The Art of Social Change

Renowned artist Andrea Fraser joins us to discuss art, institutions, and power. Since the 1980s, Andrea has used performance, video, and installation to critique the art world with humor and sharp insight, addressing gender, race, privilege, and the commodification of art. This conversation was recorded in collaboration with CIMAM during their 56th Annual Conference in Los Angeles.

In this episode, we speak with Candice Hopkins, executive director and chief curator of Forge Projects, whose work as a citizen of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation centers on decolonizing institutions and integrating Indigenous knowledge within and beyond exhibition spaces. Drawing from a worldview where art, land, water, and culture are inseparable, Candice reflects on how Indigenous communities...

For our 37th episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with two Cristina Chirouze Montenegro, the founder of Mazorca and the artist Sofia Baussan whose stories were brought together by the shared interest of building cultural bridges between Central America and Europe. Cristina shared how growing up in Guatemala during a period of political transition shaped her commitment to using art as a tool fo...

In this episode, we sit down with Sehyoung Lee in his studio at Artagon to discuss his multidisciplinary practice, which bridges performance and visual arts. Originally from Seoul and now based in Paris, his work delves into the complexities of navigating Western culture as an Asian artist. The conversation explores fascinating subjects like the cultural impact of K-pop, masculinity, cultural diss...

In this episode, we’re joined by two members of Parsec - an Italian collective of curators, artists,  and cultural workers who are reshaping the art scene in Bologna and beyond.  Irene Adorni is an artist and Giulia Monte, a researcher and publisher. They see independent art spaces as invaluable communities, where points of views can differ and be shared. And they shared what happened behind PARSE...

For our 34th episode we had the pleasure of speaking with Deniz Kirkali, co-founder of GARP Sessions. Garp Sessions is a summer programme that brings artists and thinkers together in Babakale, Çanakkale for a duration of 10 days. It aims to generate conversations around a question/topic/keyword and create room for interaction between people, practices, and researches. It prioritizes collective thi...

For this episode, we spoke to a key actor of the Hungarian cultural scene: György Szabó  Discovering arts and performance during university, Gyuri immediately invested himself in the development of the art scene, by organising events as part of his university art club. Striving to promote both local and international artists, Gyuri witnessed the change of the central and Eastern European art scene...

For our 32nd episode we spoke to Luiza Texeira de Freitas in Lisbon. Luiza currently specializes in advising private collections on how they can have a lasting impact in the communities around them. We spoke about the conundrum of bringing art fairs into new cities and what ethical collecting can look like. If you would like to see images of the projects we discussed during the podcast you can go...

This is the second part of our interview with Meriem Chabani, co-founder of New South, an international architecture, urban design and research practice based in Paris and Brussels. Our last episode left off as Meriem explained her architecture graduation project Remade in Bangladesh, where she looked at how new urban planning and architecture could improve the working conditions and the versatili...

For our 31st episode we spoke to Meriem Chabani, co-founder of New South Architects. New South is an international architecture, urban design and research practice based in Paris and Brussels. During our conversation we discussed how relationships of power are present in cities, often taking the form of architecture and urban planning. We explored the idea of working from the point of view of the...

For our 29th episode we spoke to Angolan-Portuguese artist Mónica de Miranda in Lisbon. Monica’s research-led practice is grounded in the concepts of urban archeology and emotional geography. Her films, installations and photographs are inspired by her own personal story and anchored in postcolonial politics, emancipation and identity. During our interview we discussed her recent film The Island,...

For our 29th episode, Alix had a conversation with Chaveli Sifre while visiting La Embajada’s booth in Liste, a fair in Switzerland dedicated to international, independent galleries and spaces. In her gallery's booth, Chaveli was conducting an experiment. Sitting in a corner, looking over a glass contraption, she distilled an odd mixture of water, money given to her or found in wishing wells, and...

In our 28th episode, curator Marielsa Castro made us wonder, What does it take to construct the bonds that bind communities together? How can we create genuine relationships with our neighbors? During our conversation, we discussed how her interest in collectivity and commoning has led her to be a part of the cooperative Coopia and how this has influenced her current role in the Jumex Museum in Me...

For this episode, we had a conversation with Yoshua Okón. Yoshua was born in Mexico City in 1970, where he currently lives and where Gabriela met with him. His work ressembles a series of near sociological experiments executed for the camera. They blend stage situations, documentation, and improvisation to question our perceptions of reality and truth. In this episode, Gaby and Yoshua talked about...

For our 26th episode we had a conversation with artist and Afield fellow Filipa Cesar and architect Marinho de Pina. We talked about their historic and personal bonds to the country of Guinea-Bissau and its war of independence. They walked us through their efforts in preserving the country's historic footage of the revolution and the unique place they created in order to continue with this dream:...

For this 25th episode we had a conversation with Sandra Terdjman and Abi Tariq from AFIELD, an initiative that feels very close to what we strive to do on the podcast. AFIELD is an international network of cultural changemakers created in 2014. It awards fellowships for social initiatives from arts and culture, organizes events, leads a study program, and many other things. AFIELD is anchored in t...

For our 24th episode we had a conversation with Gaëlle Choisne. She told us the serendipitous accident that prompted her to become an artist, a fateful event that catalyzed her multi-disciplinary artistic practice. Between occult fables and objective sciences, Choisne navigates through imaginaries as composite as the techniques which give them shape. She told us about her mixed heritage and how vi...

For this episode we had a conversation with Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, a fascinating duo of artists and filmmakers. They walked us through their first encounter growing up in the tumultuous Lebanon and how this shaped their artistic practice. In films and installations, the artists examine the unreliability of images, history, memories, and even first-person experiences in narrating the...

For our 22nd episode, Gaby recorded a continuation of our interview with Martha Wilson, this time in New York. Last time we met Martha as she was preparing for her first solo-show at the Pompidou Center and it turns out that Paris left quite an impression on her, so she decided to return and make a brand new project titled Generations of Feminism in France. In this episode we talk about her ventur...

Our 21th episode with artist Ndayé Kouagou was full of questions. The artist revealed how a situation of crisis led him to daringly enter the world of art. He walked us through his performance works and talked about the importance of constantly questioning oneself. Ndayé Kouagou (1992) is an artist and performer based in Paris; his practice always starts from texts of which he is the author. Volun...

For our 20th episode we conversed with Marine Van Schoonbeek, the director and co-founder of Thanks for Nothing, an association that mobilizes artists and the world of culture by organizing solidarity oriented projects. We talked about the complex merging of philanthropy and art, and the path that led her to where she is today. We discussed the recent Colloquium of Art and Commitment organized by...

This is a special episode of The Art of Social Change podcast produced by Alix de la Chapelle for Threads*sub_ʇxǝʇ radio. Carl Jung once said, “Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakens.” For this special episode we shift the focus from looking outside ourselves to looking inside, hoping to discover how our subconscious speaks to us through the mysterious entities called dreams. Alix inte...

For our 18th episode we had the honor of interviewing feminist artist Martha Wilson. She walked us through her life story, from her Quaker origins to the bustling art scene of New York in the 70’s. She talked about her current exhibition Martha Wilson in Halifax now on view at the Pompidou Center in Paris and her carte blanche solo-show at the mfc michele didier Gallery titled The Political and Pe...

For our 17th episode we interviewed artist, ecologist, and curator Stéphane Verlet-Bottéro. The work of Verlet-Bottero looks to heal the bonds between humans and nature, between our past and our present, and between our institutions and our communities.

Imagine listening to someone’s heartbeat for five minutes. Imagine a silent dinner. Imagine accepting to get rid of social codes. Imagine experiencing telepathy. Imagine building a friendship as an artwork. Imagine being directed to enact a script written by an artist. This is what entering the performances of Honi Ryan and Abi Tariq feels like. For our 16th episode of the Art of Social Change Pod...