CulturalDC Podcast

In this conversation, Thomas Stanley, Ph.D., interviews spoken word recording artist Ursula Rucker. Thomas Stanley is an artist, author, and activist deeply committed to audio culture in the service of personal growth and social change. As performer and curator, Bushmeat Sound has been an integral part of a visionary music scene straddling the Baltimore-Washington corridor. His audio work employs musical sound to anchor, frame, and accelerate our subjective experience of history. Ursula Rucker is an interdisciplinary poet, performer, and recording artist whose work reflects on personal history, family, and place. She characterizes her work as situated “along the edge of the terrains of poetry.” Dr. Stanley’s conversation with Ursula explores culture, world issues, and how it affects art and expression. This podcast is an extension of TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures, an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance. This conversation was partly supported by The Kennedy Center’s Office for Social Impact, partnership with Art in Transit, The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and The Humanities DC’s Visions Grant. Learn more about Torrents: New Links to Black Futures on our website: ⁠culturaldc.org/torrents⁠ ⁠culturaldc.org⁠ ⁠@cultural_dc Edited and mixed by ⁠Zeos Greene⁠

Today’s conversation is between Thomas Stanley, Ph.D., and Alex Zamalin. Thomas Stanley is an artist, author, and activist deeply committed to audio culture in the service of personal growth and social change. As performer and curator, Bushmeat Sound has been an integral part of a visionary music scene straddling the Baltimore-Washington corridor. His audio work employs musical sound to anchor, frame, and accelerate our subjective experience of history. Dr. Stanley interviews professor and author Alex Zamalin to discuss themes of his book Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism. This podcast is an extension of TORRENTS: New Links to Black Futures, an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance. This conversation was partly supported by The Kennedy Center’s Office for Social Impact, partnership with Art in Transit, The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and The Humanities DC’s Visions Grant. Learn more about Torrents: New Links to Black Futures on our website: culturaldc.org/torrents culturaldc.org @cultural_dc Edited and mixed by Zeos Greene

Torrents: New Links to Black Futures is an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance. This DC-based interdisciplinary event series gathers artists, collectors, professors, and community stakeholders to participate in a week filled with engaging experiences. Torrents examines critical questions about the development of Black futures across the African diaspora by featuring innovators across industries. Through expert panels, film screenings, live music, artistic performances, and demonstrations of advancements in technology, we aim to create opportunities to build community and inspire collaboration. Living Myths investigates why film is so effective in reimagining frameworks around Black futures and how it can induce significant cultural impact that critically challenges modern notions around politics, community, and Black history. In this panel, the filmmakers discuss their experiences in the industry, challenges for Black creators working within corporate structures, the types of stories they look to tell, their motivations for their work, and what they hope to see in the industry. This conversation is between Alexis Aggrey, Merawi Gerima, Shaka King, and Ytasha Womack following the screening of Smithsonian Channel's "Afrofuturism: The Origin Story" by Alexis Aggrey ⁠⁠in November of 2022. Moderated by DJ Underdog. Presented by CulturalDC. Edited by Caandor Labs.

Torrents: New Links to Black Futures is an artist-led program exploring new territories in Black future-building through visual arts, technology, music, film, and performance. This DC-based interdisciplinary event series gathers artists, collectors, professors, and community stakeholders to participate in a week filled with engaging experiences. Torrents examines critical questions about the development of Black futures across the African diaspora by featuring innovators across industries. Through expert panels, film screenings, live music, artistic performances, and demonstrations of advancements in technology, we aim to create opportunities to build community and inspire collaboration. This conversation is between Dr. Reynaldo Anderson, Dr. Raimi Gbadamosi, & Artist Nyugen E. Smith. Moderated by Adefolakunmi Adenugba of ISE-DA at the opening of Roots of a Future⁠ ⁠⁠in November of 2022. Presented by CulturalDC. Edited by Caandor Labs.

Artist David Jeremiah and Journalist & Curator Teri Henderson discuss Jeremiah’s artistic practice, his Dallas roots, his exhibition "FOGA" with CulturalDC, and more.

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with three arts leaders to reflect on CulturalDC’s latest film collaboration, Insurrection by Andres Serrano presented by a/political. Joining our podcast today are artist Andres Serrano and Art Curator Sylwia Serafinowicz, and CulturalDC Executive Director Kristi Maiselmann. Sylwia Serafinowicz is Chief Curator at a/political, public speaker and writer based in London. Serafinowicz sees exhibitions and public programmes as a platform to advocate for human rights and against discrimination, inequality and violence. Serafinowicz graduated with a PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an MA in History of Art from the University of Warsaw, Poland. Kristi Maiselman: Kristi Maiselman is the Executive Director and Curator of CulturalDC. Since her appointment in October 2018, Maiselman has facilitated projects like Ivanka Vacuuming by Jennifer Rubell, Mighty, Mighty by Devan Shimoyama, and THIS IS NOT A DRILL by Jefferson Pinder. In addition to her curatorial work, Maiselman oversees CulturalDC’s artspace development work which creates partnerships between arts organizations and commercial real estate developers in order to ensure affordable artist housing, studio space, and public art opportunities. Andres Serrano was born in 1950 in New York City and later attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1967 to 1969, where he studied painting and sculpture. Andres Serrano is an internationally acclaimed American artist whose work has been shown in major institutions in the United States and abroad. His photography work is featured in numerous museums and public collections. This program is presented in collaboration with a/political. a/political explores radical knowledge through the principle of Cultural Terror. Working with artists and agitators, the collective platforms voices that undermine the dominant narratives of our time. Based in London, a/political exists outside the commercial art world, functioning through interventions, commissions and a collection of contemporary art. Learn more at a(dash)political.org and @apolitcalorg on social media.

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with two influential artists to discuss their latest works and reflect on CulturalDC’s latest film collaboration, Insurrection by Andres Serrano presented by a/political. Joining our podcast today are artist Andres Serrano and Art Curator Andy Grundberg to discuss Serrano’s new book The Game : All Things Trump and Grundberg’s latest work How Photography Became Contemporary Art. Andres Serrano was born in 1950 in New York City and later attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1967 to 1969, where he studied painting and sculpture. Andres Serrano is an internationally acclaimed American artist whose work has been shown in major institutions in the United States and abroad. His photography work is featured in numerous museums and public collections. Andy Grundberg was the photography critic of the New York Times from 1981 to 1991. He later served as the director of the Ansel Adams Center for Photography in San Francisco and as chair of the photography department and dean of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Grundberg is an authority in the photography industry and writes eloquently about photography’s “boom years,” chronicling the medium’s increasing role within the most important art movements of our time. This program is presented in collaboration with a/political. a/political explores radical knowledge through the principle of Cultural Terror. Working with artists and agitators, the collective platforms voices that undermine the dominant narratives of our time. Based in London, a/political exists outside the commercial art world, functioning through interventions, commissions and a collection of contemporary art. Learn more at a(dash)political.org and @apolitcalorg on social media.

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with two influential artists to reflect on CulturalDC’s latest film collaboration, Insurrection by Andres Serrano presented by a/political. Joining our podcast today is featured artist Andres Serrano and Art Curator Phillip...

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. This summer, CulturalDC is proud to present, When We Gather…, a collaborative exploration between Haïtian-American (Flo·reen Day·most·ten) and Ghanaian (Aaah·chu Nuu·maah·jee). “When We Gather…” is a visual arts installation highlighting the cultural significance of flag making in military campaigns, clan identity, spirituality, and storytelling. Using the history of Haiti’s Battle for Independence and the symbology of the Anlo Ewe people , Day·most·ten and Nuu·maah·jee explore the use of symbols and body as forms of culture and art. In this discussion, Day·most·ten and Nuu·maah·jee discuss the meanings behind fabrics of Africa, the state of arts in Africa and the intersections of art and cultural responsibility. This conversation is hosted by Simone Booker- Isham of CulturalDC. (Flo·reen Day·most·ten) was born in the United States and raised between Port-au-Prince, Haiti and New York where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School for Design and her Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College-City University. She has exhibited extensively through group and solo exhibitions in the United States, Caribbean, UK, Europe, and Africa, with recent solo shows including, Between Possibility and Actuality at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago. (Aaah·chu Nuu·maah·jee) is a Ghanaian artist whose work explores contemporary ideologies of blackness and West African culture. He was born in the Volta Region and studied at Ghanatta College of Art and Design. His most recent work, “Africa In Us”, is a community investigation project where Nuu·maah·jee creates a mixed media portrait that is based on a series of interviews with Southeast residents of Washington D.C. The core of his artwork has involved working with West African immigrants who are employed in the service industry, particularly hair stylists and barbers. He has exhibited in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States and is based in Washington, DC and Maryland. When We Gather…, presented by CulturalDC is on view from Jul. 9 through September 5th , in CulturalDC’s Mobile Art Gallery Thursdays through Sundays at Sandlot Southeast. Admission is free. Learn more at culturaldc.org.

In this brand new episode of the Cultural DC podcast, we sit with three purveyors of DC sneakerhead culture to discuss the impact and future of sneaker collecting and community. Today’s discussion is framed against CulturalDC’s latest Mobile Art Gallery Installation, Overboard by Andy Yoder, an exhibit of over 220 sneakers constructed from recycled and repurposed materials. The installation examines sneakerhead culture and brings attention to the impact of capitalist consumer culture on our environment. Joining our discussion today are DC sneaker enthusiasts Ian Callender, Dominick Adams and Abdul Fow-zi. Ian Callender has been longtime DC business owner and sneaker purveyor for many years. As founder of Suite Nation, Ian created events that were conceptual, creative footwear showcases blending music, fashion, food, art, and unique, exclusive sneakers. Today, Ian continues to build community and spaces for culture as Co-Owner of Sandlot Southeast and Southwest. As Co-Owner of SOMEWHERE® Dominick Adams has helped build the foundation of modern fashion in Washington D.C. A third-generation Washingtonian, he is a proud alum of School Without Walls with a career highlighted by time served as General Manager of the pioneering sneaker boutique MAJOR in Georgetown & founding member of the creative team that birthed communal marketplace Maketto. To many DC sneakerheads, Abdul is the “guy with ALL the shoes”. Over the last 30 years of amassing an incredible collection of classic and exclusive sneakers, Abdul has built friendships and community around the love of fresh kicks. As a fan of the industry and culture, Abdul can be heard discussing current event topics and sneaker industry regularly on his podcast, Whats’a Podcast with his co-hosts Eddy and Jerome Baker III.

CulturalDC presents the second video installation in partnership with Baltimore-based curator Teri Henderson. The exhibit, “SUBVERSIONS,” will be projected onto the windows of CulturalDC’s Source Theatre in the historic 14th and U Street Corridor in Northwest Washington, D.C. “As An Enemy” is a multichannel video installation showing the corruption of the Baltimore City Police Department. Curated in collaboration with Baltimore based writer Brandon Soderberg, “As An Enemy” offers a stark microcosm of corrupt police forces across the country. The exhibition creates space for the victims of police brutality by telling the unique story of Black men and women victimized by the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF)—a plainclothes police squad, led by the diabolical Wayne Jenkins, established to maintain the racist legacy of “law and order” in Baltimore City, following the 2015 murder of Freddie Gray. In response to Gray’s murder—during which Baltimore Police officers broke his spine and crushed his throat—the city erupted in weeks of proper protest and righteous outrage. In response to that outrage from citizens, the GTTF terrorized Baltimoreans—stealing money and drugs, while causing violence, terror and death. They often targeted known drug dealers, knowing their cries of injustice would be ignored by the judicial system.

Several formative experiences have shaped D.C. and Baltimore-based artist Zoë Charlton’s career and inspired her work. Growing up, she was a frequent visitor to her grandmother’s blue house and wooded property in the Florida panhandle, a place that was “dense with growth and large with memory,” where extended family frequently gathered. At Florida State University, one of Charlton’s mentors, the late Ed Love, told her to “make sure you study with people who look like you.” He knew something she didn’t fully understand at the time: that by being intentional about who you surround yourself with, you are building a community – a concept that would increasingly become important in her art and in her life. More recently, Charlton purchased from a Baltimore antique store a life-sized African figure from Cameroon and named it “Sib,” because she immediately identified the sculpture as a sibling or as kin. She calls it her doppelgänger. These memories and moments have led to Charlton’s latest exhibition, “Rendition,” which addresses cultural identity, race, commodity and cultural tokenism. In conversation with Angela Carroll of BMore Art and Kristi Maiselman of CulturalDC, Zoe discusses the inspirations and context she drew on for “Rendition”. The exhibit is on view in CulturalDC’s Mobile Art Gallery from Feb. 8 to March 22. The gallery, which is a renovated shipping container is outside the main entrance to Union Market at 1309 5th Street, NE.

In Mighty Mighty, Shimoyama’s paintings come to life, engaging individuals in a dialogue about how to evolve from said stereotypes of such performed hypermasculinity in barbershops and how to cultivate a safe, welcome environment for all. Devan Shimoyama is a visual artist working primarily in self-portraiture and narratives inspired from classical mythology and allegory. The work of Devan Shimoyama showcases the relationship between celebration and silence in queer culture and sexuality. Shimoyama’s compositions are often inspired by Caribbean folklore, science fiction, and the masters Caravaggio and Goya, though adding a more contemporary expression and sensuality. With the usage of various materials: splattered paint, stencils, glitter, rhinestones, and sequins, Shimoyama creates works that celebrate the Black body as both of magic and mystery. In his recent barbershop paintings, Shimoyama transforms the hyper-masculine social space into queer fantasy where feminine glamour and fashion take over, and tender depictions of boys don floral capes and glitter-encrusted hair. Shimoyama was born in 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State University in 2011 with a BFA in Drawing/Painting before obtaining his MFA at Yale University School of Art in 2014. He is represented by Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago and De Buck Gallery in New York. He is currently based in Pittsburgh, PA.

On this episode, we hear from artist Jefferson Pinder about his performance art piece “This Is Not A Drill” performed at The Source on 14th Street in mid June 2019. Jefferson Pinder is an artist whose work provides evocative commentary on race and forms of struggle, aiming to investigate aspects of personal identity through the materials of neon, found objects, performance, and video. Pinder is joined in conversation with Dr. Jordana Moore Sa- jay -say to discuss Pinder’s new work and its inspirational ties to The Red Summer of 1919. Jefferson Pinder’s work has been featured across the globe in group and solo exhibitions at a number of institutions, including: The Studio Museum in Harlem; The Phillips Collection; and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. ; and his work is a part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. Dr. Jordana Moore Sa-jay-say is Associate Professor of American Art at the University of Maryland, College Park and Editor-in-Chief of the College Art Association’s Art Journal. Her work centers on modern and contemporary American visual culture with an emphasis on expressions and theorizations of blackness. Her writing has appeared in Exposure: The Journal of the Society for Photographic Education, The Journal of Contemporary African Art, and Art Journal. Her first book Reading Basquiat: Exploring Ambivalence in American Art received the PEN Center USA Award for Exceptional First Book in 2015.

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That includes physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also includes making space in the conversation for art. We’re excited to bring you the second episode in our podcast series with our friends at Caandor Labs. On this episode, we hear from Mobile Art Gallery artist Jamea Richmond-Edwards about her exhibit Stay Fly, on view at CityCenterDC through April 13. She’s joined by Desiree Venn Frederic and Howard University Professor Dr. Melanee Harvey. They talk about fashion and the power of the Black consumer. Thanks to our friends at Eaton for hosting this important and timely conversation. Jamea Richmond-Edwards has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally including the Delaware Art Museum, California African American Museum, Charles Wright Museum in Detroit MI and her current representation Kravets Wehby Gallery. Desiree Venn Frederic is the founding director of Combing Cotton Co., a think tank and social equity firm and The Venn Frederic Fashion Library and Institute of Material Culture. Dr. Melanee Harvey has published extensively on Black Arts Movement artists including Faith Ringgold, James Phillips and African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA).

For 20 years, CulturalDC has been making space for art. That means physical places like galleries, theaters and affordable housing for artists. But it also means we make space in the conversation. Podcasting is an exciting way to have those conversations and make our work and artistic programs accessible to a broader audience. We look forward to sharing insights from some of our key collaborators with you. Our first episode features a conversation between CulturalDC’s Executive Director Kristi Maiselman and critically acclaimed artist Jennifer Rubell about the exhibit you’ve probably heard of: Ivanka Vacuuming. A Q&A portion with the live audience follows. CulturalDC, as part of its 20th Anniversary Season presented this limited engagement performance art piece in early February 2019. Inspired by a figure whose public persona incorporates an almost comically wide range of feminine identities – daughter, wife, mother, sister, model, working woman, blonde – Ivanka Vacuuming was simultaneously a visual celebration of a contemporary feminine icon; a portrait of our own relationship to that figure; and a questioning of our complicity in her role-playing. Jennifer Rubell is an American conceptual artist whose work centers on the viewer’s physical interaction with the object. Her practice has long focused on the relationship between femininity and feminism, bridging the domestic and the monumental to create work of enormous visual power and poetry. She works in a wide variety of participatory mediums ranging from interactive sculpture, painting and video to food performance. Rubell received a B.A. from Harvard University in Fine Arts. She lives and works in New York City. Kristi brings over 15 years of experience in nonprofit and for-profit arts organizations including the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Rubell Family Collection, Conner Smith, Hamiltonian Artists and the National Gallery of Art. Maiselman received her BFA in Photography from James Madison University and her MA in Arts Management from American University. She lives in Shaw with her husband and daughter.