Exhibitionistas – Conversations about Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Artists and Theory–For Everyone

Joana P. R. Neves
Exhibitionistas – Conversations about Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Artists and Theory–For Everyone

Call it arrogance, call it innocence: Exhibitionistas is tailored for everyone, from the art specialist to the art-curious with co-host conversations about exhibitions, art theory, feelings and context around solo exhibitions, guest interviews, and special episodes based on a particular topic. It's like an art-channel! I’m an independent writer and curator with a two-decade career in contemporary art, from commercial galleries to art fairs, from art history & research to curating. I was told so many times "I don't know anything about contemporary art" that I decided to do something about it.

  1. Measure Pleasure–Ethics of Feminism in Art Podcasting–End of Season 2

    JUN 27

    Measure Pleasure–Ethics of Feminism in Art Podcasting–End of Season 2

    → Stay connected to the Exhibitionistas flow, SIGN UP⁠ to the Newsletter–or to my Substack. → Do you want to support our third season? Donate HERE. EPISODE: End of season episode where curator Joana P. R. Neves uncovers the richness of new perspectives on contemporary art through the ethos found in podcasting. Joana also shares insights from her attendance at the International Women Podcast Awards, highlighting the non-hierarchical nature of the podcasting community. Looking ahead, she teases new formats and changes for the upcoming season, while opening up about the need for engagement. Exhibitionistas Podcast • June 27, 2025 • Episode 2x21 • 44:25 What You'll Learn from This Episode Key Questions Explored: - The podcast celebrates its two-season journey with 33 episodes. - Joana reflects on the two origins and evolution of the podcast. - Podcasting is transitioning into new formats and technologies–Joana reveals how this instills a new energy into art reviewing. - Inclusivity and non-hierarchical structures as essential feminist values intersecting with podcasting. - The role of the art critic is re-assessed and redefined. - Biographical data should be used against the elitism plaguing art in a non-deterministic way. - Museums contribue to elitism with the tools that should counter it. - Engagement and feedback from listeners are learned but necessary behaviours. - Joana sees podcasting as potentially extending the job market for art, provided there is financial sustainability. Key Themes Explored in This EpisodeThe unexpected relation between art, podcasting and feminism. The importance of inclusivity within feminism for the host. How critical thinking can be accessible through artist biographies and avoiding myth-making through superlatives. Audience engagement is crucial for podcasting; there is a relation between the podcaster and their audience. Podcasting fosters connections and breaks the unilateral aspect of contemporary art experiences and discourse. The reasons why there is a difficulty in turning a podcast sustainable are varied: audience habits are analysed as well as the audience awareness of podcast work. Major Themes: The Digital Format of Art Content, Ethics of Feminism in Podcasting, Museum Communication Strategies and Failures, Potential of Connectivity through the Accessibility of Podcasting, The Love and Respect for Art and Artist's time Dedication to Art, The State of Art Criticism Today, Contemporary Critical Thinking, Audience Engagement, How to Engage with a Podcast, The Importance of Paid Work in Podcasting. The importance of Understanding Podcasting with Critical Thinking and Writing, Art & Elitism, alienating audiences. Measure Pleasure examines the love and dedication to contemporary art, by spectators, curators, critics and, conversely, its reputation of elitism. Perfect for: Art students, gallery visitors, anyone curious about art discourse and critique, and fans of philosophy of art, contemporary art audience engagement strategies, podcasters and more specifically art podcasters. Intro: 00:00:00 The feminism of podcasting: 00:03:24 Is the art critic obsolete?: 00:07:46 The value of biases: 00:08:48 Audience engagement: show your bias!: 00:12:24 Biography: 00:14:38 Do museums alienate audiences with declarations of greatness?: 00:20:06 Insights into art podcasting: 00:29:54 EXPECT SUMMER EPISODES! NEXT SEASON: SEPTEMBER 2025 - JUNE 2026 For behind the scenes clips, links to the artists and guests we cover, and visuals of the exhibitions we discuss follow us on Instagram: @exhibitionistas_podcast Bluesky: @exhibitionistas.bsky.social exhibitionistaspod@gmail.com

    44 min
  2. The Power of Exhibitions–Interview w/ Sarah Le Quang Sang, The Woman Behind SLQS, The Gallery For Women & Queer Artists

    JUN 13

    The Power of Exhibitions–Interview w/ Sarah Le Quang Sang, The Woman Behind SLQS, The Gallery For Women & Queer Artists

    We have an interview episode! Gallerist Sarah Le Quang Sang showcases and promotes female and queer artists, fighting, one step at a time, to reduce the price gap between genders, the lack of LGBTQIA+ representation in archives, collections, art fairs and private collections, but also the linear conception of artistic careers. You wouldn't leave the shop without paying for your latte, right? Buy us a ⁠latte⁠ ;-) How empowering can the #artmarket be? How can a commercial gallery push boundaries? Be more inclusive? And what are the intersections between collections, trans rights, motherhood, family and queer communities? Sarah Le Quang Sang may not have all the answers, but she has all the good questions. She asks: why are birthdates important? Why is there an artistic career template? Who has access to museum collections? Art fairs? If you enjoyed this episode, and if you enjoy reading, Joana's ⁠Substack⁠ might be for you. A new star in the constellation of London galleries, Sarah Le Quang Sang, established a commercial gallery in Shoreditch in 2024–SLQS–to champion female and queer artists. We mention her current exhibition of three Vietnamese artists, Vicky Do, Hua Dung-Clerget and Duong Thuy Nguyen, as well as the previous exhibition by trans non-binary artist Bex Wade which prompted an acquisition of their work by the V&A, now shown at Young V&A Bethnal Green. We had to mention the Supreme Court Ruling in past April reducing gender to biological sex, and thus legally erasing trans women particularly, and the trans community in general. Bex Wade was invited to write about the photos of the exhibition (Queer nightlife in the US in 2010s, a time of lightness and joy) in the context of anti-trans movements rising and becoming more vocal. I read an excerpt of the text at the end of the episode. ⁠SIGN UP⁠⁠ for the NEWSLETTER! Be the first to know our upcoming episode, get our UNTIMELY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS, and juicy facts + useful links. For behind the scenes clips, links to the artists and guests we cover, and visuals of the exhibitions we discuss follow us on Instagram: @exhibitionistas_podcastBluesky: @exhibitionistas.bsky.socialexhibitionistaspod@gmail.com About us: If you enjoy the podcast A Brush With and You Are Good, you will enjoy Exhibitionistas, where artists are unveiled through current and pertinent angles, and through thoughts and feelings. These podcasts were a great inspiration for our format because they're nerdy and engaging, researched and approachable. The co-host and the guest co-host or interviewed guest engage in a conversation informed by an accessible and lively presentation of the subject, through which you can reflect on a show or a topic or discover it, learn or re-evaluate artistic topics crossing over into our everyday lives. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:06:42 Sarah Le Quang Sang 00:11:07 First Connection to Art 00:14:12 Art and Motherhood 00:17:04 Adapting and Reinventing the Rules 00:22:12 The Impact of Galleries’ New Ethos on Collectors 00:23:03 Why Open a Commercial Gallery Now? 00:25:51 Responding to Women and Queer Erasure in the Market 00:28:13 How to Understand Identity in Art 00:41:02 Future of the program 00:48:13 An Excerpt from Bex Wade’s Text Yes / No (Art Review) #contemporaryart #lgbtqia+ #sarahlequangsang #exhibitionistas #exhibitionistaspodcast #joanaprneves #bexwade #vickydo #ingridberthonmoines #dyanagravina

    54 min
  3. The Texture of Art–Sensory Shifts in Contemporary Art–Feeling, Seeing and Making

    MAY 30

    The Texture of Art–Sensory Shifts in Contemporary Art–Feeling, Seeing and Making

    Contemporary art is a feast for the senses. But have we reduced art to vision? And what does the hand do, now that we have machines and automated ways of making, editing and showing images? And what are images? You wouldn't leave the shop without paying for your latte, right? Buy us a latte ;-) This episode is the second audio/video essay of the season. It will take you on a trip to a sensory shift across times, blurring the boundaries between line, image, wall, surface, paper, and machines. Where the hand is, what it does and how it is re-articulated by automation is promising and exciting if we let it. If you enjoyed this episode, and if you enjoy reading, Joana's Substack might be for you. I was invited to participate in a conversation on the occasion of the launch of Trajectories, Variations on a Gesture a book which is almost a sculpture or an exhibition in itself, containing 10 drawings made at Massana school of crafts (Barcelona) by Edouard Cabay. The director of the school, Xavi Capmany invited Cabay, an experimental architect and artist to bring his algorithmic practice at the heart of a school teaching manual crafts in order to create a dialogue between the different uses of the hand, of patterns, of the eye, the brain, muscle and memory. I dediced to start by reading a short text, which you can enjoy, in a longuer version, here. ⁠SIGN UP⁠ for the NEWSLETTER! Be the first to know our upcoming episode, get our UNTIMELY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS, and juicy facts + useful links. For behind the scenes clips, links to the artists and guests we cover, and visuals of the exhibitions we discuss follow us on Instagram: @exhibitionistas_podcast Bluesky: @exhibitionistas.bsky.social exhibitionistaspod@gmail.com #contemporaryart #artexhibitions #artmovement #experimentalart #automation #touch, #representation #craft #technology #artisticexpression, #contact #traces #artistresidency #edouardcabay #massanaschool About us: If you enjoy the podcast If Books Could Kill and You Are Good, you will enjoy Exhibitionistas, where artists are unveiled through current and pertinent angles, and through thoughts and feelings. These podcasts were a great inspiration for our format because they're nerdy and engaging, researched and approachable. The co-host and the guest co-host engage in a conversation informed by an accessible and lively presentation of the subject, through which you can reflect on a show you've seen or discover it if you can't go, learn or re-evaluate artistic topics crossing over into our everyday lives.

    34 min
  4. Ed Atkins’ Performing Avatars–Generative Technology in Contemporary Art–Tate Survey Exhibition

    MAY 16

    Ed Atkins’ Performing Avatars–Generative Technology in Contemporary Art–Tate Survey Exhibition

    SIGN UP –Be the first to know next episodes, get BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS, juicy facts + useful links. Episode...................................................................... Contemporary artist Ed Atkins’s survey at Tate Britain is best described as an existential theatre with avatars, CGI, motion capture technology, traditional figural drawing, Unreal Engine, filmed performance, experimental writing and much more.  You wouldn't leave the shop without paying for your latte, right? Buy us a latte ;-) ⁠⁠https://exhibitionistaspodcast.com/support-us⁠ Architect and first-time guest on the podcast, Nick Taylor, and I, get lost, fall into the temporary exhibition through a faulty door, rush through the show to watch the timed film, return a second time because one of us went to Tate Modern first, discuss exhibition-visiting methods, critique wall texts, and reflect upon our own relation with time, narrative, devotion and death. If you enjoyed the episode, you may enjoy my essays on Substack: ⁠⁠https://joanaprneves.substack.com⁠⁠ Across all technologies, we've asked the same questions:  …are we spectators or actors?  …contemplative or engaged?  …are images and the people in them dead?  …and if so, why are they moving (both as a verb and an adjective)? Hailed as a pioneer of digital technology, Ed Atkins' work found its groove in early experiments with video-editing. These quickly migrated into the world of gaming, with its motion capture and CGI animation, and their striking similarity with live performance through timed duration, but with a complicated relation with the physical world and real, fleshy bodies. For behind the scenes clips and visuals follow us on Instagram: @exhibitionistas_podcast We discuss: #parenting, #audience #engagement, #theatre spaces, fear, #vulnerability, #narrative building, #virtual realities, #self-representation, #identity, spatial dynamics, #modernism, #existentialism, #mortality, #parenthood, #theatre, #experimental film, emotional detachment, #intergenerational connections, #illness, #family dynamics. Instagram:   @exhibitionistas_podcast   Bluesky: @exhibitionistas.bsky.social Website: https://exhibitionistaspodcast.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Setup 02:31 Memories of Tate Modern 07:07 Pivotal Moments in Ed Atkins' Career 14:03 A Few Points Of Reference For Ed Atkins' Work 18:21 When The Artist Writes Their Own Wall Texts 22:35 Narratives On And Off The Screen(s) 27:17 The Exhibition as Experimental Writing 32:07 Narrative Building in Art Experiences 37:33 Theatre Without Actors 41:03 Self-Representation and Identity in Art 46:19 Spatial Dynamics and Human Scale in Art 53:23 Modernism and Its Absence in the UK 55:31 Life As Utter Devotion, Art As Its Awareness 01:02:36 The Disconnect Between Generations in Art 01:07:18 Reading Emotion: Ed Atkin's New Film With Real Actors 01:11:40 The Journey Through Illness and Art 01:16:51 The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Spectators 01:22:16 OUTRO About us: If you enjoy the podcast If Books Could Kill and You Are Good, you will enjoy Exhibitionistas, where artists are unveiled through current and pertinent angles, and through thoughts and feelings. These podcasts were a great inspiration for our format because they're nerdy and engaging, researched and approachable. The co-host and the guest co-host engage in a conversation informed by an accessible and lively presentation of the subject, through which you can reflect on a show you've seen or discover it if you can't go, learn or re-evaluate artistic topics crossing over into our everyday lives.

    1h 24m
  5. Giuseppe Penone–Sculpture as Breath, Drawing as Skin

    MAY 2

    Giuseppe Penone–Sculpture as Breath, Drawing as Skin

    Giuseppe Penone is a contemporary artist associated with the Arte Povera art movement. He reinvented sculpture, drawing, conceptual photography, art installation, through proto environmental art with the sensibility of a late late romantic. Curator and art critic Germano Celant created the term #artepovera in 1967 to highlight a tendency toward a use of reduced material or idea to its archetype. How does Penone fit into that notion? He seems to have had a singular place in the Italian and global Western art canon of the time, using organic growth as an art process that the artist mirrors, plays and aligns with. Have we been forcing a dialogue between his work and Celant’s concept? What other relations with memory and matter has he expanded through his work? Was he a pioneer of eco-art? A late romantic? All of the above?  Artist ⁠Diogo Pimentão⁠ is my co-host for the first time. As ever, I’ll introduce the artist and he’ll take us through this small retrospective exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery.  Curated by Claude Adjil, Curator at Large, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, with Alexa Chow, Assistant Exhibitions Curator. You wouldn't leave the shop without paying for your latte, right? Buy us a latte ;-) ⁠https://exhibitionistaspodcast.com/support-us⁠ SIGN UP for the NEWSLETTER! Be the first to know our upcoming episode, get our UNTIMELY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS, and juicy facts + useful links. https://exhibitionistaspodcast.com/newsletter If you enjoyed the episode, you may enjoy Joana's essays on Substack: ⁠https://joanaprneves.substack.com⁠ For behind the scenes clips, links to the artists and guests we cover, and visuals of the exhibitions we discuss follow us on Instagram: @exhibitionistas_podcast Bluesky: @exhibitionistas.bsky.social exhibitionistaspod@gmail.com #contemporaryart #immersive #immersiveexperiences #artexhibitions #artisticidentity #artmovement #experimentalfilm #experimentalart #artmovement #archetype

    1h 11m
  6. The Sound of Drawing–Graphic Explorations of Language in Art–A Sonic Voyage into Irma Blank's Meditative Art

    APR 18

    The Sound of Drawing–Graphic Explorations of Language in Art–A Sonic Voyage into Irma Blank's Meditative Art

    Contemporary drawing is one of art's best kept secrets: associated with sound, language and writing, it turns contemporary art into a meditative form of art-making engaging the spectator in a poetic and existential voyage. Led by Blank's discovery of sound within the daily practice of drawing, this episode is a sonic wandering and a philosophical exploration of the artist's work, engaging with recent technological changes. How can a minimal and poetic practice face such specific issues? What is the role of the artist facing a global net of information which connects us as much as it separates us? And what is the value of communication – and of silence? Irma Blank has taught me that and much more. The avant-gardes of the 1960s–70s were proliferous in innovative and minimal methods of creativity engaging the breath, the whole body and graphic deconstructions of language. Irma Blank was one of those artists with a subversive take on traditional artistic languages. Have you ever wondered how artists and curators work together? This episode muses upon the relation between me, a young-ish curator and the artist Irma Blank, who'd reached the age of 80 when we met, along with my co-curator Johana Carrier. This episode is an excerpt of a lecture given by me on the 3rd of February  2025 at ABK Stuttgart whose title was "The Paper is Impatient", under the invitation of the drawing department, and their teachers Katrin Ströbel and Hanna Hennenkemper. The « drawing sounds » are excerpts of Irma Blank’s recordings of the sound of each series. For Radical Writings, she recorded herself, breathing in and out, because that was the basis of the image’s structure. Music by Sarturn. >>>>>>> For more information about the artist visit her gallery's website: P420, Bologna, Italy. DID YOU ENJOY THE EPISODE? Support us through a donation or membership. DID YOU ENJOY THE TEXT? Follow me on Substack for more topics on art, society, artists and exhibitions. SUBSCRIBE , RATE AND FOLLOW US. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. FOLLOW US ON: Instagram:   @exhibitionistas_podcast   Bluesky: @exhibitionistas.bsky.social Exhibitionistas website GET IN TOUCH: exhibitionistaspod@gmail.com /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// If you enjoy Katy Hessel's The Great Women Artists Podcast, this episode is for you. It is centred around the artistic practice of female German artist Irma Blank, who never stopped producing her art, whether it was shown in prestigious events such as the Venice Biennale in 1977, or it wasn't, like when her Radical Writings on canvas were deemed a form of yielding to the 80s trend of the return to painting... whereas Blank was, on the contrary, more militant than ever for her elemental forms of the line and the minimal gesture by deeply engaging with the meditative breath in relation to the line and the colour blue, which for her represented infinity. Blank passed away in 2023, leaving a potent body of work whose incredible energy leaves no spectator or curator indifferent.

    28 min

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Call it arrogance, call it innocence: Exhibitionistas is tailored for everyone, from the art specialist to the art-curious with co-host conversations about exhibitions, art theory, feelings and context around solo exhibitions, guest interviews, and special episodes based on a particular topic. It's like an art-channel! I’m an independent writer and curator with a two-decade career in contemporary art, from commercial galleries to art fairs, from art history & research to curating. I was told so many times "I don't know anything about contemporary art" that I decided to do something about it.

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