Open Studios

This week, interdisciplinary earthworks artist Jemila MacEwan joins Asia to talk about their grounded, meditative practice. Jemila and Asia begin their conversation by reflecting on the changing of the seasons, and the powerful emotional, psychological, and social shifts that occur when spring begins (1:57). Jemila contemplates the fear and dread that many people in the Western world experience in...

In this episode of Open Studios, Asia is joined by Lynn Lu. Lynn is an artist who embraces participation and collaboration in her performances, making space for the development of intimacy and connections with others that the constraints and isolating nature of our world don’t typically allow for. Building upon strategies introduced by artists like Marina Abramović and Valie Export, Lynn devises p...

Sarah Cameron Sunde, an interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersection of performance, video, and socially-engaged public art joins Asia on this episode of the podcast. Asia and Sarah discuss Sarah's incredible project 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea, a series of nine site-specific performances and video art works made in collaboration with communities around the world. In...

Sara Kostic, an interdisciplinary artist who works across performance, dance, visual art, and architecture joins Asia on this episode of the podcast. Born in Belgrade, Serbia and now based in New York City, Sara has performed internationally at the Mardin Biennale in Turkey, Venice International Performance Art Week in Italy, and Grace Exhibition Space in New York, among many others. Sara explains...

Argentine activist and hard-core political performance artist Natacha Voliakovsky joins Asia on the podcast this week. Natacha begins by sharing why activism and socially-engaged work is central to their artistic practice (1:21). While discussing the importance of the Latin American feminist movement Ni Una Menos, Natacha reflects on the way their personal involvement in protests has shaped their...

In this episode, Katya Grokhovsky joins Asia to discuss The Immigrant Artist Biennial, which Katya founded back in 2019.  The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB) facilitates a platform of support for marginalized and underrecognized artists. Contact Zone, the second edition of TIAB, will take place this fall and winter from September 8, 2023 to January 14, 2024. Co-curated by Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Kath...

Performance artist Verónica Peña sits down for a chat with Asia this week.  Verónica Peña is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator from Spain based in the United States. Her performances explore the impact that absence, separation, and loss has on the human condition. Resisting limiting forces, from the enforcement of restrictive immigration policies to the operation of machismo, Ver...

Performance artist, poet, and writer GOODW.Y.N. joins Asia this week on the podcast.  Asia and GOODW.Y.N. begin by discussing GOODW.Y.N.'s journey to becoming a performance artist and how their practice is informed by their work as a poet and writer (01:40). The two focus the majority of their conversation on GOODW.Y.N.'s performance series Ain't I a Woman (?/!), which GOODW.Y.N. has p...

This week, Asia is joined by Lisette Ros, a Dutch performance artist who investigates daily conventions and breaks down everyday behaviors. Lisette approaches her performances as experiments or opportunities to research and collect data about her body, all in the attempt to better understand her fluid, queer identity and consider the question, “Who is she, in the midst of it all?” Lisette first ex...

Asia Stewart chats with Yali Romagoza, a Cuban-born interdisciplinary artist currently based in Queens, NY. The two begin by discussing how Yali is settling into her new studio at The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (01:43). Then they walk through the birth of her alter ego, Cuquita The Cuban Doll (06:17), and Yali describes how she drew inspiration for Cuquita from the Cuquitas she had cut out...