Fresh Art International

Cathy Byrd
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Writer/curator Cathy Byrd sparks conversations about today’s art, design, and film on the Fresh Art International podcast. Synthesizing interviews and field recordings with critical commentary since 2011, the podcast archives the voices, sounds, and stories of contemporary culture makers from around the world.

  1. 8H AGO

    Amy Sherald—American Sublime

    Today, we share with you the final episode in the Fresh Art International podcast, ending more than a decade of storytelling from art scenes around the world.   Coming full circle, we’ve returned to Baltimore, Maryland. The Magic City is where we released our very first episode in October 2011. Our guest was MacArthur Genius, artist Joyce J. Scott.   In October 2025, we record our final episode with another long time friend of Fresh Art International: artist Amy Sherald. Inside the Baltimore Museum of Art, she takes us on a tour of American Sublime, her mid-career retrospective exhibition.   This isn’t our first story with Amy. Nine years ago, in July 2016, we recorded an episode live with an audience, in a Chicago, Illinois, gallery. Surrounded by Amy Sherald’s paintings, we acknowledged acute racial tensions in the United States at that moment. Incidents of police violence against black citizens were sparking countrywide public protests. A hopeful counterpoint, Amy’s exhibition A Wonderful Dream met viewers with luminous positive depictions of Black life in America. A year and a half later, in December 2017, Amy joined us on our Fresh Art International radio show during Miami Art Week, in Florida. Again, she voiced her commitment to the work. Recording conversations with this artist along her path to greatness has been a privilege and an honor.   Fresh Art International holds an archive of many such stories—all with enduring value. Over time, we have recorded critically important voices from the evolving world of contemporary art.   The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Locust Projects and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and most important, Listeners Like You, have made Fresh Art International possible.    Thank You, for Listening!   Production: Cathy Byrd Sound Design: Anamnesis Audio   Featured: Amy Sherald Related Episodes: Amy Sherald on New Racial Narratives, Report from Miami Art Week 2017   Related Links: Obama Portrait Unveiling at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, 2018, Artist Amy Sherald: The 60 Minutes Interview

    19 min

  2. NOV 12

    Cannupa Hanska Luger—The Art of 21st Century Indigeneity

    Today, we introduce Cannupa Hanska Luger, an American artist born on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, who now lives and works outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Our conversation reveals a few of the ways Cannupa acts on his deep respect for heritage and community, belief in ritual and remembrance, and fascination with science fiction and mythology. The artist shares the stories behind his mystical re-creation of Midéegaadi, a traditional buffalo dance he filmed against a green screen to show in exhibition spaces, on digital billboards, and even in a virtual reality app.  The dance is one strand of Future Ancestral Technologies, a new myth that Cannupa has been weaving since 2015. His interrelated projects reimagine Indigenous life and culture in a postcolonial world where space exploration has reduced and reconfigured the earth’s population. As Cannupa builds a framework for understanding, respecting and sharing indigeneity in the 21st century, he holds out hope for our collective future. Production: Cathy Byrd | Sound Design: Anamnesis Audio Special Audio: Cannupa Hanska Luger, Midéegaadi and Mirror Shield Project Related Episodes: Video Performance Art Reimagines the Future, Live from the Everglades—Part One and Part Two Related Link: Cannupa Hanska Luger

    25 min

  3. NOV 5

    Video Performance Art Reimagines the Future

    In this episode, we explore an emerging microgenre in contemporary performance art. Some of today’s artists create liminal spaces, construct original expressive forms, and make powerful statements in a range of inventive video performances. The 2025 exhibition (Im)Posibilidades: Performance Art for Video at Ogden Contemporary Arts in Ogden, Utah, reveals the microgenre’s potential. Featured projects from the United States and Mexico envision ways to correct historical distortions and construct new possible futures. They show us a world where everyone’s stories can thrive through performance and reimagination. Production: Cathy Byrd | Sound Design: Anamnesis Audio Featured Voices: Stephanie Garcia and Peter Hay of PROArtes Mexico, Adam Forrester, Lilly McElroy, Cannupa Hanska Luger Feature Soundtracks, Courtesy the Artists and Ogden Contemporary Arts: María Eugenia Chellet/La Dolorosa, Lilly McElroy/A Woman Runs Through a Pastoral Setting, Naomi Rincón Gallardo/Eclipse, Cannupa Hanska Luger/Midéegaadi, Ileana Moreno/Kowatl y el Mejor Amigo del Sol, Kameron Neal and Jarrett Key/CARGO!, Yoshie Sakai/ Grandma NightClub Music Video, José Villalobos/El Peso Del Rio/The Weight of the River Additional music: Caspertron by Blue Dot Sessions Mergeron by Blue Dot Sessions Related Episodes: Joan Jonas, William Pope.L, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Carolee Schneeman, Cheryl Pope, Regina Frank About the Exhibition: Ogden Contemporary Arts

    25 min

  4. OCT 29

    Art and the Struggle for Peace—Reflections from Casa Zemstvei

    Today’s episode is a poetic epilogue to the nine Student Edition stories we produced in 2020 with university students from the United States and Canada. The students who produced this fresh story are from Chișinău, capital city of the Republic of Moldova. The tiny Eastern European country declared its independence from the Soviet Union not so long ago, in 1991.    In spring 2025, Fresh Art International’s Cathy Byrd introduced podcasting to locals during a 3-day program. They recorded voices and sounds for stories about the independent art scene inside the state-owned architectural monument they call home.   At the time of our workshop, the venue was hosting a collection of displays and public conversations exploring the impact of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Emerging podcasters Olga Raileanu, Bogdan Glavan, and Daniel Boldurat sat down with local photographer Mihail Calarașan, Ukrainian artist KAR, and sociologist Vitalie Sprînceană to talk about the role of art in times of war.   Note: The original version of this episode premiered on YouTube as #1/ Reflectând Zemstvei / Peace Street.   About Casa Zemstvei and the Reflecting Zemstvei Podcast: Since 2013, artists and independent initiatives have rented spaces in a center-city building known as Muzeul Zemstvei. They call their improvisational community “Casa Zemstvei.” Creators and curators, animators and activists, visitors and regulars embrace the crumbling architecture, the arctic cold, the echoey acoustics, and the primitive grandeur of this historic space.    Workshop participants became producers by learning to master recording equipment, script stories, collect sounds and voices and shape stories. Recorded on location, episodes in the limited edition Reflecting Zemstvei audio program are influenced by the surrounding sonic landscape and informed by the creative characters that inhabit this “House of Wonders.”    Peace Street Producers  Olga Raileanu - Moldovan graphic designer with a background in journalism and media production. Bogdan Glavan - Moldovan student with experience in sound design. Daniel Boldurat - Moldovan student with experience in journalism, volunteer at Oberliht Association.    Peace Street Guests  Mihail Calarașan  - Documentary photographer, since 2017 he has been working on personal long-term documentary projects. KAR - Ukrainian artist whose artwork was displayed at the inauguration of the ”Peace Street” at Casa Zemstvei. Vitalie Sprînceană - sociologist, co-founder and co-editor of platzforma.md.   Related Episodes: Fresh Art International Student Edition   Related Links:  Reflecting Zemstvei Podcast on YouTube, with Subtitles Reflecting Zemstvei Podcast on SoundCloud

    23 min

  5. OCT 22

    Starting an Art Podcast in Moldova

    To introduce the new Reflecting Zemstvei podcast produced by local creatives in Chișinău, Moldova, Cathy Byrd and Olga Raileanu take listeners inside an intensive workshop experience that spanned three days in March 2025. In this episode, you’ll meet the young Moldovans who learned to master recording equipment, script stories, and collect sounds and voices to shape stories from their hometown’s independent art scene.   Since 2013, artists and independent initiatives have rented spaces in a center-city building complex known as “Zemstvei,” a state-owned architectural monument that dates from the mid-19th century. They call their improvisational community “Casa Zemstvei.” Creators and curators, animators and activists, visitors and regulars embrace the crumbling architecture, arctic cold, echoey acoustics, and primitive grandeur of this historic space.    Recorded on location, episodes in this limited edition audio program are inspired by the surrounding sonic landscape and the creative characters that energize Chișinău’s “House of Wonders.”   Note: The original version of this episode premiered on YouTube as #1/ Reflectând Zemstvei / How We Made the Podcast.   Production: Cathy Byrd, with Olga Raileanu   Sound Design: Marian Lupu, Olga Raileanu, and Anamnesis Audio   Voices: Daniel Boldurat - student and volunteer at Oberliht Association Franz Cocarcea - producer of the video podcast Omul face locul Bogdan Glavan - high school student, with experience in sound design Alex Hanganu - student, activist and cultural manager Olga Raileanu - graphic designer with journalism experience Marina Scalețchi - communicator Vladimir Us - curator, president of Oberliht Association   Related Links:  Reflecting Zemstvei Podcast on YouTube, with Subtitles Reflecting Zemstvei Podcast on SoundCloud

    11 min

  6. 09/03/2024

    Teresita Fernández / Robert Smithson—A Conversation

    How does your art engage the world? How do you speak to the issues and ideas of our time? What do you hope others will remember about your life, your beliefs, your work? The exhibition Teresita Fernandez / Robert Smithson, SITE Santa Fe opens a portal for us to consider our place in the landscape and explore the legacy of two significant artists. Their vibrant visual exchange feels both time sensitive and timeless. This dialogue with artist Teresita Fernández and Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director of the Holt/Smithson Foundation, deepens our appreciation of resonant and divergent perspectives. Embracing change, they show us the way to and through a few of the entanglements that come with being an artist and being human.  Host: Cathy Byrd Sound Design: Anamnesis Audio Special Audio featured with permission, as follows: Recordings on site at Spiral Jetty, Salt Lake, Utah, 2013, courtesy Anamnesis Audio.  Extracts from Teresita Fernández, Cuajaní (2024), directed by Teresita Fernández and Juan Carlos Alom; 16mm film converted to digital video, black and white, sound; duration 20 minutes, 9 seconds. Extracts from Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970); 16mm film; duration 35 minutes; © Holt/Smithson Foundation 2024. Blister Creek by Blue Dot Sessions Related Episodes: Unsettled Landscapes at SITE Santa Fe, Louis Grachos, Land Arts of the American West Related Links: Teresita Fernández, Holt/Smithson Foundation, SITE Santa Fe

    35 min

  7. 05/23/2024

    The Collective Impulse—Notes from the Middle East

    Today, we take you to Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, for our first experience of the yearly gathering known as March Meeting. The Sharjah Art Foundation designs these programs to resonate with issues and events of the moment. March Meeting 2024 is no exception. Across three days, artists, curators, educators and writers from near and far converge to consider the power and purpose of collective creativity.   Here, we bear witness to diverse artistic energies behind grass roots initiatives in the Global South. Finding strength in numbers, creative activists collaborate on initiatives that bring positive change to the vulnerable communities where they live and work. All embrace multiple voices. None are unafraid of messy entanglement. They give us hope, they show us the way— to a more inclusive, sustainable, and livable future.    Sound Design: Anamnesis Audio   Special Audio: Alex Pierce and Zoe Annesley, “Beneath a Tent, a Performance for Strings and Voice”; Bint Mbareh, “Lentil Soup as an Antidote to Rampant Wildfires”; dhaqan collective “Camel Song” and “House of Weaving Song”; La Revuelta YouTube channel; Episodio 7 - El podcast de Anamá Rojas, June 2021; Vela Vela; Stanza for Lumi   Related Episodes: Sharjah Biennial 15—with Hoor Al Qasimi, Searching for Libertalia—with Shiraz Bayjoo, Creating Community in Kazakhstan—with CEC ArtsLink, The BLCK Family of Miami on Collective Creativity   Related Links: Sharjah Art Foundation, Topsoil, Sakiya, dhaqan collective, La Revuelta

    20 min

  8. 02/08/2024

    Making and Teaching Art on Louisiana's Gulf Coast

    In this episode, we consider the role that teaching artists play in shaping the art school experience. How does an artist in academia cultivate expressive opportunities for students while making time to deepen their own creative practice?  New Orleans based artist Cristina Molina invites us to consider this challenging dynamic at the art school where she teaches—Southeastern Louisiana University's Department of Visual Art and Design. Research and observation, architecture and the environment, memory and motherhood, music and movies, intuition and uncertainty are a few of the forces that drive the artmaking we discover at the edge of Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. Voices, in Order of Appearance: Garima Thakur, Kate Baczeski, Luisa Hernández, Vanessa Centeno, Dale Newkirk, Tom Walton, Ben Diller, Eric Huckabee, Lily Brooks, Rachel Harmeyer, Cristina Molina Sound Design: Patrick Davis, with Anamnesis Audio Special Audio: Garima Thakur, Bioscope, 2022; Luisa Hernández, What Matters Now, 2023; Chad Serhal, The Great American Motion Picture Rotoscope Animation, 2021; Ken Haskett, Morse Code message, 2021; Lily Brooks, We Have to Count the Clouds, 2012; NASA, recorded sounds of the sun, via Cristina Molina, 2022. Related Episodes: Student Edition Related Links: Southeastern Louisiana University Contemporary Art Gallery, FreshArt.Education, Fresh Art International Research Guides

    34 min
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4.9
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

Writer/curator Cathy Byrd sparks conversations about today’s art, design, and film on the Fresh Art International podcast. Synthesizing interviews and field recordings with critical commentary since 2011, the podcast archives the voices, sounds, and stories of contemporary culture makers from around the world.

Information

  • Creator
    Cathy Byrd
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2025
  • Episodes
    317
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2011 Cathy Byrd. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Fresh Art International

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