EXHIBITIONISTAS – Contemporary Art and Life

Has “Globe-trotter” curator, artistic director of the Serpentine in London, obsessive collector of conversations with artists, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, finally laid down his secrets in writing? What makes a myth? What did he carry from his predecessors and how did he negociate the patriarchal and hegemonic role of the visionary curator? And why does it feel like HUO is the last of his kind?Joana, our host, a curator as well, goes over his recently published memoir, Life in Progress (Allen Books, Penguin, 2025) to discover a young man with a plan, cold-calling famous artists, and acquiring an enviable address book at the very young age. How did he get there and what art career did this auspicious start bring to him and to contemporary art?Exhibitionistas is:An award winning podcast (Women Who Podcast Awards 2026)A companion Substack page with essays, articles and episode announcements.A YouTube Channel with art shorts.An instagram with questions & "visit with me series"All with specific features.We're launching our 1rst Crowdfunding Campaign.DONATE: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaBecome a monthly member: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

Ready to plunge into the depths of art history to resurface with weird art fair histories from Prehistory, the Aztecs to today? Which is a way of asking: is the compulsion to buy rare goods and exemplary artefacts immemorial? How have we evolved into the format of the art fair?Art fairs seem to defy romantic visions of creativity: artists: the art wonderment necessary to free oneself from conventional ideas and dusty traditions while reinventing them. Art works require freedom,  Their art etiquette can puzzle: selling art works feels deeply contradictory with the creativity and meditative explorations that we expect from our contemporary artists. You wouldn’t leave your favourite coffee shop, flat white in hand, without paying for it, would you?Indie media like Exhibitionistas is free of access. That leaves you with a responsibility-dare I say, an ethical obligation– to pay for what you consume if you can. You can drop £3 if you enjoyed the episode here:: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaOr you can sign up for a tiered monthly support if you’ve been listening for a while: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.Read the article by Christian Monger The Evolution of the Art Fair: https://www.jstor.org/stable/0671e890-72d2-323b-964e-767f655980fe?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contentsVisit the page about The Birth of the Art Market: Rembrandt, Ruisdael and Van Goyen and the Artists of the Dutch Golden Age: https://www.codart.nl/guide/agenda/birth-art-market-rembrandt-ruisdael-van-goyen-artists-dutch-golden-age/Caroline Monnet's website: https://carolinemonnet.ca and gallery page: https://blouin-division.com/en/artists/34-caroline-monnet/overview/The Venus de Renancourt (the Amiens Museum Prehistory female figurines): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vénus_de_Renancourt (FR)Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

Can poetry provide clues to questions raised by contemporary art? Art sets the world in motion, sparks changes which we’re not always equipped to absorb, and even understand. Luís de Camões, the great Portuguese Renaissance poet wrote beautifully about art and change… and life. Our host, contemporary art writer and curator Joana P. R. Neves picks a poem per episode in this special series.Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaPoem delivery service is a new bonus series where Joana explores a poem in a non English language that she loves, but whose translation doesn’t do it justice. She focuses on one poem per episode, briefly contextualising it and shedding light on the specific meaning she took from it, guiding you through the translation. At the end, Joana reads the poem in its original language.Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

So many definitions of contemporary art… but what if the notion of skill took us deeper into it? As a curator, our host often hears: “my kid could do this”. So, she put her art writer and curator talents to the task of uncovering expectations and misconceptions about visual arts that it expresses. This is also an artist conversation episode: the first part explores 20th century art through the notion of skill, and the second invites the Swiss self-taught artist Reto Pulfer to provide his own art experience and education insights into this matter.Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaSkill, takes us to art tradition, craft, art education, curatorial work, exhibition expertise and more. Together, Reto Pulfer and our host explore art as a raw and dynamic relation with ourselves and the world around us.Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.To know more about Reto Pulfer:Follow him on Instagram: @zustand_retopulferVisit his website: www.retopulfer.com | www.artmap.com/retopulferOr have a look at his gallery, Hollybush Gardens, Londonhttps://hollybushgardens.co.uk/artists/reto-pulfer/You can find his novel, Gina (2020) in the links below:Les Presses du RéelPresse BooksHollybush GardensJingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

Biography enlightens the work of an artist but, in rare occasions, it can obliterate it. A polemic curatorial choice in Ana Mendieta's exhibition at Tate Modern illustrates this puzzling question. This unexpected curatorial twist may lean into anti-feminism if we stay on the surface of the discourse. Dive into it with our host Joana P. R. Neves, a curator and an art writer.  What decision did Valentina Umansky and Michael Wellen, the curators of the show make, and what third person, instrumental in delivering the work, helped them? To tell or not to tell? Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaHave you ever wondered what it's like to curate a big, blockbuster exhibition? If you have, this episode is for you. It unveils certain ethics of curatorial work, an extremely important aspects of the job, especially when the artist is no longer alive.Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

What if weaving released untold stories? And how does textile art with such narrative yet abstract powers fit into contemporary art and its traditionally European systems? Joana’s conversation with contemporary artist Paula do Prado takes unexpected turns and spreads across at least 3 different continents–if not more. What influence did the lost language of the Charrúa people and her Uruguayan past and lineage have on her work? Or, rather, is it even possible to locate the intuitive, dreamt and compulsive patterns and figures that emerge from her fingers, without any preconceived sketches or pre-established patterns? Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaThis episode is a partnership with Worlding, a non-profit co-founded by our host, Joana P. R. Neves, in Elephant and Castle, London. Paula do Prado’s Residency is a proposal by Adelaide Bannerman / Never Done. The artist’s residency is supported by Creative Australia.Paula do Prado is represented by Station Australia and is current a studio resident at Artspace, Woolloomoloo. Following her Worlding residency, Paula will hold her first institutional show as part of the Artspace x Art Gallery of New South Wales Co-Commission as part of the Contemporary Arts Project Space, Art Gallery of New South Wales 28 November 2026 to 14 February 2027. See more https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/paula-do-prado/To know more about Worlding, visit the website: www.worldingproject.com/Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.Resources:Conversation between Paula do Prado and Mónica Michelena: https://vimeo.com/835732257?fl=pl&fe=sh (Spanish)Paula do Prado’s website (art / projects / workshops): www.studiodoprado.comJingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

There are pockets of creativity in our everyday life. The embodied art of READING ALOUD is an overlooked source of joy, containing so many aspects that contemporary art and artists explore in their practice... Performance, drawing, text, breathing patterns... It all starts with Joana P. R. Neves, our host, asking what the body can do by itself, or with very little assistance, inspired by the last episode dedicated to artist Ana Mendieta. This is also our way of introducing the upcoming bonus mini-series POEM DELIVERY SERVICE, a poem-per-episode... with a twist. Mentions of: #anthonymccall #eteladnan #emilydickinson #gerhardrichter #rebeccahorn #jimjarmush and more...KEEP US GOING:Support the research for this podcast with a coffee, or a book: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaBecome a paid member: https://tinyurl.com/5d9kj5m2Donate: https://donorbox.org/support-exhibiti...Sound residenciesWORLDING SOUNDINGS RESIDENCY TICKETS: https://tinyurl.com/52yjtu2rWORLDING SOUNDINGS JAM TICKETS: https://tinyurl.com/yey2sdyrFind out more about WORLDING: https://www.worldingproject.com/Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

What does the artist’s body do? No one pushes us to ask this more than the Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta. Her excavated silhouettes in the landscape, where her body would at times lie, covered with petals or feathers, are but one of the actions and rituals that she performed during her short career. What did occur in her own body? Community? Communion? What was the origin and the purpose of her embodied art? And what is the medium for this kind of art, happening in and with the body of the artist?  Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaCelebrated for being a visionary eco-feminist, an activist against violence women, Ana Mendieta’s work is often obliterated by the sensationalism around it. The exhibition at Tate Modern feels like meeting the artist for the first time. For more info: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/ana-mendieta Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.Art Etiquette Segment guest: Esther Stanford, is the co-host of award winning podcast Limited Time Only (with Susie Riddell, WINNER: ‘BEST COMEDY MOMENT’ International Women In Podcast Awards 2025 sponsored by BBC SOUNDS), she is a sketch and TV writer. You can find her on Instagram, on YouTube, March House, a channel she has just launched where you can also find her podcast Conversations with Creatives. Or simply her website: ww.estherstanford.co.uk. Soon: Bonus – full length Art Etiquette episodes.Segment: Brainstorm in a Teacup:Come for the art, stay for the creative writing segment, where Joana reads short texts from her notebooks exposing her inner thoughts and unexpected fictional / poetic / non-fiction / flash writing.Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

We have great news! We're an Award Winning Podcast–Women Who Podcast award in the LGBTQIA+ categoryBonus Episode: Le Guin / Indigenous History / Lao Tzu / and more...What was Ursula K. Le Guin's favourite book, and what did it uncover about the revered author's world-building and family legacy?Did you enjoy the episode? Leave a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaWhen she was a guest on the podcast, art Curator Catherine Li brought in a revelation about Ursula K. Le Guin's favourite book, tied in with her family's history, which didn’t make it to the final cut. Here it is for you, as a little end of Summer bonus, while we prepare the rentrée with panache.Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.This reminded our host, art curator and writer Joana P. R. Neves, about a traumatic episode in Le Guin's family and close peer circle, which reflects indigenous trauma and the hidden history of the USA that was certainly crucial for Le Guin's worldview. For a tiered support for less than 1£ / 1€, go to Patreon–exclusive content coming up soon: https://www.patreon.com/c/exhibitionistaspodcast/membershipWith a short reading from the The Wave in the Mind, Le Guin's collection of essays about writing, reading and more, and of the Tao Te Ching / text 48, translated by Le Guin.Become a member of Art Thinkosaurus on Substack and expand your Exhibitionistas experience with Joana's writing: https://joanaprneves.substack.com/subscribe[Unpublished segment of Joana's conversation with art curator Catherine Li around the writer Ursula K' Le Guin's seminal text The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction with a few quick curiosities that shed a different light on the science fiction author.]SAFE PRACTICE OF *ART WONDERMENT* GUARANTEED WITH EXHIBITIONISTAS.LINKS:Catherine Li's episode: APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/exhibitionistas-notes-on-contemporary-art-and-life/id1727615833?i=1000734364234YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/N97yd5t3pFY?si=i5kLWV6dXO5NPRicAward winning episode with Gemma Rolls Bentley and E-J Scott:APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/exhibitionistas-notes-on-contemporary-art-and-life/id1727615833?i=1000719853150YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/RQvmgEXMAlQ?si=gu3fJlVPiPRDgSCNJingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

How and why do art and Summer join forces? Art, and visual arts especially, show imminent change–but so does Summer and its ideal of creative flow. How did–or did not–art speak of the climate emergency, gender policing, the war–in short, of loss? What role does this hot and luscious season play in the hubris of conquest, or the black hole of grief? Art curator and writer Joana P. R. Neves, our host, reminisces about Agnes Martin and John Cheever, and their opposing ideas of Summer and of creation, touching on two paintings by David Hockney and a poignant text by Luigi Pirandello. Joana loved a text sent to her by its author, Vittorio Zappa, on Substack, that guided the last part of the episode, leading to its denouement. Is Summer the season of creative flow of life and art making, full of light and sensorial stimuli? Is creativity about desire or meditative art? Or are all these myths, perpetuated by capitalist simplifications? Has art contributed to create them? Or has it always been alerting us to the cruelty of change via Art Wonderment, the art of paradox?Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionistaThe painting A Bigger Splash, 1967, by David Hockney, is the epitome of hubristic summer. But it hides another painting, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures), 1972, with a far more poignant story: they both tell the extremes of summer, and investigate the very special artifice telling a story of desire, change, loss and healing? Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.Joana P. R. Neves reads a text by Vittorio Zappa: https://substack.com/@vittoriozappa/p-209760240Other references include:The Swimmer, John Cheever, 1964, New Yorker.The Swimmer, a film by Frank Perry, 1968.Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.Support the showCreated & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. READ JOANA'S TEXTS:Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.comWhere you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...