Wit Lopez is a fiber artist, performer and independent curator whose work encourages audiences to touch, manipulate and even wear it. Artblog’s Imani Roach spoke with this former theater kid about accessibility, performing for the camera and confronting their body as a spectacle. Can marginalized artists use humor to subvert their relationship to art institutions? Listen to find out. Imani interviewed Wit at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on December 12th, 2017; the podcast is 34 minutes long.
Read MoreCarolyn Lazard uses the experience of chronic illness to explore themes of intimacy, labor and living in relation to others. With a background in video art, Lazard develops her ideas across a range of media including photo, performance, sculpture and the written word. Artblog’s Imani Roach spoke with her about returning to her Southeastern PA roots and how disabled artists are changing the pace of institutions. Is there such a thing as JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)? Listen to find out. Imani interviewed Carolyn at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on October 12th, 2017; the podcast is 41 minutes long.
Read MoreArtblog recently hosted a lively panel discussion on the Future of Art Writing in conjunction with our 3rd annual New Art Writing Challenge. Our dynamic panelists included artist and Bmore Art contributor, Alexandra Oehmke, performer organizer and writer, Catherine Rush and writer and theater-maker Carlos Roa. The panel was held on Wednesday, October 4th, 2017 at the Galleries at Moore and moderated by Matt Kalasky; the podcast is 76 minutes long.
Read MoreArtblog’s Imani Roach spoke with artist Lane Speidel about their experiences as an early childhood educator and curator of Make A Space For Me, a performance series for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming artists, makers, thinkers and audiences. In their own artistic practice, Lane uses performance to re-establishing control over their body in the face of personal trauma and the daily demands of life under capitalism. Across all platforms of their work, safety is a paramount concern— proper grammar, less so. Find out why! Imani interviewed Lane at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on Sept. 21st, 2017; the podcast is 50 minutes long.
Read MoreArtblog’s Imani Roach and Roberta Fallon talked with Taji Ra’oof Nahl about his complex art practice that includes collaboration at its core. Nahl ran his own gallery in Old City from the late 1980s to 2010, where he showed, among others, Terry Adkins’ work. Taji was a friend of Adkins, and their practices both involve music, found objects, and researching under-known African American historical figures. In the interview Nahl tells Imani and Roberta about discovering the Colonial-era polymath, Benjamin Banneker, who became the subject of his installation in ‘Unlisted,’ the big multi-curator, multi-artist show at Icebox Project Space in 2016. We interviewed Taji Nahl at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on Sept. 14, 2017, and the podcast is 37 minutes long.
Read MoreCarl(os) Roa is bringing Andean Mountains, his Fringe Festival solo performance, to Taller Puertorriqueño Sept. 7-15, 2017. Roa tells Roberta and Imani that Andean Mountains is about a generational displacement between Latin youth who love anime and manga and their elders’ who love telenovelas. How can the children of immigrants reconcile the various streams of culture coming at them? By repurposing familial culture and making it your own, says Roa. Andean Mountains will have digital elements, movement, and storytelling, in English and Spanish. Get your tickets now, this is going to be great!
Read MoreEarlier this year, Karen Chernick wrote about the missing Royal Theater mural, a history mural on South Street commemorating the legacy of the Royal Theater, a once-thriving black theater where Billie Holiday, among many others, gave concerts. The mural, painted by Eric Okdeh depicted jazz greats who played at the Royal, and neighborhood greats, like Ron Washington, of Ron’s Ribs, a restaurant landmark at 1627 South St., across from the theater. In this podcast, Roberta and Imani Roach (Artblog Managing Editor) speak with Brandon Washington, son of Ron. Brandon talks about the neighborhood, his father’s important role as a community leader and of his own and his brother’s hope to revive Ron’s Ribs in the future in a Ron’s Ribs food truck.
Read MoreIn this podcast interview, Matt Kalasky talks with Amanda Buck and Alexa Smith, two of the editors of Apiary Magazine, a beautiful Philadelphia literary publication in print and online, started in 2009 and publishing a wide variety of community voices, in a variety of genres including poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Apiary also includes visual art.
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