FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, September 26, 2023

New York, New York – Art21 is proud to announce the premiere of two new films in its digital film series, Extended Play, featuring artists Paul Pfeiffer and Wong Ping. “Paul Pfeiffer: Interrupting the Broadcast”  premieres Wednesday, October 4th, and “Wong Ping: The Freedom of Animation” premieres Wednesday, October 11th, both at 12pm ET on Art21.org and YouTube.

“Paul Pfeiffer: Interrupting the Broadcast” 

“As an artist, in a way, my interest is in, not sports per se, but sports as one scene for the moving image and mass entertainment,” says Paul Pfeiffer. “What I’m doing is moving a viewer’s attention around the stadium by presenting juxtapositions of images that are normally not in a broadcast of a game.”

Two decades after Paul Pfeiffer was first featured in Season 2 of Art in the Twenty-First Century, this film returns to his studio to follow the years-long process of creating his latest work Red Green Blue (2022). Examining the “infrastructure behind the image,” Pfeiffer works with the celebrated University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band to uncover what makes a college football game so spellbinding and highlight the hidden labor and thoughtful strategies that make the magic.

“As a full-time art documentarian, I typically find myself in museums, galleries, and artist studios,” says Ian Forster, Director and Art21 Senior Producer. “But for this new Extended Play film featuring artist Paul Pfeiffer, I instead had the opportunity to see an artist and their team at work  in front of 90,000 roaring University of Georgia football fans at Sanford Stadium in 2017.”

Tune in to the premiere of “Paul Pfeiffer: Interrupting the Broadcast” on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at 12PM ET at Art21.org and on Art21’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/art21org. To learn more email Art21 Manager of Communications, Hannah DeGarmo, at [email protected]. 

“Wong Ping: The Freedom of Animation”

“Animation as a media gives me freedom,” says Wong Ping. “It’s almost like candy wrapping paper for people; it’s just easier to swallow.”

Through animation, artist Wong Ping shares his surreal tales of modern life drawn from personal observation, ranging from salacious narratives about love, desire, and isolation to updated fables with cynical moral lessons. This film follows Wong through the busy streets of Hong Kong as he searches for new stories, leading him to open his own street-level flea market where the inspiration can come right to him. 

“I have been a fan of Wong Ping’s animations for years, so getting to direct his first Art21 film was an immense pleasure,” says Jurrell Lewis, Director and Art21 Assistant Curator. “Art21 came to Wong Ping as he was embarking on a new project, opening a street-level storefront in search of inspiration from his customers. Thus, the film became a unique opportunity to follow an artist in the quest for new stories and reveal where inspiration comes from.”

Tune in to the premiere of “Wong Ping: The Freedom of Animation” on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at 12PM ET at Art21.org and on Art21’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/art21org. To learn more email Art21 Manager of Communications, Hannah DeGarmo, at [email protected].

About Extended Play

Art21’s Extended Play digital series provides unmediated, behind-the-scenes access to today’s leading artists. Through process-revealing footage and intimate interviews, these curatorially-driven films chronicle a diverse scale of international projects, ranging from major commissions to exploratory sketches. Produced in close collaboration with artists, Extended Play uncovers the provocative ideas, timely cultural influences, and biographical anecdotes that inspire the artists featured throughout the series.

Extended Play is presented by the Marina Kellen French Foundation, with support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Art21 Contemporary Council, and individual contributors. Producers: Barbara & Andrew Gundlach.

About Art21

Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21’s mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists. Learn more at Art21.org.

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Press Contact

Hannah DeGarmo
Manager of Communications, Art21
[email protected]