Bet You Wish This Was An Art Podcast

We’ve rocked around the Christmas tree, we’ve opened our presents, and now we sit—desperate and ready to pop champagne and say “sayonara!” to 2020. However, before we dive into the new year, we here at BYWAP couldn’t help ourselves and we had to share some together to sing the praises and bemoan the tragedies of the incredible artist: Yayoi Kusama. Queen of polka dots and Master of Infinity (Rooms...

Holy Christmas Special, Batman! It’s Christmas Eve and all around the (predominantly Western) world, town squares that would once be bustling with lights and cheer are silent. So, grab your cup of gluehwein and a handful of roasted chestnuts and join your BYWAP hosts for a Christmas Special. Find out how deep the European Winter Markets rivalries run, be endeared to Stephanie and Elene reflecting...

Wow! December? Already? We've done COVID Updates several times this year (in April & August), and in the spirit of every 4 months, we'd like to give 2020 one last update to see where things are going. Thankfully, the news is a touch more promising on the virus-side of things with the roll-out of vaccines! However, there is always the darker side of these festivities and frolicking. Please stay...

We live in a society: architecture edition. Your BYWAP hosts are back at it again, with domestic architecture expert Tamro, investigating the history of cities. When did people start to see the value in urban architecture, and when did conserving it become a priority? In today's episode, we dive into the foundation of the cities and places that make up daily life—but in an Architecture Nerd sort o...

When an art movement born of Dada, post WWI depression, and Sigmund Freud comes on the scene.... What did you really expect? Join BYWAP for this mini picnic of lucid dreaming and furry teacups. Together, we'll explore the deeply troubling thoughts of artists like Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and so many others—as well as take inspiration from the techniques they developed to make this...

Happy (American) Thanksgiving, to you and yours! Please take care of yourselves and donate to all groups that fight for Indigenous rights. It's movie night here in the BYWAP household, and, if you couldn't tell yet, your hosts are very dear fans of the late Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. This week, we watched the prettiest movies in the world, Loving Vincent (2017). Let us join Armand Roulin in hi...

We're coming for your throat, Linda! On a spicy (technically third part) response, BYWAP is back on our regular bullsh*t to talk about Art Spaces and Queer artists with Why Have There Been No Great Transgender Artists by Jeannie Tang, delivered at the Queering the Museum panel at the Brooklyn Museum (2013). Today's episode discussion is also enhanced by Marta Wiktoria Byrll's article Modern Transg...

Friends, Enemies, and Lovers: Welcome to Scorpio Season. Come one—come all—to this incredibly special episode: our one year anniversary episode! Today we talk about the incredible and tumultuous life of Diego Rivera—muralist of the people, and Frida Kahlo's other half. No High School Musical references this time, but we're so happy to have spent our first of many fantastic years with all of you!&n...

Oh! The waters—the watersss—of Babylon. The waters that pour through the foundations of a luscious hanging garden! Where, exactly, were those gardens, you might ask? Well, consult some old-time-y writer trying to invent click-bait in the 3rd century, and you'd hear of the great stories of the Babylon empire. But, then again, almost every other city in some faraway place was Babylon, and the cite n...

Welcome to the end of Spooky Season, and we hope that we move into November with safety and security. And, most importantly, we hope you can move into the holidays holding onto the stories we find comfort in. This week’s guest—the one and only T.H Ponders from Accession fame—brings us to the fireplace, and teaches us about the Ekphrastic tradition: where art tells a story, and that story becomes a...

The story of Medusa is one of tragedy, heartbreak, and ultimate betrayals. Although Ovid's Metamorphosis has the hero Perseus emerging victorious, today's piece and article look at a reinterpretation of the myth—what if Medusa won the fight? And, furthermore, what happens when said reimagining becomes a powerful symbol for the #MeToo movement?     Find out the story of Medusa and wh...

What's perfect for October Season? Ancient Civilizations. Your favorite hosts dawn our archeologists hats, grab our baby paintbrushes, and get to work exploring the fantastic ghost sites of Mohenjo-daro and Dholavira. We went back in time, and found an advanced Indus River Civilization and the Harappan Civilization thriving amongst rivers, lakes, and water systems. Hell yeah. Oh! And the magnifice...

In the spirit of Duchamp, we here at BYWAP are here to stand behind a simple truth: we don’t believe in art. We believe in artists! The horrors of War and Economic strife brought us Dada, and Dada gave us weird contemporary art that requires an arts history degree to decipher. Nothing is perfect, all systems are flawed, but we’ve got all these Ready-Mades ready for mass distribution and we hope yo...

Welcome to Spooky Season! As we reflect on how time and life changes, we must also stop and think about the power of cultural exchange. Arts and culture doesn't operate in a vacuum, and different influences can radically transform different mediums. However, today's subject is unique. For the Edo (Tokugawa) period, Japan was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist forei...

Or, as our audio wizard, Julieta, puts it: Can We Offer You A Crash Course On Art in This Trying Time? Clickbait titles aside, today's episode dives into a topic so painfully overlooked by the art world. Have you ever been overwhelmed being in a gallery that you know nothing about the artist? Have you ever just been lost for words? Does talking about art make you uncomfortable? Just because you li...

This week we're popping popcorn, bringing out our art law textbooks, and righting some of the wrongs of the Nazis. Tonight's Movie Night is the 2015 Historical Drama of " The Woman in Gold" . Based off the incredible true story of one family's fight to reclaim stolen art, this movie centers itself around Gustav Klimt's " Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" —or, " The Woman in Gold". This Helen Mirren...

From Munch to Van Gogh, Goya to Kusama—the connection between mental illness and creativity has been a talking point of many art critics and art journals for centuries. However, the extent of that same illness being translated into museum spaces is a relatively new concept, with many museums opting to overlook (or outright deny) the impact of these diseases on artists. Join us as we read Elene's f...

The most rewarding part of Art History is the look on someone's face when you inform them that these Renaissance Masters are actually catty drama queens—it tends to be a mix of surprise, joy, and horror. Vasari had his favorites, and so do we. Let's kick off our Renaissance Masters series with our boy: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Find out the true nature of our short and angry Rena...

There's no earthly way of knowing which direction your memories are going. And while this may not be Willy Wonka's tunnel to hell, the fluid and ever changing imagery of a river that cannot be pinned down or dominated is evocative of the nature of memories. Memory is what we make of it, and this week’s guest—Dzebo, our dear Georgian Cultural Memory Studies major—helps us get to the bottom of the t...

Remember back in April when we were hopeful and interested in overcoming a pandemic before summer? Remember how we thought the world could globally deal with it? Anyways. A lot has changed since our 6th episode, and it's time we updated you all with some fun, fresh (and occasionally depressing) reminders. Find out what some museums are doing to reopen safely, what happens when museum funding runs...

A BYWAP First: An Architecture Episode! In today's episode, we finally talk about one of the most captivating buildings in the world: the Hagia Sophia.  The church, then basilica, then mosque, then museum, and now mosque again has been continuing the ebb and flow of lived history. In today's episode, we tackle the long standing history of this magnificent monument and how it's being impacted...

Sometimes we lay in bed and we, too, dream about painting a Vermeer. And after Tim’s experiment here—maybe we can! It’s movie night in the BYWAP Camp and today’s episode is all about Tim’s Vermeer (2014). This man is the embodiment of Skill Share (and googling your way through a comprehensive liberal arts degree), and we stan. Is it cheating to use technology in art? Does the quality of work dimin...

Media is mandated by the eyes that are drawn to it. Revolution is mandated by the voices that rally behind it. In today’s episode, your favorite hosts tackle the media that responds to passionate change and violence by looking at the Aesthetics of Revolution. Join us as we investigate the lasting impact of social media during political revolution, challenge the performative but necessary nature of...

Here’s the thing: performance is intentional. To be present in the moment, Marina Abramović teaches artists and audiences alike that 'performance' requires commitment, passion, focus, strength, and a little bit of instability. Find out what the Rhythms are; how InfoWars decided to take interest in her work'; why Abramović had "an artist should avoid falling in love with another artist" as a part o...

Why Repatriate, you may ask? Well... How do African masks and Totem Poles in museums make you feel? Do you wonder how they got there? Would you return stolen goods, even if you think you would do a better job taking care of it? This week’s guest is literal backbone of the show: Lindsey Anton-Wood, a Canadian studies researcher and our fabulous graphics designer. Today she helps us further last wee...