Exhibitionistas: Notes on Art

Art criticism is vanishing from mainstream media, but here's the uncomfortable question: does art and culture still need critics? Our host, Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer, examines why critics are leaving big outlets without being replaced—and what this means for artistic quality assessment, curatorial etiquette, and the future of art evaluation itself. What is critique actually for? And where does Joana's feminist critique of critique lead to? And who decides what's good art now? Or, rather, is “good art” the yardstick by which art experiences should be measured?

Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
What else to do when we live in a society of images, but don't know what they are? In Joana's words: "Art Wonderment is me, howling, in recognition, in celebration, in fear, in respect, in defiance." Read the rest of her post-editing text here because a podcast episode is not the same beast as a text. The complete experience combines the two.
Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.
Art Etiquette Segment guest: 
Elizabeth Botten, Reference Specialist at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art 
Art question: what can we do to accommodate visitors and make their exhibition experience enjoyable while preserving art etiquette?
Soon: Bonus – full length Art Etiquette episodes.
Segment: Brainstorm in a Teacup:
Come for the art, stay for the creative writing segment, where Joana reads short texts from her notebooks exposing her inner thoughts and odd fictional flash writing.
Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
0:00: Intro: Where to continue your Exhibitionistas experience.
2:27: Today's question: is art criticism still valid?
4:56: Why are art critics vanishing? And how?
7:05: 3 guiding questions of the episode: what is it, who does it serve and who is reading - or not
8:46: What is art criticism? A scandal and a text.
15:35: Genius, excellence, quality: are these outdated questions?
24:35: Who is reading art criticism?
27:12: Art Etiquette with Elizabeth Botten
38:08: What does art criticism do, and what or who is it upholding?
46:44: Joana's honest reckoning with art criticism
54:14: Brainstorm in a Teacup (Creative Writing segment)
Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.
Support the show
Created & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. 
Find us:
On Instagram – @exhibitionistas_podcast
On Substack (NEWSLETTER: sign up!): Art Thinkosaurus > Exhibitionistas Files
Online: www.exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Do you want to be a guest on Art Etiquette? Reach out: joana@exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Copyright: Joana P. R. Neves, 2024.

AI is forcing us to define what being human is. So, is it time for an Art Manifesto? Did our host dare to create one? Awkward? Or are we simply not used to seeing women proclaiming things? And how can art –which seems to be at the brink of commodification–sustain new forms of being human? Or is it time to put the spotlight on you, art wanderer? Why not consider this THE art question, to open better art conversations? 
Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
What else to do when we live in a society of images, but don't know what they are? In Joana's words: "Art Wonderment is me, howling, in recognition, in celebration, in fear, in respect, in defiance." Read the rest of her text here because a podcast episode is not the same beast as a text. The complete experience combines the two.
Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.
With the wonderful Catalan artist Susanna INGLADA; the timeless wisdom of LAO TZU's Tao Te Ching translated by Ursula K. LE GUIN–, the most innovative Portuguese poet, Fernando PESSOA and his mind blowing creation of more than 100 heteronyms (poets he invented with a persona, a life, and their own authored poetry), amongst which the most extreme of them all, Alberto Caeiro.
Art Etiquette Segment guest: 
Spencer Moore, Creator and host of The Hairy Chin Podcast
Art question: why is contemporary art not considered art?
Soon: Bonus – full length Art Etiquette episodes.
Come for the art, stay for the creative writing–segment, Brainstorm in a Teacup, where Joana reads short texts from her notebooks exposing her inner thoughts and strange fictional flash writing.
Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.

00:00:00 - Intro: A Different Start + Featured Artist Susanna Inglada
00:02:06 - The Self-Help trap
00:13:36 - Art Wonderment Manifesto
00:19:26 - Art Etiquette with S. Moore: why is contemporary art not considered art?
00:28:25 - Art Wonderment Manifesto – Holding the paradox wit artist Susanna Inglada
00:33:07 - The mysterious life of Portugal’s most intriguing poet, Fernando Pessoa
00:42:06 - Brainstorm in a Teacup
00:43:55 - A message, a rant, a call for voice notes, a see you soon

Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.
Support the show
Created & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. 
Find us:
On Instagram – @exhibitionistas_podcast
On Substack (NEWSLETTER: sign up!): Art Thinkosaurus > Exhibitionistas Files
Online: www.exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Do you want to be a guest on Art Etiquette? Reach out: joana@exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Copyright: Joana P. R. Neves, 2024.

Is art wonderment possible through a copy of an artwork? As an art curator and writer, our host is often faced with printed or digital art portfolios – does this art digital hygiene go against art etiquette? 
Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
This ‘art anxiety’ is reinforced by the concept, coined by the German thinker Walter Benjamin, of “the aura”, the "here and now of the work of art" understood as a defense of the unique art experiences ‘in the flesh’. 
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What if we’d failed to see what Benjamin alerts us to in his seminal art book: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? What if mass reproduction of images brought an art liberation? What is preserving the here and now of the aesthetic experience was a form of gatekeeping? And how can we read the concept of aura today?
Art Etiquette Segment guest: 
Kathy Baron, Creator and host of  Women Who Sarcast; and her amazing publication Women who Podcast Magazine. 
Art question: why is contemporary art not considered art?
Soon: Bonus – full length Art Etiquette episodes.
Come for the art, stay for the creative writing–segment, Brainstorm in a Teacup, where Joana reads short texts from her notebooks exposing her inner thoughts and strange fictional flash writing.
Music by Sarturn. 
Interested in Worlding, my art space & residency in London?
https://www.worldingproject.com/
Interested in seeing the exhibition with Collective Aid and SOS MEDITERRANEE for Refugee Week? https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/ticketing/across-lands-and-seas-exhibition
Interested in our Workshops? https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/ticketing/workshops-across-lands-and-seas-exhibition
And our talk about courage? https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/ticketing/across-lands-and-seas
Know more about Collective Aid and SOS MEDITERRANEE.
And here is the link to Kathy's awesome film Navel Gazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogy1nTiCms0&t=205s

SIGN UP TO THE EXHIBITIONISTAS FILES.
joana@exhibitonistaspodcast.com
00:00 Can we be moved by a reproduction of an artwork?
07:04 Walter Benjamin's "Aura" is often misunderstood
15:52 My 2nd hand art experience: 2 paintings by Caspar D. Friedrich
20:12 Benjamin, a fellow podcaster? And the real change brought by tech
29:07 Art Etiquette segment!
40:13 Walter Benjamin's Influence on Art and Technology
40:13 Copy v automated reproduction
53:26 Brainstorm in a teacup segment!
54:37 Answer to the question: can we be moved by a copy of art?
Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.
Support the show
Created & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. 
Find us:
On Instagram – @exhibitionistas_podcast
On Substack (NEWSLETTER: sign up!): Art Thinkosaurus > Exhibitionistas Files
Online: www.exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Do you want to be a guest on Art Etiquette? Reach out: joana@exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Copyright: Joana P. R. Neves, 2024.

Art curator, writer and host Joana P. R. Neves, asks the ultimate art question of art questions: could art appreciation be a powerful combination of the analog and the digital? Even stranger: how does it hinge on the overlapping meanings of wonder and wander? In a nutshell, are we in need of art digital hygiene? Is Art Wonderment the response to 20th century art criticism?
Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
Art and culture fo hand in hand in this episode. But what does Wordsworth's poetry have to do with art philosophy? And why is it connecte with Agnes Martin's meditative exploration of life and art? Learn about real art etiquette, plus the night Joana's curated performance went viral and Snoop Dogg reposted it. A new era. A new episode structure. New segments. Your art theory explained through unexpected perspective shifts.
Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.
Segment: Brainstorm in a Teacup:
Come for the art, stay for the creative writing segment, where Joana reads short texts from her notebooks exposing her inner thoughts and odd fictional flash writing.
Music by Sarturn. 
Visit Worlding online and sign up to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram: @worldingproject
https://www.worldingproject.com
Small donations are great! "Buys us a book": https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
Do you LOVE podcasts? Do you want to support female-led businesses?
Get your podcasting magazine here: Women Who Podcast Magazine - https://www.womenwhopodcastmag.com/
Sources:
My definition of wonderment is actually taken from the noun ‘wonder’: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wonder 
Hollis Frampton’s text:
Digression on the Photographic Agony, Artforum, November 1972: https://www.artforum.com/features/digressions-on-the-photographic-agony-209932/
Agnes Martin’s photo credits: Agnes Martin in the mesas near Cuba, New Mexico, 1974. Photo Gianfranco Gorgoni.
Pliny the Elder’s mention of the origin myth of art is in Natural History Book XXXV
My strange viral experience article
Going Viral: if your exhibition is reposted by Snoop Dog, does it matter? https://substack.com/home/post/p-157358364
The article where I mention Katy Hessel’s strange Art Self Help Book,
Art as Function, Automatic Education, and Self-Care: the Politics of Culture Replaced by the Commodification of Creativity: https://substack.com/@joanaprneves/p-190450394
Find Walter Benjamin’s first “read Walter Benjamin with me” here” https://joanaprneves.substack.com/s/your-crazy-aunt-book-shelf
00:00 Introduction to Exhibitionistas and New Format
01:30 Wonderment
06:03 Reading Out Loud
08:25 Agnes Martin on Joy
12:58 Ekphrasis
19:51 Digital Hygiene
41:32 Build Exhibitionistas With Me!
46:33 Brainstorm in a Teacup Segment
47:37 Outro
Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.
Support the show
Created & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. 
Find us:
On Instagram – @exhibitionistas_podcast
On Substack (NEWSLETTER: sign up!): Art Thinkosaurus > Exhibitionistas Files
Online: www.exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Do you want to be a guest on Art Etiquette? Reach out: joana@exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Copyright: Joana P. R. Neves, 2024.

🔎 Does obscurity lead to creative freedom? Why do I ask? Because of a single sentence in Chris Kraus' book I Love Dick, simply stating that once we accept obscurity, we can do what we want...
📙 This book is a ride through the literary world of the 1990s from the perspective of "the wife of"; it's an exploration of visual art through the perspective of obscurity, complexity and weirdness, and a classic and transgressive exploration of authorship.

We discuss:
I Love Dick (duuuuh)
artistic freedom
creative liberation
female creativity
the complexities of feminism
the work of Sophie Calle, Hannah Wilke
Authorship and its twist through auto-fiction
artistic exposure invisibility, and obscurity
authorship
critique versus experience
Read Joana's essays: https://joanaprneves.substack.com/.
To know more about our guests and our ideas → ⁠SIGN UP TO THE EXHIBITIONISTAS FILES.
https://joanaprneves.substack.com/s/e...
you can become a member and support us.
Small donations are great! "Buys us a book": https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista

Takeaways
the great literary work of Chris Kraus
the female condition and the role of the artist
layers of feminism
critical prejudice against feminist art
the economy of artistic exclusion
aesthetic experience of desire
desire as a fiction device
sex, lust and adultery in postmodernism
sex in art
00:00 Intro: On creative freedom and obscurity
02:51 A feminist sensation: "I Love Dick" by Chris Kraus 
09:47 Dick, Sylvère... and Chris
15:12 The Structure of the Book
23:29 The Triangle of Obscurity
26:05 Exposure of Self or Obscurity of the Muse?
30:53 Transgression as Sexlessness
41:04 Economic Obscurity
47:21 Sex, Desire, and Visibility
54:26 Art, Identity, and Obscurity
55:44 The Life and Legacy of Hannah Wilke
01:09:39 Art Monsters
01:17:56 Outro
Did the episode stir Art Wonderment memories? Share them via text or voice message.
Support the show
Created & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats. 
Find us:
On Instagram – @exhibitionistas_podcast
On Substack (NEWSLETTER: sign up!): Art Thinkosaurus > Exhibitionistas Files
Online: www.exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Do you want to be a guest on Art Etiquette? Reach out: joana@exhibitionistaspodcast.com
Copyright: Joana P. R. Neves, 2024.