EXHIBITIONISTAS – Contemporary Art and Life

Has “Globe-trotter” curator, artistic director of the Serpentine in London, obsessive collector of conversations with artists, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, finally laid down his secrets in writing? What makes a myth? What did he carry from his predecessors and how did he negociate the patriarchal and hegemonic role of the visionary curator? And why does it feel like HUO is the last of his kind?
Joana, our host, a curator as well, goes over his recently published memoir, Life in Progress (Allen Books, Penguin, 2025) to discover a young man with a plan, cold-calling famous artists, and acquiring an enviable address book at the very young age. How did he get there and what art career did this auspicious start bring to him and to contemporary art?
Exhibitionistas is:
An award winning podcast (Women Who Podcast Awards 2026)
A companion Substack page with essays, articles and episode announcements.
A YouTube Channel with art shorts.
An instagram with questions & "visit with me series"
All with specific features.
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Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
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. 
READ JOANA'S TEXTS:
Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.com
Where you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

Ready to plunge into the depths of art history to resurface with weird art fair histories from Prehistory, the Aztecs to today? Which is a way of asking: is the compulsion to buy rare goods and exemplary artefacts immemorial? How have we evolved into the format of the art fair?
Art fairs seem to defy romantic visions of creativity: artists: the art wonderment necessary to free oneself from conventional ideas and dusty traditions while reinventing them. Art works require freedom,  Their art etiquette can puzzle: selling art works feels deeply contradictory with the creativity and meditative explorations that we expect from our contemporary artists. 
You wouldn’t leave your favourite coffee shop, flat white in hand, without paying for it, would you?
Indie media like Exhibitionistas is free of access. That leaves you with a responsibility-dare I say, an ethical obligation– to pay for what you consume if you can. You can drop £3 if you enjoyed the episode here:
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Read the article by Christian Monger The Evolution of the Art Fair: https://www.jstor.org/stable/0671e890-72d2-323b-964e-767f655980fe?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents
Visit the page about The Birth of the Art Market: Rembrandt, Ruisdael and Van Goyen and the Artists of the Dutch Golden Age: https://www.codart.nl/guide/agenda/birth-art-market-rembrandt-ruisdael-van-goyen-artists-dutch-golden-age/
Caroline Monnet's website: https://carolinemonnet.ca and gallery page: https://blouin-division.com/en/artists/34-caroline-monnet/overview/
The Venus de Renancourt (the Amiens Museum Prehistory female figurines): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vénus_de_Renancourt (FR)

Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
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. 
READ JOANA'S TEXTS:
Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.com
Where you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

Can poetry provide clues to questions raised by contemporary art? Art sets the world in motion, sparks changes which we’re not always equipped to absorb, and even understand. Luís de Camões, the great Portuguese Renaissance poet wrote beautifully about art and change… and life. Our host, contemporary art writer and curator Joana P. R. Neves picks a poem per episode in this special series.

Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista

Poem delivery service is a new bonus series where Joana explores a poem in a non English language that she loves, but whose translation doesn’t do it justice. She focuses on one poem per episode, briefly contextualising it and shedding light on the specific meaning she took from it, guiding you through the translation. At the end, Joana reads the poem in its original language.
Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.

Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
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. 
READ JOANA'S TEXTS:
Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.com
Where you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

So many definitions of contemporary art… but what if the notion of skill took us deeper into it? As a curator, our host often hears: “my kid could do this”. So, she put her art writer and curator talents to the task of uncovering expectations and misconceptions about visual arts that it expresses. This is also an artist conversation episode: the first part explores 20th century art through the notion of skill, and the second invites the Swiss self-taught artist Reto Pulfer to provide his own art experience and education insights into this matter.
Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
Skill, takes us to art tradition, craft, art education, curatorial work, exhibition expertise and more. Together, Reto Pulfer and our host explore art as a raw and dynamic relation with ourselves and the world around us.
Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.
To know more about Reto Pulfer:
Follow him on Instagram: @zustand_retopulfer
Visit his website: www.retopulfer.com | www.artmap.com/retopulfer
Or have a look at his gallery, Hollybush Gardens, London
https://hollybushgardens.co.uk/artists/reto-pulfer/
You can find his novel, Gina (2020) in the links below:
Les Presses du Réel
Presse Books
Hollybush Gardens
Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
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. 
READ JOANA'S TEXTS:
Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.com
Where you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...

Biography enlightens the work of an artist but, in rare occasions, it can obliterate it. A polemic curatorial choice in Ana Mendieta's exhibition at Tate Modern illustrates this puzzling question. This unexpected curatorial twist may lean into anti-feminism if we stay on the surface of the discourse. Dive into it with our host Joana P. R. Neves, a curator and an art writer.  What decision did Valentina Umansky and Michael Wellen, the curators of the show make, and what third person, instrumental in delivering the work, helped them? 
To tell or not to tell? 
Did you enjoy the episode? Think about supporting Exhibitionistas by leaving a small donation: https://buymeacoffee.com/exhibitionista
Have you ever wondered what it's like to curate a big, blockbuster exhibition? If you have, this episode is for you. It unveils certain ethics of curatorial work, an extremely important aspects of the job, especially when the artist is no longer alive.
Sign up for a tiered monthly support: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2624749/monetization/supporter_settings Your contribution keeps us going.
Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
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. 
READ JOANA'S TEXTS:
Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.com
Where you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter: ...