Ep. 18: On Art & Political Protest at the Whitney, and Artists Today

On this episode, Sophia and Pamela C. are joined by Allison Hewitt-Ward, a New York Platypus member and art critic. They discuss the recent crack-up at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the relationship between art and political protest. In the second segment, Sophia and Pam interview Goldsmiths University’s graduating Masters art students, Alexander Pierce, Lydia Blakeley, Fred Bungay, Paula Pinho Martins Nacif and Sara Rodrigues, about the relationship between art and freedom and if the censorship of art is ever justified. Feedback, criticism, and questions are always welcome. Drop us an e-mail at [email protected]. Links: “Art and the Commodity Form”, a Platypus panel at Goldsmiths, University of London (October 11, 2016). The panel brought together Rex Dunn, independent Marxist and writer; Zhoe Granger, a director of the gallery, project space, and art publisher, Arcadia Missa; and Peter Osborne, editor of the journal Radical Philosophy and professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University. Sophia of Platypus moderated the panel. https://platypus1917.org/2016/12/21/art-commodity-form-3/ "A Whitney Museum Vice Chairman Owns a Manufacturer Supplying Tear Gas at the Border" (November 27, 2018) https://hyperallergic.com/472964/a-whitney-museum-vice-chairman-owns-a-manufacturer-supplying-tear-gas-at-the-border/ "The Tear Gas Biennial" (July 17, 2019) A statement from Hannah Black, Ciarán Finlayson, and Tobi Haslett https://www.artforum.com/slant/a-statement-from-hannah-black-ciaran-finlayson-and-tobi-haslett-on-warren-kanders-and-the-2019-whitney-biennial-80328 "What Warren Kanders’s Defeat at the Whitney Teaches Us About How Protest Works Now" by Ben Davis (July 26, 2019) https://news.artnet.com/opinion/kanders-resignation-whitney-1580551 Spencer Leonard (Platypus) on Adam Smith, an interview with Douglas Lain for Zero Squared https://youtu.be/cApVoE_A-JM Book Review: Ben Davis, 9.5 Theses on Art and Class (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2013) by Robin Treadwell in Platypus Review 63 (February 2014) https://platypus1917.org/2014/02/01/the-artist-at-work/ Pictured: Sara Rodrigues, "Degrees of Abstraction" (2019), performance & installation. Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o2FztlYeMA