Though I’d known about Wangechi Mutu’s work for a long time, I wasn’t aware of the process behind it until making this film. That discovery was as exciting as the layered, visually stunning pieces that she is known for. What might not be known about her work is their provenance in humble bits of wood, […]
As a documentary filmmaker, you always hope for a bit of unplanned, on-location magic to happen. For Art21’s first production with artist Adam Milner, which premieres today, it actually did—at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. When we first arrived at the Arms and Armor galleries, the communications team assumed we wanted to just shoot the […]
To be seen and validated, especially for your art, is a powerful feeling. Unfortunately, it’s not something every artist gets the opportunity to enjoy. But as Phyllida Barlow so eloquently advocates for in today’s new film, even unseen work has value. “The novel that never gets published, should it never have been written?” muses Barlow. […]
Fresh from the four-film run of our spring programming season, we are thrilled to launch into our summer season with yet another batch of new films across our Extended Play and New York Close Up series. Stream the first release of the new season today! This season features four artists—Phyllida Barlow, Guadalupe Maravilla, Adam Milner, […]
Mika Rottenberg gets the sweat flowing Through a collaborative work by artists Mika Rottenberg and Jon Kessler titled SEVEN (2011), performers worked up a sweat before a live audience in an immersive sculptural installation. Blending fiction with reality, the sculpture-cum-video-installation was activated by in-person performers who endured sitting in a sauna-like “Chakra Juicer” several times […]
Sarah Sze seeks tactility in a sea of digital imagery Through immersive installations such as Second Studio (2015), Sarah Sze explored the fragmented relationship to illusionistic images by arranging paint skins, torn paper images, and other materials, focusing attention on each object’s materiality. “We have so much illusion, but we don’t have touch, and we […]
Kara Walker and Jason Moran pay tribute to enslaved Africans Kara Walker and Jason Moran created a mobile monument to slavery with Katastwóf Karavan (2018), a steam powered calliope that paid tribute to enslaved Africans in America. For its initial presentation at the Prospect.4 triennial in New Orleans, the work was placed and activated on […]
Among the habits formed over the past year are new levels of attachment to our go-to technological outlets. This has been predominantly good for Art21 given the digital nature of our content. Viewership has more than doubled! Meanwhile, as a human who enjoys human encounters, I am also interested in what gets lost. As some […]
Ten films capture examinations of free expression Breaking free from expectations, artists abstract traditional definitions of gender and sexuality to provide visibility to LGBTQ communities and liberated perspectives underrepresented in the mainstream. The artists in our Pride Unveiled playlist examine identity through individual and community participation, challenging audiences and participants to exercise free expression by […]
Cecilia Vicuña imagines solutions for the impossible Speaking with Art21 earlier this year, artist Cecilia Vicuña described the organic inspiration and motivation behind works such as her enormous quipus and smaller-scale precarios. “The main tactical decision for me is to open up to that form of understanding or feeling that exists in you,” said Vicuña. […]