In Other Words

What if it were possible to dream up entirely new things? Join host Charlotte Burns as she interviews one of the most interesting artists working today. American Artist — who changed their name in 2013 — produces deeply thoughtful work that is as enmeshed in digitization and technology as it is history and alternate realities. American talks about how their art tackles police violence in the US. They also discuss a newer body of work centering on the life and writings of sci-fi novelist, Octavia E. Butler. American says their work is ultimately hopeful: “If I didn’t feel strongly that things could change I wouldn’t even bother. But I want everyone else to try as hard as I do.”

This episode, Charlotte Burns is joined by Rashida Bumbray whose career straddles different realms within culture. A choreographer and curator, Rashida aims to create new spaces of imagination, empowerment, and connection. While the data and the daily realities of the art world can reflect a scarcity, Rashida’s work—notably the recent organization of artist Simone Leigh’s Loophole of Retreat Summit in Venice—reflects an abundance that is intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and inspirational. This summit represented new possibilities, showing the way to new futures through history, excellence, and potential. A giant 'What If' made real.  Subscribe for more.

In this episode, we get into some of the biggest What Ifs —about virtue and value, about life and loss. Host Charlotte Burns is joined by one of the most thoughtfully provocative (or cunning, as he’d say), artists of our time,  Paul Chan. He made his name in the early 2000s with film and media works, and by 2008 had found significant success. Then, he stopped making art. Now he’s back with a show called Paul Chan: Breathers, where, influenced by sky-dancers, he literally shapes air. He says “Maybe one way to talk about pleasure is a capacity to control our own time. Time may be the only non-human thing I really care about losing. I can lose everything. I think I've lost everything. I'm willing to lose it all, but I'm not willing to lose time, and that to me is more precious than anything else.”

What if the art market had more faith in its own future? What if we could improve the health of the swamp? This episode, we consider the state of the market and who better to join Charlotte Burns than co-host, the art advisor Allan Schwartzman, along with Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels, director at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and founder of We Buy Gold. Together they discuss the boom and bust, aspiration and desperation - and much more besides. 

What if we reimagine the role of the museum? What if we bring more intention to what culture can be and do—and by whom and for whom? What if we tell ourselves different stories? In this episode, host Charlotte Burns talks to Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the CEO and director of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art—a new museum founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his businesswoman wife, Mellody Hobson. The institution, which is set to open in Los Angeles in 2025 is one of the most potentially exciting museums in America or around the world, given the scope of its ambition and size. Sandra says: “We’re building an institution, a 200+ year proposition. And we’re doing it amidst the most uncertain moments in our time.” Who better to help us tackle hypotheticals— including dismantling the idea of high and low, and entirely new ways of thinking about art? Join us and tune in.

What if the world was without ethics? What if financial value was no longer the way we talk about success? Cecilia Alemani, artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale and director and chief curator of High Line Art in New York City joins host Charlotte Burns to discuss the role of the curator today.  Cecilia masterminded the recent Biennale through the pandemic to rave reviews, notably for the cool manner in which she presented a new version of art history, bringing focus without fanfare to female and non gender conforming artists and to Indigenous artists.    Tune in for more.

What if we all name our dreams before following them? This episode we welcome Kemi Ilesanmi, the now-former Executive Director of The Laundromat Project, the non-profit focusing on the art of the everyday, amplifying community and artists as citizens and change agents. This show is all about what ifs, and Kemi operates from that place of abundant possibility. What if businesses invested in their staff, seeding future next generations? What if arts organizations functioned as community assets? Tune in for more.

What if we separated who funds the museum from who runs the museum on a board level? This episode, host Charlotte Burns welcomes Glenn Lowry who’s been the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1995. He's led the institution through two vast expansions, and, of course, periods of profound change. This is a frank and revealing conversation covering a lot of ground. What if competition and collaboration were the same? What if museums refuse to take in so many works of art? Join us for more. 

“Not just what if—but what are we missing?” In the first episode of this new podcast, host Charlotte Burns is joined by Naomi Beckwith, the Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Someone actively working to recalibrate the field in the most exciting and dynamic ways, Naomi starts this episode with science before moving onto museums—and how we can create change. What if our textbooks were Black? What if we decentered the Western world in conversations about art? Tune in for more. 

Welcome to The Art World: What If...?! the latest podcast from the makers of In Other Words and Hope & Dread. The first episode will be available on 12 January 2023 and new shows will come out every Thursday.  

Hope & Dread Extra: Phyllis Mitz brings you a vision for the future in this interview with astrologer Phyllis Mitz. Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Maya Benton features photography curator Maya Benton, who talks about staring down Neo-Nazi protestors.  Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Sandra Jackson-Dumont brings you more from the inaugural director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is scheduled to open in Los Angeles next year. Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Issy Wood brings you a conversation with the talented young artist Issy Wood.  Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Kathy Halbreich features a conversation with Kathy Halbreich, the executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, about why she has put artists at the center of her vision of creating change. Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Black Trustee Alliance focuses on a new organization—the Black Trustee Alliance—that hopes to bring change to the museum field. Tune in to hear from the collector and philanthropist Victoria Rogers, who is co-chair of BTA and Brooke Minto, its executive director. Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Lulani Arquette brings you the highlights of our interview with the president and CEO of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, which is in the middle of an expansion into a new building in Portland, Oregon.  Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Dr. Kelli Morgan brings you more from Kelli Morgan, who recently left the museum field for academia after experiencing profound racism. She is now the professor of the practice and director of curatorial studies, history of art and architecture at Tufts University in Massachusetts. Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Tiffany Sia features the artist, filmmaker, and writer Tiffany Sia who recently left Hong Kong for fear of her safety.. Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook

Hope & Dread Extra: Lord Ed Vaizey brings you more from the former UK culture minister, Lord Vaizey of Didcot, who ran the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2016 under a Conservative government.  Hope & Dread Extra is a series of short, sharp bonus episodes featuring your season favorites from Hope & Dread. Our guests were brimming with additional ideas and extra insights that we just didn’t have room for within the documentary series. But we didn’t want to leave them on the cutting room floor. Join hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman for new Hope & Dread Extra every Tuesday and Thursday. For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook