Shade

Lou Mensah
  • 5.0 (17)
  • VISUAL ARTS
Shade

Award winning arts podcast. Artist stories from concept to community, in the diaspora and beyond. "Best show to teach you about art" The Guardian. Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. JUL 12

    Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker. A major survey exhibition at Spike Island

    Donald Rodney (b. 1961, West Bromwich; d. 1998, London) worked across sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and digital media, experimenting with new materials and technologies throughout his life. His work is known for being incisive, acerbic, and evocative in its analysis of the prejudices and injustices surrounding racial identity, Black masculinity, chronic illness, and Britain's colonial past. Rodney was also co-founding member of the BLK Art Group: an association of young Black artists formed in Wolverhampton in 1982. Visceral Canker is the major survey of the artist’s work at Spike Island, bringing together all of Rodney's surviving works. This includes large-scale oil pastels on X-rays, kinetic and animatronic sculptures, and restaged installations, as well as sketchbooks and rare archive materials, spanning 1982 to 1997. Also on display is Autoicon (1997–2000), an interactive digital artwork initiated by Rodney and finalised by a group of his close friends after he died from sickle cell anaemia in 1998. The exhibition is curated by Robert Leckie, Spike Island’s former Director, and Nicole Yip - the gallery’s new director. Today, I am joined by both Nicole and Robert, to discuss the life and work of Donald Rodney, the ambitions of the exhibition and the complexities involved in interpreting an artist’s work once they are no longer with us. The exhibition will tour at Nottingham Contemporary from 28 September 2024 to 5 January 2025 and at Whitechapel Gallery from 12 February to 18 May 2025. Please support our independent podcast by donating £5 here Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast Website Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Edit & Mix by Mae-Li Evans Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min

  2. JUL 5

    Maja Wismer Head of Contemporary Art Kunstmuseum Basel: in conversation with Anne Kimunguyi

    Enjoy our special episode from the exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting at Kunstmuseum in Basel recorded by Anne Kimunguyi. Many of you know Anne from her Shade Art Review. features. Our guest is Head of Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum Basel, Maja Wismer. As part of her role, she specialises in art of the late 20th and early 21st century, having previously held the role of Curatorial Fellow at the Busch Reisinger Museum of the Harvard Art Museums. Based at the Kunstmuseum, her previous work has seen the realisation of the exhibition ‘Kara Walker. A Black Hole is Everything a Star Longs to be’, as well as projects involving the move of the works of Joseph Beuys from the newly created space – Museum fur Gegenwarsknust, a museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary art in 1980.  Please help save our independent podcast by donating £5 here Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast Website Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Edit & Mix by Mae-Li Evans Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min

  3. JUN 21

    Matthew Krishanu: in conversation with Lou Mensah

    Matthew Krishanu (b.1980, Bradford, UK) paints atmospheric, pared-back compositions including scenes from the artist’s life, particularly his childhood years in Bangladesh growing up with his brother, and their parents—a British Christian missionary and an Indian theologian. In the paintings, seemingly familiar narratives are alluded to but destabilised. The viewer’s own projections are called upon to fulfil the interpretive loop, raising questions about childhood, religion, race, power, and the legacies of empire. The Bough Breaks is showing at Camden Art Centre until June 23. Krishanu's forthcoming solo exhibition will show at Tanya Leighton L.A., in the autumn. Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast Website Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Edit & Mix by Mae-Li Evans Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    23 min

  4. APR 23

    Venice Biennale Special: Aindrea Emelife interview

    Welcome to the second of our episodes from the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. I am delighted to welcome back Aindrea Emelife as my guest. Aindrea is a curator and art historian of modern and contemporary art, whose practise specializes in colonial and decolonial African histories and the politics of representation. Aindrea is the curator of Nigeria Imaginary at the Nigeria Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, which sees the country participating in the festival for the second time. The pavilion will show projects made in collaboration with the Museum of West African Art, where Aindrea is also a curator. Today, we will be getting an exciting introduction into this year’s Nigeria Pavilion and hearing a bit more about the participating artists, their works and the curatorial thinking behind this year’s exhibition. Enjoy a review, including images of Nigeria Imaginary written by Anne Kimunguyi in today's special edition of Shade Art Review. Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Editing and mixing by Tess Davidson Editorial support by Anne Kimunguyi Nigeria Imaginary Aindrea Emelife Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    13 min

  5. APR 21

    Venice Biennale Special: Sir John Akomfrah interview

    Welcome to the first of our episodes from the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Today, I am delighted to hand the mic to my dear friend the arts writer Dale Berning Sawa, who met with John Akomfrah at the preview of The British Council commission Listening All Night To The Rain. You'll also hear from me in this episode and Dale shares a reflection on her first Venice experience and conversation with the artist on this special occasion. You can also enjoy Dale's review of Listening All Night To The Rain and images from the exhibition, in Shade Art Review. today. Listening All Night To The Rain continues artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah’s investigation into themes of memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change with a renewed focus on the act of listening and the sonic. The exhibition, conceived as a single installation with eight interlocking and overlapping multi-screen sound and time-based works, is seen as a manifesto that encourages the idea of listening as activism and positions various progressive theories of acoustemology: how new ways of becoming are rooted in different forms of listening. Encouraging visitors to experience the British Pavilion’s 19th century neoclassical building in a different way, Akomfrah’s commission interprets and transforms the fabric of the space in order to interrogate relics and monuments of colonial histories. John Akomfrah initially came to prominence in the early 1980s as part of the Black Audio Film Collective (BAFC), a collective founded in 1982. An early film by BAFC, titled Handsworth Songs (1986), explored the events around the 1985 riots in Birmingham and London. In recent years, Akomfrah’s work has evolved into ambitious, multi-channel installations presented in galleries and museums worldwide. In 2017, he won the Artes Mundi prize, the UK’s biggest award for international art. He has previously participated in the 58th Venice Viennale with Four Nocturnes, commissioned for the inaugural Ghana Pavilion in 2019, and Vertigo Sea (2015) as part of the 56th International Art Exhibition. The British Council commission Listening All Night To The Rain at the Venice Biennale 2024 runs from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November 2024. Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Editing and mixing by Tess Davidson Dale Berning Sawa British Pavilion Venice Biennale Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min

  6. APR 18

    Legacy Russell: in conversation with Lou Mensah

    Legacy Russell is Executive Director & Chief Curator of the experimental arts institution The Kitchen, one of New York's oldest non-profit spaces. She is writer, curator and author of the critically acclaimed Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. I am delighted to have Legacy join me to talk about Black Meme, which is due to be published on May 7th. Black Meme focuses on the history and production of the ‘Meme’ – tracing through Black visual culture from its first appearance in the early 20th century all the way through to present times. It is a critical dissection of race, class, and gender as performed online and offline and emphasizes the central role that Black contributions have played in the development of digital culture.   On the ‘Meme’, Legacy says:’ I want to talk about the economy and engine of this and perhaps push further a discussion about how we can hold ourselves accountable to how this material is produced and circulated.”   Black Meme is available to purchase online and in stores from May 7th. Here is a link to Legacy's talk on The New Bend exhibition, as mentioned in Lou's intro. Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Editing and mixing by Tess Davidson Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    37 min

  7. APR 11

    Ibrahim Mahama: in conversation with Lou Mensah

    Ibrahim Mahama is an installation artist who works with textiles, material production and found objects to create large-scale public interventions. He initially garnered widespread attention for his open-air installations made of stitched-together jute sacks that were draped on or over architectural structures, such as libraries, an airport, and a museum, in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, where he is based. His practise involves a collaborative process of sourcing, collecting, reproducing and installing the often-textile based materials he works with. His pieces speak to ideas around historical memories, traditional belief systems, local economies and the democratisation of art.  Ibrahim’s works have been shown in various group and solo shows, including The Norval Foundation in Cape Town, The White Cube in London and Hong Kong and has been a part of the Ghana Pavilion for 2019 Venice Biennale, among many others. In this episode, Ibrahim and I discuss his new large-scale public commission at the Barbican, the process behind creating this work and his hopes for its reception. Ibrahim Mahama Purple Hibiscus runs at the Lakeside Terrace at the Barbican from April 10 - 18 August 2024 and is free to the public. Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Editing and mixing by Tess Davidson Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min

  8. APR 4

    Michael Ohajuru: in conversation with Lou Mensah

    Michael Ohajuru is a London-based art historian who returns to the podcast to discuss the John Blanke project, a large gathering of artists and historians who have come together to re-imagine John Blanke, the black trumpeter to the courts of Henry 7th and Henry 8th and the first person of African descent in British history that we have both a visual and written record of. The participating artists include Keith Piper, Wole Lagunju, Phoebe Boswell, Paul Dash and Larry Achiampong. David Olusoga Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester says of the project: "The John Blanke Project redefines historical exploration by merging practical scholarship with innovation and critical imagination. Anchored in social justice, it reveals the overlooked narratives of Black Tudor England, enriching our grasp of diversity and British identity. By blending art and history, it encourages a deeper, empathetic engagement with our shared past, advocating for a more inclusive and equitable understanding of history." Thanks for listening to this independent podcast. You can support this work by reviewing and sharing the podcast or becoming a Shade Art Review subscriber. Read Shade Art Review  Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount code Shade Podcast Instagram Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson Editing and mixing by Tess Davidson Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    19 min
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5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

Award winning arts podcast. Artist stories from concept to community, in the diaspora and beyond. "Best show to teach you about art" The Guardian. Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Lou Mensah
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2024
  • Episodes
    60
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Lou Mensah
  • Show Website
    Shade

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