Art Unquoted

"Beauty is too easy. Often, I take beautiful objects and do extreme things to them so that they are overlaid with something a bit more sinister and violent." – Cornelia Parker

From real wind to constructed wind to predicted wind: Harun Farocki's meditation on digital images becomes urgent in the age of AI. A conversation about simulation, authorship, and what we may lose when algorithms replace intention.

What if an image only exists in the moment you look at it? Not before. Not after. In this bonus episode, our host Charlotte explores two exhibitions by French artist Pierre Huyghe: UUmwelt at the Serpentine Gallery in London (2018) and his major new show at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel. At the center: a single sentence. "An image is a situation. Not a photograph. But a situation." Flies. Dust. R...

Celebrating Barbara Kasten at 90: From photograms to elaborate Constructs, her work reveals how geometry and light can transform our understanding of space. A masterclass in sustained artistic vision.

This is a Bonus Episode of Art Unquoted Podcast focusing on Uzbekistan Biennale in 2013 and 2025 Recently, the contemporary art world has turned its gaze toward Central Asia - Uzbekistan. Its ancient cities, and its newly launched Bukhara Biennial 2025. But for our host, Esenija, this wasn't a new discovery. It was a return. Based on a true story: this bonus episode is a personal account of what h...

What if AI could generate 77 different versions of one person? Artist Ilit Azoulay did exactly that. Each AI actress performs Mary Stuck at a different age. Each one is different. Each one is real. Referring to the re-opening of Villa Stuck in Munich and her exhibition "No Single View," Azoulay uses AI as a tool for the first time to explore identity, memory, and the impossibility of knowing anyon...

"Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees." Robert Irwin spent a lifetime turning this idea into art, stripping away language to make us truly perceive. In this episode, we ask why, in a world of constant naming, that might be the most radical act of all. Prepare to see differently.

„Materials form a language.“ But Adorno reminds us: there’s no such thing as innocent material. Every coffee ground, every scrap of paper carries meaning. In this episode, we explore how artist Francis Offman uses found materials to speak what can’t be represented.

 "To shift to a slower gear and tune in to the frequencies of the minor keys."  – Koyo Kouoh, from her curatorial statement for the 61st Venice Biennale. In Part 3, we explore the historical and contemporary dimensions of "In Minor Keys". From Giotto's 14th-century Cappella degli Scrovegni to Pierre Huyghe's Liminal at Punta della Dogana, we trace how contemplative, site-specific practice has alwa...

"To shift to a slower gear and tune in to the frequencies of the minor keys."  – Koyo Kouoh, from her curatorial statement for the 61st Venice Biennale. Part 2: Brett Scott, an art consultant for collections in South Africa, joins us from Cape Town to discuss South Africa's withdrawal from Venice, the pressures facing African artists on international platforms, and what Koyo Kouoh's vision for "In...

 "To shift to a slower gear and tune in to the frequencies of the minor keys."  – Koyo Kouoh, from her curatorial statement for the 61st Venice Biennale. Part I: Koyo Kouoh's "In Minor Keys" asks the Venice Biennale to shift into a slower gear. But can the art world's biggest spectacle ever truly embrace subtlety? Charlotte and Esenija explore deceleration, spectacle, and the power of quietness in...

This is a short intro to the conceptual approach of Art (un)quoted Podcast hosted by Charlotte Desaga and Esenija Bannan.

Coming soon. A new podcast exploring the ideas that shape contemporary art hosted by Esenija Bannan and Charlotte Desaga One quote. Two perspectives. Every two weeks, we dive deep into a single thought-provoking idea. Art Unquoted launches April 30th.