Earlier this month, the 2025-2026 cohort of Art21 Educators kicked off with a Summer Institute. Educators hailing from Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and more areas across the country traveled to New York City. A hallmark of Art21 Educators is learning from peers, who have experience using contemporary art and Art21 resources in their classrooms. During the […]

On June 12th, Art21 premiered the new short film, “Things Don’t Have to Be Like This,” at the Ford Foundation in New York City. The film builds upon the learnings from Ford Foundation’s New Media Leadership cohort. In it, artists and friends American Artist, Morehshin Allahyari, and Mimi Ọnụọha gather to explore the complex relationships […]

Adam Golfer—Neither one of us had ever worked on a film about a group of artists whose practices are all very different, but operate together as a collective, and come together for a unified purpose. After meeting with the collective I Wanna Be With You Everywhere (IWBWYE) for the first time, it became clear that […]

Featuring Artists Morehshin Allahyari, American Artist, and Mimi Ọnụọha, and Directed by J.M. Harper, New Documentary Short to Premiere on July 2, 2025   Watch the Trailer New York, New York—June 16, 2025—Art21 and JustFilms, Ford Foundation today announced the release of “Things Don’t Have to Be Like This: A Conversation About  Digital Technology & Contemporary […]

Art21 today announced the release of “I Wanna Be With You Everywhere,” a new documentary film featuring the artist collective of the same name. Directed by Andrea Chung and Adam Golfer, the film premieres Wednesday, June 25 at 12:00 p.m. ET on Art21.org and YouTube.

Before coming on as the director of this film, I thought I understood Arthur Jafa’s practice. I had seen APEX and Love is the Message, the Message is Death, and saw AJ’s work as chronicling Black life in America, both the good and the bad. I still think that’s true—his films do offer a nuanced […]

Art21 announced the release of “Arthur Jafa: Sequencing the Notes,” a new film premiering Wednesday, April 30, at 12:00 p.m. ET on Art21.org and YouTube.

When I was first introduced to Hyeree, I fell in love with her work immediately. Given our shared background—we’re both East Asians living in the US, existing between two languages and two places—it’s perhaps not surprising that I resonated with Hyeree’s musings around language and the idea that when you’re speaking one language, you’re one […]

Starting April 3, 2025, Art21 invites you to host a free screening of films featuring artists Linda Goode Bryant, Sarah Sze, Josephine Halvorson, Rose B. Simpson, and Michael Rakowitz—celebrating the new book “Artists and the Unknown”