Art Scoping

Bruce Mau is a globally renowned problem-solver. In this episode we touch on some of his past and upcoming achievements, including a new documentary about his extraordinary influence in the design sector and beyond, to have its world premiere at the upcoming SXSW. We discuss his insights in Designing for the Five Senses, his new book MC24, his childhood in Canada, the origins of his landmark exhibition and publication Massive Change, memorable experiences of working with globally renowned...

Dr. Lisa Freiman reflects on the recent forced resignation of the chief executive of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (for now clinging to the nickname @newfields) along with her major exhibition of the work of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, her role as Commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion in the 2011 Venice Biennale, which presented new works by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Alfredo Jaar’s extraordinary Park of the Laments in the 100-acre sculpture park she devised, and a recent...

It's hard to run a museum at any time, let alone during a pandemic. In this episode we glean some wisdom from Brian Ferriso, long-serving director of the Portland Art Museum. We cover the recent spate of deaccessioning among museums, the quest for updated thinking about museum goals, his focus on contributed versus earned income, the need for strategy in making new acquisitions, some exhibitions that have resonated with his audience, and the particulars of running a museum in the Pacific...

Art museum directors are caught up in competing travails, from financial shortfalls to racial reckoning to ill-advised deaccessioning. But talented curators across the U.S. are still managing to bring artistic talent to the fore, and Veronica Roberts, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art, is among the museum field’s most imaginative, capable, and humane. We retrace her steps at the leading museums in New York to her adopted state of Texas, with detours to...

The digitally inclined will feast on this conversation with Robert Stein, among the art world’s most insightful and accomplished protagonists, who has conjured up and implemented innovative practices affecting museumgoers around the globe, both online and in person. We caught up with him during his first month as the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Deputy Director and Chief Experience Officer, and covered a host of topics, from virtual museum experiences during the pandemic to new research in the...

Museum directors are juggling more than ever before, and few as ably as Susan M. Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of the New Orleans Museum of Art since 2010. We retrace the beginning of her tenure, five years after Hurricane Katrina, and fast forward to the city’s appeal to international visitors, her 6 ½-acre expansion of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, increased appointments of women museum directors, how she has addressed challenges in the aftermath of George...

So you’re up all night, wondering: Should I build an art museum? Before you hire an architect, best to start by calling Rich Cherry, Managing Partner at Museum Operations. He’s served as an executive director, COO, deputy director, CTO and CIO at several leading organizations, from the Albright-Knox to the Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC), and designed and built new museums and non-profits from the ground up, including the Broad Art Museum and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures....

Nostalgic for a nation of laws, not of men? In eager anticipation of a Justice Department dedicated to something other than xenophobia and the promotion of imperial rule, we turn to intellectual property guru Jaime Michael Wolf, an attorney who sorts out claims and counter-claims involving publishers, artists and their estates, designers and even chefs. We cover social media’s damnation of memory issued to the soon-to-be-evicted tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, how copyright is adapting...

“Be kind rewind” is what video rental stores used to implore their customers before VHS tapes were returned. Since the end of the year is finally here, we’re replaying memorable snippets from some of 2020’s guests on the podcast, along with some thoughts about the arts in the United States, as massive quantities of sage are being readied for cleansing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and while we’re all lining up for a vaccine. With sincere thanks to all our guests, here’s to a new start in January.

Art comes in all shapes and sizes--and sometimes it shows up on your screen. To separate the digital wheat from the chaff we turn to one of the world’s leading authorities in the field, Christiane Paul, author of Digital Art (Thames & Hudson), now in its 3rd edition. Prof. Paul is Director and Chief Curator of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center and Professor in the School of Media Studies at the New School in New York, and Adjunct Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American...

Many museums have emulated commercial attractions over the last generation—and now find themselves struggling back to life during the pandemic with reduced buzz, attendance, and contributions. For solutions we go to the source: a top advertising expert, Brad Brinegar, Chairman of McKinney, to help get their messaging aligned with these exceptional circumstances. He is predictably averse to thinking of museums as commercial preserves, and instead prescribes clever ways of reaching audiences,...

You might think that COVID-19 has slowed everything to a near halt. That’s not the case with the looting of archaeological sites and proliferating sales of stolen objects online. For insight we turn to Tess Davis, Executive Director of The Antiquities Coalition, which battles cultural racketeering and the illicit trade in ancient art and artifacts. Founded by Deborah Lehr, who serves as Chairman of its Board of Directors, The Antiquities Coalition also seeks to improve law and policy, foster...

We voyage across the Pacific to Sydney, to speak with Dr. Michael Brand, director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We explore his outspoken commitment to indigenous art and artists, the massive and environmentally sensitive expansion of his museum well underway, his views on public support of the arts in both Australia and the U.S., and the challenges of restitution of art with disputed title—from his days as director of the J. Paul Getty Museum to today. He shares his experience in...

Arts advocacy takes many forms. In this episode we hear from Alexander Bernstein, president of Artful Learning, and Vice President and Treasurer of The Leonard Bernstein Office. Alex has long championed arts-infused instruction in schools from Florida to Oregon. He comes to the cause naturally; the son of legendary composer, conductor, educator, and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein, Alex is active in extending his father’s legacy, sharing responsibility with his sisters Jamie and Nina in...

Discerning museum curators today explore the fashion arts with an eye towards social and political lessons alongside an appreciation of design bravura. This episode’s guest, Petra Slinkard, is a leading voice in the new generation of scholars rethinking how to represent her discipline in compelling and timely displays. As the Director of Curatorial Affairs and The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, she presides over massive...

Curious about who keeps the art market functioning in the midst of a global shutdown? For answers we turn to Evan Beard, the Global Art Services Executive with U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. Evan leads the Bank’s outreach to private and institutional collectors, and shares insights into market trends, the Middle East art market, the genteel world of art lending, considerations when opening a private museum, how auction houses cajole collectors, the Bank of America Art...

The J. Paul Getty Museum, the world’s wealthiest, was shaped under the steady hand of Dr. John Walsh, a renowned scholar of Dutch art. In this episode we glean a bit about his work as a curator and director, and dive into topical matters: Museums during the pandemic, commercialization of exhibitions, his role as a witness defending Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center’s exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and its then director at a trial accusing them of promoting obscenity,...

We are binging on shows over streaming platforms as never before during the pandemic. In this episode we turn to award-winning actress Sarah Wynter to learn how the film and television industry has navigated COVID-19, beginning with the March 2020 diagnosis of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson in Sarah’s native Australia. We hear about shooting around shower curtains, love scenes with mannequins, how actors are staying in touch with fans and each other, cultural differences between Australia and the...

The headlines are everywhere: Multiple museums are today selling artworks to cope with financial challenges brought on by the pandemic. In this episode, the past chair of the Professional Issues Committee of the Association of Art Museum Directors, James H. Duff, shares why and how AAMD arrived at restrictions on “deaccessioning” decades ago, and the impact of AAMD’s April 2020 resolution relaxing those restrictions. We discuss why so much art is typically in storage, and consider potential...

Isolation is an unwanted obligation for everyone as long as the pandemic lasts, but for voice actors, it’s the preferred state of being year-round. In this episode we venture (virtually) into the recording booth at ButtonsNY, an approved recording facility that meets the Covid-19 Protection Guidelines of SAG/AFTRA, to speak with award-winning interdisciplinary performing artist and voiceover artist Danielle Quisenberry. We learn how she helps film and stage actors adapt to the rigors of...