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14:50
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Featured this week

Edgar Arceneaux in "Los Angeles"

September 23, 2016

Edgar Arceneaux investigates historical patterns through drawings, installations, and multimedia events, such as the reenactment of Ben Vereen’s tragically misunderstood blackface performance at Ronald Reagan’s 1981 Inaugural Gala.

Of Monuments and Memorials

9:37
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"A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby"

Kara Walker

May 23, 2014

9:19
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An Artist's Life

Jack Whitten

March 21, 2018

7:38
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Doreen Garner Sculpts Our Trauma

February 21, 2018

Art21 Library

The Art21 Library includes every film produced by Art21 since its first broadcast in 2001. Over 60 hours of full episodes from each of Art21’s television and digital series are always on view, free of charge.

Suggested starting points:
Kara WalkerNick CaveCarrie Mae WeemsJordan Casteel
From the library
9:27
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Kevin Beasley’s Raw Materials

February 6, 2019

Playlists

Portraying the Black American Experience
Being an Artist Extended Play
Jordan Casteel Stays in the Moment New York Close Up
Thick Skin Extended Play
"A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby" Extended Play
Theaster Gates in "Chicago" Art in the Twenty-First Century
Rashid Johnson Makes Things to Put Things On New York Close Up
Abigail DeVille Listens to History New York Close Up
Ellen Gallagher in "Play" Art in the Twenty-First Century
Beauty & Ugliness Extended Play
Glenn Ligon in "History" Art in the Twenty-First Century
LaToya Ruby Frazier Makes Moving Pictures New York Close Up
Laylah Ali in "Power" Art in the Twenty-First Century
Thirteen Questions for Wynton Marsalis & Cornel West Extended Play
Doreen Garner Sculpts Our Trauma New York Close Up

Portraying the Black American Experience

By transforming the contemporary Black experience into powerful works of art, artists have created some of the most compelling, significant artworks of our lifetime.

Portraying the Black American Experience
by Art21February 14, 2018 14 videos • 1:42:55 total runtime

Art21.live is an always-on broadcast platform featuring high-quality, hand-selected video programming on contemporary art and artists.

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New York Close Up

New York Close Up is devoted to capturing early-career artists living and working in New York City, providing a unique window into the next wave of art-making in the city.

Extended Play

Extended Play provides unmediated, behind-the-scenes access to today’s leading artists through process-revealing footage and intimate interviews, chronicling a diverse scale of projects, ranging from major commissions to exploratory sketches.

Art in the Twenty-First Century

The only series on television in the U.S. to focus exclusively on contemporary visual art and artists, Art in the Twenty-First Century is a Peabody Award-winning biennial program that follows artists at work as they transform inspiration into art.

Artist to Artist

Artist to Artist is an online film series featuring contemporary visual artists in conversation with their peers, discussing the inspirations and passions that drive their processes. Each film follows a single artist as he or she engages with other artists in a shared exhibition setting.

Specials

Art21 specials are single and limited-run features on the artists and communities that bring contemporary art to the fore, broadening the scope of voices and perspectives represented in Art21 films.

William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible

William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible gives viewers an intimate look into the mind and creative process of William Kentridge, the South African artist whose acclaimed charcoal drawings, animations, video installations, shadow plays, mechanical puppets, tapestries, sculptures, live performance pieces, and operas have made him one of the most dynamic and exciting contemporary artists working today.

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4:17
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Featured

Making Time Stephanie Syjuco

October 2, 2019

At work in her Berkeley studio, Stephanie Syjuco navigates the deeply embedded visual tropes of American history applied in her practice.

New and noteworthy

10:42
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Here I Am

Luchita Hurtado

June 26, 2019

5:34
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Maryam Hoseini's Every Day Abstractions

October 30, 2019

7:47
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In Between Languages

Meriem Bennani

March 5, 2020