Ep. 4: Reframing History: Black Perspectives on the Origins of Performance Art—with Uri McMillan, Howardena Pindell, Greg de Cuir Jr., and Nao Bustamante
This episode of UNBOUND reexamines the origins of performance art through Black perspectives, featuring scholars Uri McMillan and Greg de Cuir Jr. and artist Howardena Pindell. We explore how performance and video art have shaped concepts of Blackness, and vice-versa, focusing on the liberating use of alter-egos and avatars. McMillan’s concept of “objecthood” reveals how Black artists have strategically embodied fictional personas to critique, and at times evade, systemic racism and patriarchal structures. These contemporary practices are then contextualized within a longer, alternative lineage of performance art, one that reckons with the violent history of slavery in nineteenth and twentieth century America. Artists Nao Bustamante and Howardena Pindell are also featured in this episode, each highlighting how shapeshifting practices and camp aesthetics can challenge racist and sexist Eurocentric narratives. Speakers: Nao Bustamante, Greg de Cuir Jr., Uri McMillan, Howardena PindellHosts: Line Ajan and Lisa Long
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44:48
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44:48
Ep. 3: Are We Performing Everyday Life? Images of Protest and Performance in the Digital Age—with Stanya Kahn, Fritjof Mangerich, and Mona Varichon
This episode of UNBOUND explores the intersections of protest, performance, and digital culture with Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker Stanya Kahn. We focus on her decade-spanning video work Stand in the Stream (2011-2017), an “ambient digital film” that fuses personal and political narratives. Centering her unique approach to performance and filmmaking, this episode not only highlights Kahn’s artistic practice but also raises broader questions about art’s role in responding to personal, societal, and political moments of rupture. The generational transmission of artistic and political struggles, a central issue in Kahn’s work, is also present in this episode through the comments of two younger artists, Fritjof Mangerich and Mona Varichon, who each give us their take on Stand in the Stream. Speakers: Stanya Kahn, Fritjof Mangerich, Mona VarichonHosts: Line Ajan and Lisa Long
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1:00:52
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1:00:52
Ep. 2: Performance as Rupture: How Politics Take Place Through Culture—with Amelia Jones and Nao Bustamante
This episode of UNBOUND examines the political implications of performance art with Amelia Jones, a leading scholar in performance and gender studies. Jones discusses how performance serves as a powerful tool for critique and disruption, particularly from a feminist perspective. Listeners are invited to reflect on key questions: How does performance expose power structures linked to identity? Can it transcend simple representation to drive societal change? And why has it remained difficult to integrate into traditional art history?Speakers: Nao Bustamante, Amelia Jones, Stanya Kahn Hosts: Line Ajan and Lisa Long
The Julia Stoschek Foundation proudly presents UNBOUND, a compelling new podcast hosted by Line Ajan and Lisa Long, with editorial direction by Luise Pilz, that critically examines the evolution of performance art and its intersections with video across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through in-depth conversations with artists, scholars, and writers, UNBOUND takes into consideration a nuanced understanding of how gender, race, and class have affected these histories up until the present.
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