Massimiliano Gioni on Robots and Myths at the New Museum | INTERPRETATIONS
Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the New Museum, opens “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” a show that situates robots, AI and the myth of the “new man” within a historic dialogue between the 1920s and today. The exhibition argues that contemporary anxieties about artificial intelligence echo the cultural upheavals of the interwar period, when writers, artists and scientists grappled with conveyor belts, early automata and the very word “robot,” coined by Czech playwright Karel Čapek in 1920. Objects such as the 1935 “Glass Man” and the hygiene museums of Germany illustrate how replication, biopolitics and notions of human superiority were already being encoded in material culture. Highlights include Bruce Lacy’s 1963 kinetic sculpture “Superman,” a crank‑hand‑operated robot that links theater‑automation traditions to modern robotics, and an original automaton created by Carlo Rambaldi for Spielberg’s ET. Gioni cites Viero the Castro’s observation that societies retreat to myth during existential technological threats, positioning artists as both creators and debunkers of those myths. By foregrounding myth rather than technology, the show suggests that the narratives we tell about machines shape policy, investment and public sentiment. For business leaders, understanding these cultural scripts is crucial to navigating the ethical and market implications of AI and biotech advancements.
Pat Steir (1938-2026) on Painting
The video features Pat Steir reflecting on her artistic practice, recalling a formative color theory course taught by Steven Mueller at Harvard, and describing how that education reshaped her approach to painting. Steir explains her “hands‑off” method: she pours or drips...
John Akomfrah on Bob Dylan, Chris Ofili, J. M. W. Turner, and More | UNDER THE INFLUENCE
In this candid "Under the Influence" conversation, filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah reflects on the eclectic cultural forces that have shaped his practice—from early visits to London’s Tate Gallery to the music of Bob Dylan and Ornette Coleman, and the...
Mierle Laderman Ukeles on Freedom, Feminism, Crisis, and Care | INTERVIEWS
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, a pioneering artist born in 1939, uses this interview to trace how she transformed personal crisis into a radical artistic practice that foregrounds care work. Growing up in a restrictive 1950s environment, she left Pratt Institute for...
Lisa Yuskavage on David Lynch, Giovanni Bellini, Becoming an Artist, and More | UNDER THE INFLUENCE
In this episode of “Under the Influence,” painter Lisa Yuskavage reflects on what it means to be an artist, tracing her journey from a restless undergraduate in Rome to a mature painter whose work fuses myth, psychology, and cinematic language. Yuskavage...
Eleanor Antin on Feminism and American Empire | INTERVIEWS
The interview centers on artist Eleanor Antin’s evolution from a New York‑based figure to a pivotal presence in Southern California’s academic and feminist performance circles. After teaching at UC Irvine and UC San Diego, she embedded herself in a vibrant...
On Photography with Florian Ebner, Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Jeff Wall, and Pablo Larios
The panel at Paris Photo explored the "material future" of photography, questioning how analog practices, institutional stewardship, and emerging technologies will shape the medium. Host Pablo Larios framed the conversation around materiality rather than AI or digitisation, highlighting lab closures,...
The Materiality of Photography with Pablo Larios, Dionne Lee, Michelle Henning, and Aspen Mays
The panel titled “The Materiality of Photography” convened at Paroto, featuring Art Forum editor Pablo Larios and artists Dion Lee, Michelle Henning, and Aspen Mays. Their discussion framed photography not as a purely visual medium but as a chemical...