There's so much culture now that it can be hard just to keep up, let alone to think about it all as a whole... but that only makes the effort to find perspective more important. It's not always clear when you're in the thick of it, but almost certainly when people in the future look back, they will see more clearly than we do the common concerns beneath the ... Show More
Sep 11
Why Are Museum Wall Texts So Bad?
The humble wall label at an art exhibition has a funny status. It feels, on the one hand, like a side note or an afterthought. On the other, it is a first point of contact and literal guide for a visitor looking to know more. There is an entire undersung discipline, Visitor Studi ... Show More
42m 15s
Sep 3
The Etruscans Made Astonishing Art. Why Aren't They Better Known?
The ancient Romans called the Mediterranean mare nostrum, "our sea." But before the Romans rose to power, the Etruscans had extensive trade networks in the area and controlled much of the Italian peninsula, the future heart of the Roman Empire. Between around 900 B.C.E. and the f ... Show More
35m 41s
Oct 2025
The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman
As this season of The Art World: What If?! takes a break, Charlotte and Allan reflect on the conversations that have shaped it — from artists reimagining knowledge, time, and truth, to institutional leaders grappling with the frameworks that hold culture. Agnes Denes, Glenn Ligon ... Show More
48m 40s
Aug 2023
Ambient Commons: Attention in the Age of Embodied Information
The world is filling with ever more kinds of media, in ever more contexts and formats. Glowing rectangles have become part of the scene; screens, large and small, appear everywhere. Physical locations are increasingly tagged and digitally augmented. Amid this flood, your attentio ... Show More
16m 11s
Jan 2022
The mind-bending art of deep time | Katie Paterson
Short-sightedness may be the greatest threat to humanity, says conceptual artist Katie Paterson, whose work engages with deep time -- a concept that describes the history of the Earth over a time span of millions of years. In this lively talk, she takes us through her art -- a te ... Show More
6m 29s
Oct 2021
Alana Jelinek, "Between Discipline and a Hard Place: The Value of Contemporary Art" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Some fields have an easier time describing themselves than others. "History is the study of past events." "Biology is the study of living organisms." But art? Is art a discipline? Is it a practice? Who gets to answer this most fundamental of questions, and why do we prefer not to ... Show More
57m 14s