints and out side them can establish new paths forward. Throughout this conversation, we playfully touch on ways to solve the future—how art, culture, and speculative thinking offer new ways of envisioning what lies ahead, and how individuals can act within systems and system collapse. Join us for a thought-provoking episode filled with visionary ideas, humor, and practical philosophical discussions. Live for the 21C Chicago!

In this episode, Bad at Sports dives into the world of independent publishing, printmaking, and the intersections of art, academia, and production with two innovative presses pushing the boundaries of their respective fields. Hoof Print Press, based in Pilsen, Chicago, is not just a print shop, but a thriving print publisher that explores multiple media, including ceramics. Known for their dynamic exhibition series, they bring a unique perspective on the art of printmaking, combining tradition with modern experimentation. We talk about how they balance the fine art of print with the hands-on craft of ceramics and what it means to operate as both creators and curators in the community-driven Pilsen neighborhood. - Gabe Hoare on mic. Next, we’re joined by Immaterial Books, a quasi-academic press that’s redefining the possibilities of academic publishing. Immaterial tests the limits of what it means to produce knowledge and content outside the conventional capitalist distribution and production models. They explore nontraditional forms of publishing that challenge the boundaries between art and academia. In this conversation, we dive into how their radical approach to publishing engages with academia, art practices, and the broader cultural conversation around knowledge production. Phillip Kalantzis-Cope on mic. Together, we discuss how both presses navigate the evolving worlds of independent publishing and art production, and how their work is changing the ways we think about community, art, and knowledge distribution. Tune in for an insightful episode that explores the intersection of artistic practices, publishing, and the role of independent presses in today’s creative and academic landscapes. Live from 21C Chicago!

In this episode, we sit down with Cecilia Beaven, a dynamic Mexican-born artist, muralist, and illustrator whose work bridges the worlds of fine art and public spaces. Beaven's pieces have graced both urban environments and galleries, transforming her surroundings with a unique blend of surrealism, humor, and critical commentary. Her work explores themes of myth, identity, and the fantastical, reflecting on the human experience through vibrant, intricate visual narratives. Recently, Beaven has been making waves with exhibitions at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago and the Hyde Park Art Center. These shows highlight her ability to combine intricate storytelling with visual spectacle, drawing viewers into her vibrant, often surreal world. Beyond gallery spaces, Beaven's public art projects have continued to expand, with large-scale murals that engage communities and address themes of identity, history, and the urban environment. We discuss her process, influences, and the challenges of creating art that resonates across cultural contexts. Tune in to hear about her experiences painting murals, collaborating with communities, and navigating the international art scene. Beaven also delves into her ongoing projects and the role of storytelling in her artistic practice. https://www.ceciliabeaven.com/