Immaterial: 5,000 Years of Art, One Material at a Time The Met

What happens when our most intimate possessions end up in art museums?
Blankets comfort and keep us warm. They accompany us through our lives. They are keepers of some of our most intimate stories. We look at a group of artists who harness this power of blankets and quilts as totems for memory, community and cultural survival.
Guests:
Loretta Pettway Bennett, Gee's Bend quilt maker
Marie Watt, artist
Ally Barlow, associate conservator, Department of Textile Conservation, The Met
Louisiana P. Bendolph, Gee's Bend quilt maker
Louise Williams, board president, Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy
Featured artworks:
Qunnie Pettway, Housetop, ca. 1975: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/qunnie-pettway/work/housetop
Marie Watt, Untitled (Dream Catcher), 2014: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/849042
Louisiana P. Bendolph, Housetop quilt, 2003: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/654095
Annie E. Pettway, “Flying Geese” Variation, ca. 1935: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/annie-e-pettway/work/flying-geese-variation
Willie "Ma Willie" Abrams, Roman Stripes quilt, ca. 1975: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/654081
For a transcript of the episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/immaterialblankets
#MetImmaterial
Immaterial is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise and hosted by Camille Dungy.
Our production staff includes Salman Ahad Khan, Ann Collins, Samantha Henig, Eric Nuzum, Emma Vecchione, Sarah Wambold, and Jamie York. Additional staff includes Julia Bordelon, Skyla Choi, Maria Kozanecka, and Rachel Smith.
Sound design by Ariana Martinez and Kristin Muller.Original music by Austin Fisher.Fact-checking by Mary Mathis and Claire Hyman.Sensitivity listening by Adwoa Gyimyah-Brempong.
Immaterial is made possible by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos. Additional support is provided by the Zodiac Fund.
Special thanks to Eva Labson, Scott Browning, Curator Amelia Peck, and Avery Trufelman.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is hidden in the 'empty' spaces of an art museum?
The Met is more than a museum of art. It is a city unto itself: population 2,000, with a transient population of 5 million. The Met is 21 buildings nested together like puzzle pieces, and it takes 400,000 light bulbs to illuminate all the spaces. But who actually changes those light bulbs? In this episode, peek behind the curtain and meet the people who maintain the hidden ecosystem of The Met.
Guests:
Marco Leona, David H. Koch Scientist in Charge, The Met
Eric Breitung, research scientist, The Met
Anna Serotta, conservator, Objects Conservation, The Met
Louisa Lam, security officer, The Met
Frida Escobedo, architect
Featured artworks:
Coffin of Irtirutja, 332–250 BCE. Egypt: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551163
Vincent Van Gogh, Cypresses, 1889: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437980
For a transcript of the episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/immaterialspacepart2
#MetImmaterial
Immaterial is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise and hosted by Camille Dungy.
Our production staff includes Salman Ahad Khan, Ann Collins, Samantha Henig, Eric Nuzum, Emma Vecchione, Sarah Wambold, and Jamie York. Additional staff includes Julia Bordelon, Skyla Choi, Maria Kozanecka, and Rachel Smith.
Sound design by Ariana Martinez and Kristin Muller.Original music by Austin Fisher.Fact-checking by Mary Mathis and Claire Hyman.
Immaterial is made possible by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos. Additional support is provided by the Zodiac Fund.
Special thanks to Maureen Catbagan, Iva Keselicova, Michael Millican, Elizabeth Reyes Moreno, Sarah Freshnock, Avery Trufelman, and Jennie C. Jones.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does an artist give presence to absence?
Bronze, wood, paint, and stone—classic materials for art making. But what if you're trying and struggling to convey a vast expanse, a terrible loss or a haunting presence? In this episode we'll look at two artists who turned to the material of space to express what nothing else could.
Guests:
Rachel Whiteread, sculptor
Brinda Kumar, Associate Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Met
Shania Hall, photographer
Featured artworks:
Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Three Tables), 1995/1996: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/816239
Shania Hall, Where the Vast Sky Meets the Flat Earth (unofficial title), ca. 2015: https://www.metmuseum.org/articles/framing-plains-indians
For a transcript of the episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/immaterialspaceart
#MetImmaterial
Immaterial is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise and hosted by Camille Dungy.
Production staff includes Salman Ahad Khan, Ann Collins, Samantha Henig, Eric Nuzum, Emma Vecchione, Sarah Wambold, and Jamie York. Additional staff includes Julia Bordelon, Skyla Choi, Maria Kozanecka, and Rachel Smith.
Sound design by Ariana Martinez and Kristin Muller.Original music by Austin Fisher.Fact-checking by Mary Mathis and Claire Hyman.
Immaterial is made possible by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos. Additional support is provided by the Zodiac Fund.
Special thanks to Exhibition Design Manager Dan Kershaw, Associate Curator Patricia Norby, and Curator Sylvia Yount
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when the unbreakable breaks?
Throughout art museums around the world, you’ll find ancient stone statues of rulers and marble monuments immortalizing noblemen. These objects were made to survive decay and destruction, to remain intact and whole. But from the moment that stone is extracted from the earth, it is bound to become a more fragmented version of itself–chiseled, chipped, and sometimes shattered over time. 
In this episode, we examine the many ways that stone breaks. How can a statue’s cracks and cavities tell a more complex story of our humanity?
Guests:
Jack Soultanian, Conservator, Objects Conservation, The Met
Carolyn Riccardelli, Conservator, Objects Conservation, The Met
Robert Macfarlane, nature writer and mountaineer
Erhan Tamur, former Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, The Met
Sarah Graff, Curator, Ancient Near Eastern Art, The Met
Featured artworks:
Tullio Lombardo, Adam, ca. 1490–95: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/197822 
Statues of Gudea, Neo-Sumerian, ca. 2120–2090 BCE: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/329072
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/324061
https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010119539
For a transcript of the episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/immaterialstone
#MetImmaterial
Immaterial is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise and hosted by Camille Dungy.
Production staff includes Salman Ahad Khan, Ann Collins, Samantha Henig, Eric Nuzum, Emma Vecchione, Sarah Wambold, and Jamie York. Additional staff includes Julia Bordelon, Skyla Choi, Maria Kozanecka, and Rachel Smith.
Sound design by Ariana Martinez and Kristin Muller.Original music by Austin Fisher.Fact-checking by Mary Mathis and Claire Hyman.
Immaterial is made possible by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos. Additional support is provided by the Zodiac Fund.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is hiding in the material choices of artists and makers?
Immaterial, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s marquee podcast, is back with eight more episodes that reveal the emotional origins and transformative power of art through the lens of materials.
This season we learn from Mexican artisans keeping centuries-old traditions alive; we go to ancient Mesopotamia to understand time travel; and we find a mythical tree in Belize that’s been making music for decades.
From traditional materials like stone and wood, to more abstract ones like space and time, the podcast explores how these materials shape the inner lives of artworks and the human experiences they reflect.
Season 2 of Immaterial drops June 4.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grab a cup of tea and join us for a bonus episode on tarot.