This time hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman welcome their team of editorial advisors Deana Haggag, Mia Locks and Jay Sanders. They’re the brilliant trio who’ve helped steer this season’s conversations acting as an independent sounding board lending editorial advice and expertise - all essential in the creation of this podcast. This is (almost) the season finale - so time to reflect and look back at some of the surprises, delights and, of course, the many "What Ifs". Listen out in the next few weeks for some special bonus episodes!

What if we supported artists in taking moonshots?  This week we’re taking a tour around Glenstone museum in Potomac, Maryland - one of the largest and most ambitious private institutions in America, fusing art, architecture and nature. This wide-ranging conversation between Glenstone’s co-founder and director, Emily Rales and host Charlotte Burns covers the art inside the museum and how to create more meaningful visitor experiences, to the Glenstone foundation and future philanthropic plans. “Our values are immutable,” Emily says. “Art is essential to life. And sometimes when I say that to people, they're like, what does that even mean? But I really believe that art is essential to our civilization and to humanity.” She adds: “Long-term defines the way we think. We're not intending to go out guns a-blazing and then sun-setting the foundation within 20 years. We want this to continue to be sustained in perpetuity—and we really mean that.”

What if we trusted artists more? This episode Charlotte Burns is joined by Kathy Halbreich, the outgoing director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, who’s led some of the most dynamic institutions in the art world. They discuss freedom, finances and what the future holds for museums and those who work in them. “You could not pay me enough money to be a museum director at this point in my life,” says Kathy. “Maybe that's just because I really know what the job is and I think it is one of the most misunderstood and genuinely taxing jobs.”

Time to take stock this episode with hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman. We look back at some of the big ideas that have emerged throughout the series so far. From change and creativity, to finance and futures, we discuss what’s amazed, delighted—and even filled us with hope. "I think a lot more about excess than abundance," says Allan. "There is a generosity with which the word abundance has been used by a number of the people we've interviewed. I think that that sense of generosity and of abundance comes from an awareness of what the opposite is. And each of these people, in their own way, is either being given power or seizing power — and doing so to create a better world." Tune in for this very special episode.

We’re still in the city of angels for our second special episode asking ‘What if LA is the future?’ Join host, Charlotte Burns, as she drives from the East Side to Korea Town and out to Santa Monica. We visit the studio of artist and filmmaker, Cauleen Smith, whose life and work centers around building a better world. We also drop in on Kibum Kim, partner and co-founder at Commonwealth and Council - a gallery building a supportive community of artists - who wants to challenge the high-speed efficiency of the current art world model. Both embody what it means to live in the realm of possibility. “I guess what I'm doing is always looking to the relatively recent past of models where people really did do things differently quite successfully,” says Cauleen. Tune in, and subscribe, for more.

What if Los Angeles is the future? This episode Charlotte Burns visits the city for the first of two extra special episodes. We’re at the Hammer museum with its Chief curator, Connie Butler, before heading over to meet Sue Bell Yank who’s Executive director at Clockshop. Both are experimenting with how to do things differently and how to make LA a sustainable place to be and to create art. Nowhere encapsulates the need to imagine radical new possibilities more than Los Angeles. “LA is an amazing place to think about what our possible futures could look like,” says Sue Bell Yank. “It's a place that’s at the bleeding edge of a lot of crises, from wildfires to floods. How cultural organizations fit into that is really interesting.” Join us for more.

What if it were possible to dream up entirely new things? Join host Charlotte Burns as she interviews one of the most interesting artists working today. American Artist — who changed their name in 2013 — produces deeply thoughtful work that is as enmeshed in digitization and technology as it is history and alternate realities. American talks about how their art tackles police violence in the US. They also discuss a newer body of work centering on the life and writings of sci-fi novelist, Octavia E. Butler. American says their work is ultimately hopeful: “If I didn’t feel strongly that things could change I wouldn’t even bother. But I want everyone else to try as hard as I do.”

This episode, Charlotte Burns is joined by Rashida Bumbray whose career straddles different realms within culture. A choreographer and curator, Rashida aims to create new spaces of imagination, empowerment, and connection. While the data and the daily realities of the art world can reflect a scarcity, Rashida’s work—notably the recent organization of artist Simone Leigh’s Loophole of Retreat Summit in Venice—reflects an abundance that is intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and inspirational. This summit represented new possibilities, showing the way to new futures through history, excellence, and potential. A giant 'What If' made real.  Subscribe for more.

In this episode, we get into some of the biggest What Ifs —about virtue and value, about life and loss. Host Charlotte Burns is joined by one of the most thoughtfully provocative (or cunning, as he’d say), artists of our time,  Paul Chan. He made his name in the early 2000s with film and media works, and by 2008 had found significant success. Then, he stopped making art. Now he’s back with a show called Paul Chan: Breathers, where, influenced by sky-dancers, he literally shapes air. He says “Maybe one way to talk about pleasure is a capacity to control our own time. Time may be the only non-human thing I really care about losing. I can lose everything. I think I've lost everything. I'm willing to lose it all, but I'm not willing to lose time, and that to me is more precious than anything else.”

What if the art market had more faith in its own future? What if we could improve the health of the swamp? This episode, we consider the state of the market and who better to join Charlotte Burns than co-host, the art advisor Allan Schwartzman, along with Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels, director at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and founder of We Buy Gold. Together they discuss the boom and bust, aspiration and desperation - and much more besides. 

What if we reimagine the role of the museum? What if we bring more intention to what culture can be and do—and by whom and for whom? What if we tell ourselves different stories? In this episode, host Charlotte Burns talks to Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the CEO and director of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art—a new museum founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his businesswoman wife, Mellody Hobson. The institution, which is set to open in Los Angeles in 2025 is one of the most potentially exciting museums in America or around the world, given the scope of its ambition and size. Sandra says: “We’re building an institution, a 200+ year proposition. And we’re doing it amidst the most uncertain moments in our time.” Who better to help us tackle hypotheticals— including dismantling the idea of high and low, and entirely new ways of thinking about art? Join us and tune in.

What if the world was without ethics? What if financial value was no longer the way we talk about success? Cecilia Alemani, artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale and director and chief curator of High Line Art in New York City joins host Charlotte Burns to discuss the role of the curator today. 

What if we all name our dreams before following them? This episode we welcome Kemi Ilesanmi, the now-former Executive Director of The Laundromat Project, the non-profit focusing on the art of the everyday, amplifying community and artists as citizens and change agents. This show is all about what ifs, and Kemi operates from that place of abundant possibility. What if businesses invested in their staff, seeding future next generations? What if arts organizations functioned as community assets? Tune in for more.

“Not just what if—but what are we missing?” In the first episode of this new podcast, host Charlotte Burns is joined by Naomi Beckwith, the Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Someone actively working to recalibrate the field in the most exciting and dynamic ways, Naomi starts this episode with science before moving onto museums—and how we can create change. What if our textbooks were Black? What if we decentered the Western world in conversations about art? Tune in for more. 

Welcome to The Art World: What If...?! the latest podcast from the makers of In Other Words and Hope & Dread. The first episode will be available on 12 January 2023 and new shows will come out every Thursday.

America’s public spaces have been throbbing with the sounds of loud arguments about history and identity, encapsulated by the debate over Confederate monuments. In this episode, hosts Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman introduce you to artists and curators suggesting new ways of dealing with American history—taking you behind the arguments about whether statues should stay or go and offering a nuanced perspective on a haunted history.

Guests: Maya Benton, Thomas Finkelpearl, Roxane Gay, Jackson Polys, Hamza Walker

From acts of solidarity to new business models, many in the art world are teaming up during this pandemic to bolster the system and rethink its infrastructure. Joining us for today’s show are guests including financial journalist Felix Salmon; gallerists Sadie Coles of Sadie Coles HQ and Vanessa Carlos of Carlos/Ishikawa; artist Doron Langberg; culture and politics writer Marisa Mazria Katz; and nonprofit executives Carolyn Ramo of Artadia and Deana Haggag of United States Artists.

“We are all protecting our small castle or encampment and promoting our own content,” says Sadie Coles. “But actually, if you start reaching out to people, it is all about dialogue— and things develop from there.”

For more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-79-covid-19-second-podcast/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Will Covid-19—which is so far spreading unevenly in the US, hitting low-income or black communities the hardest—exacerbate the inequities in the art world? In our 78th episode, host Charlotte Burns and Allan Schwartzman (co-founder of AAP and a chairman of Sotheby’s) discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Can art itself provide solace during this period of grief and fear? And how will the art world and its market make it through?

Tune in.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-78-will-the-art-world-remain-resilient/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

“Art is about ideas, transgression and transformation," says gallerist Sadie Coles, who founded her eponymous gallery, Sadie Coles HQ, in London's Mayfair neighborhood in 1997, and now has two spaces in the UK capital. "And art needs freedom."

In this wide-ranging podcast, recorded in London earlier in the year with host Charlotte Burns, Coles talks about everything from the nature of being an art dealer, to the sense of anxiety that has shaped both the market and art in this still-young century—and about the time she moonlighted to as a theatre critic to review a play starring Madonna as a ruthless art world operator.

Coles talks about changes in the gallery system. “Artists now have more power, and I think that's a healthy thing", she says. “The rules, whatever they may be, are in flux right now."

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-75-flux-and-freedom-with-sadie-coles/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

Maureen Paley—a native New Yorker who was recently named one of the Evening Standard's most influential Londoners—has been called a "true pioneer of the East End" for her part in turning the neighborhood into a hub for art and culture.

She opened her gallery in 1984 and “it still remains alive and very vital," she tells host Charlotte Burns. "People like to think of art now as related to commerce and business, but I always saw it that it was related to a type of magic."

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-75-maureen-paley/

“In Other Words” is a presentation of AAP and Sotheby’s, produced by Audiation.fm.

This lively conversation with Stuart Shave and Sarah McCrory was recorded in London shortly before the UK exited Europe at the end of January. McCrory (inaugural director of the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in London, which opened in 2018) and Shave (founder of Stuart Shave Modern Art gallery in London) talk to host Charlotte Burns about a range of topics, from ”Google curating” to the environmental crisis; from the #MeToo movement to the cultural climate within the UK. The British art world has always been “in constant revival and renewal," McCrory says. “But I do worry about how we keep it a place for artists, and how we keep it a place for culture."

To hear more, tune in today.

Transcript: https://www.artagencypartners.com/transcript-76-stuart-and-sarah/