Fresh Art International Launches New Website!

Happy New Year, Friends!

If you're visiting this page, you'll notice January 8, 2013, as the most recent post. That's because we launched our wordpress site today. Look for us at www.freshartinternational.com. Thanks for following FAI's evolving new media platform!

Sincerely,

Cathy Byrd
Director/Producer
Fresh Art International

Fresh Talk Preview 2013

Fresh Art International continues to explore the creative universe, recording conversations with remarkable artists, curators, composers, writers, musicians and architects. Fresh Talk 2013 will begin with these voices. Just a hint of our brilliant line-up!

Agnes Meyer-Brandis
artist, Berlin

Rashid Novaire
novelist, Amsterdam

Andrea Clearfield
composer, Philadelphia

Valerie Cassel Oliver

curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

The MacDowell Colony
artist/composer/writer residency,
Peterborough, New Hampshire

Adam Schreiber
photographer, Chicago/Austin

Rijin Sahakian
curator, Beirut/New York

BEST OF Fresh Talk: William Pope.L

Cathy Byrd Talks Art with William Pope.L
Published 25 October 2011

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century  

William Pope.L, a critically important interventionist, is one of the artists featured in Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, the current exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Houston. In 2011, Pope.L presented a magic lantern show titled Blink for Prospect.2 New Orleans. For this project, the artist made a film from more than a thousand images donated by the people of the city. Pope.L projected the film through the back of an old ice cream truck as it was pulled through the streets of the city by volunteers.  

This Fresh Talk episode features the sounds of Blink in motion and a hint of Don Quixote. Sound Editor: Jeff T. Byrd recorded the Pope.L performance on location in New Orleans.

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Jason Forrest

Cathy Byrd Talks Music with Jason Forrest
Published 1 October 2012

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century    

Cathy Byrd connects by Skype with Jason Forrest, aka DJ DonnaSummer, a laptop musician. Based in Berlin for the past eight of years with his wife, artist Jennifer Ray, Jason talks about how he became internationally known and introduces his new platform, Network Awesome. Jason's latest news? His Network Awesome show goes live in January 2013!    


Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz     
Photos courtesy Jason Forrest   
Episode Sound in order of appearance: "New Religion" from The Everything, Jason Forrest; "Close to the Edge" from Close to the Edge, Yes;"The Exquisite Organs" from The Everything, Jason Forrest; "Bring that Beat Back" from Bring that Beat Back, Public Enemy; "Keys to the Door" from The Everything, Jason Forrest; "Utopia" from Utopia, Jason Forrest

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Luci Westphal

Cathy Byrd Talks Film with Luci Westphal
Published 26 November 2012

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century
      

In Berlin, Cathy Byrd meets Twitter friend Luci Westphal in a cafe near a recently condemned artists' squat just off Oranienstrasse. A German filmmaker based in New York and Berlin, Luci loves street art, music, film and the D.I.Y. style. Thousands follow Luci's moving postcard series In A Berlin Minute. Luci released her latest documentary All's Well and Fair in episodes online.     

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz     
Photographs courtesy Luci Westphal
Music: "Frogfly Buzzing," by Dioxin Dolly (Rachel Iannelli, Margaret Briggs, Tina Bushnell), 1996, from Luci Westphal, All's Well and Fair, 2012

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Land Arts of the American West

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Land Arts of the American West
Published 12 July 2012

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Conversations about Creativity in the 21st Century    
 

Professor Chris Taylor has made Land Arts of the American West an unforgettable learning experience. Through the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University, the program involves a 6,000 mile road trip, camping, a series of remote site visits and an exhibition back in Lubbock. This Fresh Talk episode is a conversation with Chris and students who participated in the 2011 Land Arts adventure.  
     

Students: Alexander Bingham, Luis Bustamante III, Will Cotton, Winston Holloway, Richard Klaja, Celeste Martinez, Zachary Mitchell, Carl Spartz, Rachael Wilson, Bethany Wood. Program Assistant: Adrian Larriva. Program Director: Chris Taylor.  
    

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz      

Photos: Chris Taylor, Cathy Byrd and Joe DeMarco       

Sound: 45 rpm record found by Land Arts 2011 participants

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Joan Jonas

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Joan Jonas
Published 28 May 2012

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Our listeners love Joan Jonas. A seminal contemporary performance artist, she has profoundly influenced the genre. Cathy Byrd watched Joan perform "The Shape, The Scent, The Feel of Things" twice this year—first, in Austin, Texas, and later, in Kassel, Germany. Each time, she and her collaborator, American jazz musician Jason Moran, filled the house and met standing ovations. Having featured Joan's work in a 1994 retrospective, the Stedelijk Museum dedicated a salon to Joan for the venue's re-opening exhibition. Fresh Art International was there.    

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz
Photos: known credits noted
Music: Jason Moran, He Takes His Coat and Leaves

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Carolina Grau

Cathy Byrd Talks Art with Carolina Grau
Published August 6, 2012
This BEST OF Fresh Talk episode was recorded in Barcelona, home base for curator Carolina Grau's international practice.

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Conversations about Creativity in the 21st Century        

In Barcelona, Cathy Byrd speaks with Carolina Grau, an independent curator from Spain, who has created projects in London, Madrid, Lisbon, Sao Paulo and Paris. Carolina describes what she learned as a facilitator for Rachel Whiteread and the late Juan Muñoz; her curatorial residency at the Center for Contemporary Art, Noisy-le-Sec; the evolution of her work with Martin Creed (Cubitt Gallery and Tate Modern, London; Sala Alcalá, Madrid); and how locals get involved with the one-weekend D.I.Y. biennial she co-organizes with Mario Flecha, in the village of Jafre, Spain.

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz      
Photos: Courtesy the artists and Carolina Grau, except where noted     
Sound: Martin Creed, Thinking, Not Thinking

En Barcelona, ​​Cathy Byrd habla con Carolina Grau, comisaria independiente de España que ha creado proyectos en Londres, Madrid, Lisboa, Sao Paulo y París. Carolina describe lo que aprendió como facilitadora para los artistas Rachel Whiteread y Juan Muñoz, su residencia curatorial en el Centro de Arte Contemporáneo en Noisy-le-Sec, la evolución de su trabajo con Martin Creed (Cubitt Gallery y la Tate Modern, Londres; Sala Alcalá, Madrid); y cómo durante un fin de semana, la gente se involucra en la D.I.Y. bienal que co-organiza con Mario Flecha, en Jafre, España. 

Fresh Talk: Sarah Hobbs

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

 
Cathy Byrd speaks on Skype with photographer Sarah Hobbs on a night when Sarah is testing materials she collected for Overpacked, a set of site-specific installations to be on view in Atlanta for four days next week. Sarah's interest in human obsessions has led her to depict a range of neuroses and human foibles. Known for immersing her viewers in large scale photographs staged in familiar domestic interiors, this time, Sarah invites us into an experiential space: three hotel rooms that appear to be occupied by individuals trying very hard to make themselves feel at home.

Sound Editor and Episode Sound Designer: Eric Schwartz
Photos: Sarah Hobbs

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Jack Sanders

Cathy Byrd Talks Architecture with Jack Sanders
Published July 15, 2012
Our listeners love hearing Austin-based Jack Sanders talk about his adventures. Jack's episode is high on the list for Best Of Fresh Talk.

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

Cathy Byrd meets artist Jack Sanders at his studio in East Austin. From Cleburne, Texas, Jack studied at Auburn University and the School of Architecture at the University of Texas before he founded his company DesignBuild Adventure. Hear Jack talk about his muse Sam Mockbee, the Rural Studio, El Cosmico, and his commitment to slow architecture, storytelling and dreaming.

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz
Photo: Jack Sanders, except where noted 
Music: Ross Cashiola, Trains in the Grass

BEST OF Fresh Talk: Franklin Sirmans

Cathy Byrd Talks Art with Franklin Sirmans
Published May 14, 2012
Our listeners consider this conversation with curator Franklin Sirmans the Number One episode for Fresh Talk's first season.

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

Cathy Byrd talks on the phone with Franklin Sirmans, curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Their conversation considers the essential role of public art at LACMA, covers the latest news on Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass installation and previews upcoming LACMA exhibitions to feature the Broad Collection (2012) and the work of Noah Purifoy (2014). Recently appointed Artistic Director for Prospect.3 New Orleans, Franklin shares some of his thoughts about the 2014 exhibition.

Sound Editor: Leo Madriz | Images: Courtesy of LACMA, except where noted. | End Sound: Excerpt of audio recorded while moving Michael Heizer's 340-ton rock from Riverside to Los Angeles, CA. Courtesy of LACMA

Fresh Rx.10 with Kesha Bruce

Fresh Rx.10

I’ve been a full-time artist for nearly 20 years now and I’ve worked hard to build a client list of people who are interested in my work. I work in my studio about 30 hours a week and I show and sell my work on a regular basis on the national level. My biggest problem is that at this point in my career I feel a bit stuck. I feel like I’ve lost that spirit of discovery and adventure I had as a young art student. Any ideas about how I can get it back?
Painter, Chicago, IL

Sometimes in my own studio practice, I find that I get to the end of one avenue of thought and there’s just nothing left there to go on. I’m done. Or I may find that an idea that I started out working on with absolute excitement, now just seems plain boring. When this happens, I have two solutions that always work for me:

Take a sharp left.
Stop everything and go in a completely different direction. In some cases, it may be as easy as switching mediums. Working with new materials, or restricting the materials you allow yourself to use is a great way to set up problems or obstacles that will force your brain to find a way to “work around.” Most of the time the work I produce when I’m creating in this mode never becomes finished artwork. But that’s never the point. The point is to get a fresh perspective. I like to think of it as Creative Research and Development. 

Stop and refuel.
It takes a lot of mental and physical energy to create great work. When I’m having a series of days where I find I’m super low on both energy and motivation, I wise up and realize that instead of forcing myself to move ahead at half mast, I really need to rest and refuel. I’m a big believer in the idea of artists and Creatives taking serious and planned “down time” in order to sustain themselves long-term. Too often we out-put all this creative energy and then we forget to refuel. We get so excited and busy working on projects and activities that when our creative “low fuel” warning light comes on, we don’t pay attention. Just because your creative inkwell has temporarily run dry doesn’t mean there aren’t any exciting new ideas left in there. Perhaps they just need more time to germinate.

In July 2009, Stefan Sagmeister gave a great TED talk about The Power of Time Off.

Send your questions to Kesha Bruce: freshartinternational@gmail.com
Subject Line: Fresh Rx

Fresh Talk: Luci Westphal

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century      

 
In Berlin, Cathy Byrd meets Luci Westphal, a German filmmaker based in New York and Berlin, to talk about Luci's love for street art, music, film and the D.I.Y. style. Luci shares the inside story on her moving postcard series In A Berlin Minute and her latest documentary All's Well and Fair.         

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz   
Photographs courtesy the artist   
Music: "Frogfly Buzzing," by Dioxin Dolly (Rachel Iannelli, Margaret Briggs, Tina Bushnell), 1996, from Luci Westphal, All's Well and Fair, 2012.

Fresh Talk: Sarah Oppenheimer

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century    Cathy Byrd meets Sarah Oppenheimer at the Baltimore Museum of Art to experience Sarah's stunning architectural interventions. The BMA’s contemporary art curator Kristen Hileman creates unique relationships between Sarah Oppenheimer’s new commissions and other work from the collection, including a lyric 2010 sound art piece by Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz. Our ambient recording of Susan Philipsz’s The Shallow Sea is a special feature of this podcast.    

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz 
Photography featuring Sarah Oppenheimer's 2012 commissions for the Baltimore Museum of Art; Nathan L. and Suzanne F. Cohen Contemporary Art Acquisitions Endowment; and gift of the Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art
Sound Art: Susan Philipsz, The Shallow Sea, 2010, from the Baltimore Museum of Art collection     

Special Thanks: Kristen Hilemen, Anne Mannix, Anne Brown, and Sarah Pedroni, Baltimore Museum of Art; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery; and Zachary Wade.

Fresh Talk: Yane Calovski

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century  

In Istanbul, Cathy Byrd meets Yane Calovski, a transmedia artist and curator based in Skopje, Macedonia. Since 1998, his research-based works have been exhibited at Tate Britain, Manifesta 7, European Kunsthalle, Baltic Art Center, and Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, among other venues. Yane is the artistic director of Press to Exit, an organization founded in 2004 as a special program-based artist initiative for research and production in the field of visual arts and curatorial practices. 
  
Sound Editor: Jeff T. Byrd, with Leonardo Madriz 
Photos, courtesy the artist, except where noted 
Sound: Yane Calovski, Everything is after something, 2004. Produced by Baltic Art Center as part of the Production-in-Residence program 2003/04. Music made in collaboration with Tobias Sjoberg and Sebastian and Sebastian. Courtesy the artist.

Fresh Talk LIVE: Theaster Gates

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century  

In this Fresh Talk LIVE feature, Cathy Byrd meets Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates in Washington, DC, on Election Night 2012. Theaster is the featured speaker in the second annual Kinetic: Conversations in Contemporary Art lecture series at American University. Wilmer Wilson, an alumnus of Howard University, American University graduate students Emily Fransisco and Heather Ravenscroft, and University of Mary Washington senior Sidney Mullis join the conversation.    

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz | Photos: Cathy Byrd unless otherwise noted | Music: Theaster Gates + The Black Monks of Mississippi, Shine, 2011

Fresh VUE: Theaster Gates & Huguenot House

Theaster Gates: 12 Ballads for Huguenot House


Pictured here, 12 Ballads for Huguenot House was created by Chicago-based artist and urban planner Theaster Gates. His project for documenta(13) unites two disused buildings—one in Chicago and the other in Kassel, Germany—by dismantling parts of each to reuse in rebuilding the other. The spatial re-imagining is realized in twelve thematic “ballads.”

Theaster speaks about his work at American University, Washington, DC, on November 6, 2012. His talk is the second annual lecture in the new Kinetic: Conversations in Contemporary Art lecture series at the University. Fresh Art International makes history that night by recording the inaugural Fresh Talk LIVE podcast.

Photos: Cathy Byrd, except where noted.

Fresh Talk: Marcos Lutyens

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century 

In Kassel, Germany, Cathy Byrd meets documenta(13) artist Marcos Lutyens for a Hypnotic Session in the Reflection Room. Based in Los Angeles, the London-born intermedia artist works with other artists and curators to develop events and exhibits that reflect his research into the mind and the unconscious. Marcos collaborated with artist, curator and writer Raimundas Malašauskas and smell researcher and artist Sissel Tolass to create this Hypnotic Session.

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz 
Photos courtesy the artist, except where noted 
Music: Bill Frisell, Richter 858-8

Fresh Talk: Christian Philipp Müller

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Conversations about Creativity in the 21st Century 

In Kassel, Germany, Cathy Byrd meets Swiss artist Christian Philipp Müller to talk about Swiss Chard Ferry, his project for documenta (13). Christian lives in Berlin and Kassel, where since 2011, he's been Dean at the School of Art and Design. He has a history with the international exhibition, having participated in documenta 10 (1997) and is known for his interest in connecting art with the cultural history of plants.  

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz 
Photos: Cathy Byrd and the artist, where noted 
Music: Beach Boys, Vege-Tables, 1967

Fresh VUE: The Netherlands 2012

September in the Netherlands meant a Fresh Art International residency at Open Ateliers, Zuidoost. A chance to meet resident creatives; record podcsts; view art; and witness the Stedelijk Museum, re-opened and renewed, after 8 long years!

First Fresh Talk podcasts in the Netherlands series:

Sasha Dees, Producer, Miss T's American Dream
Kate Moore, Musician and composer

Photos: Cathy Byrd