Tania Ketenjian
Arts Journalist, Radio Producer, Co-Founder SOUND MADE PUBLIC, Daughter, Mother, Grandaughter, Armenian-Lebanese, living in San Francisco and New York
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contact
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INTERVIEWS
David MaiselDavid’s photography contains layers of complexity and beauty in equal order.
Laura PoitrasForthcoming, forthright and essential, Academy Award winning filmmaker Laura Poitras’ work maps the contours of the U.S. by documenting its misdeeds and those on the peripheries who are affected.
Vivienne Westwood
One of the most groundbreaking and grounded designers of the last century, known for her punk aesthetic and soulful spirit, Vivienne Westwood charms with her Northern British accent and irreverence to expected norms.
Angela DavisProfessor, author, scholar, activist, leading figure of the Civil Rights Movement, vegetarian and prison abolitionist Angela Davis takes you to three places of great significance to her: San Quentin Prison, Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley and Marin County Courthouse, all places of dissent and change.
Anna HalprinThe groundbreaking world renowned dancer and choreographer reflects on a past and looks to the future, pondering her present under the Northern California redwoods.
Cat PowerWith a southern drawl and a hypnotic voice, Cat Power draws you into her ethereal and intoxicating world bringing you her own music and unexpected interpretations, almost like translations, of some of our most beloved songs. She walks onto the stage and you can hear a pin drop. It’s as if we have stepped into a dream state and like all dreams, it’s full of unexpected surprises.
Paul McCarthyVideo artist, sculptor, painter and interventionist Paul McCarthy has seemingly very few inhibitions. His work analyzes, criticizes and mocks contemporary culture, the bits that seem to at times deserve it the most, highlighting the hypocrisy and oppression inherent within them. Titles like Complex Shit, White Snow, and Tomato Head may give insight into the character of the work and the ways in which he sees the world around him.
John WatersFilmmaker, artist and provocateur John Waters is unparalleled in his vision and range, both as a filmmaker, artist and performer. You have seen his work in places as wide ranging as NY galleries to an unforgettable episode of The Simpsons. But maybe what he’s best known for is Hairspray, Pink Flamingos and Cry Baby.
Bill FontanaSound artist Bill Fontana shares the sonic investigations of the our daily environments to connect with psychic hinterlands. When he first started his career, he was asked by Australian Broadcasting Corporation to record what Australia sounds like. He went on to do multiple public art projects and sound sculptures both around the globe and in some of our most prized creative institutions.
Lena DunhamFilmmaker and writer Lena Dunham was 26 years old when she made Girls, with the support of Judd Apatow. Written by Dunham, Girls ran for 6 season, depicting the highs and lows of 4 young women as they navigate their careers, love lives and who they hope to become. To get herself ready to explore the angst of our early 20s, she made Tiny Furniture, a film loosely based on her own conundrums.
Steve Buscemi
With an unforgettable face and wry smile, actor Steve Buscemi makes his mark on his viewers and fans alike. A darling of the Coen brothers, he has been in dozens of films: Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski, to name a few. He also has directed several films and, fun fact, was a firefighter in Little Italy for four years in the 80s.
Larry ClarkPhotographer and filmmaker Larry Clark made a splash in the early 90s with his film, Kids, chronicling the lives of wayward youth in downtown NY and inviting us to ponder the boundaries, or lack thereof, of adolescence. It’s an investigation he continues till today. He has made ten films, his work has been shown in galleries and museums all over the world and continues to engage the viewer, regardless of time having passed.
Luc TuymansArtist, curator, and professor Luc Tuymans is enormously prolific. His work, primarily painting, focusing on our complicated relationship to history and the things we cover up or hide, is founded upon an upbringing in Europe and his family’s dedication to the Dutch resistance and the hiding of refugees. In the last twenty years, Tuymans has been in over 300 shows, has had 30 solo shows, and he’s in the collections of The Broad, The Hammer Museum, MoMA, SF MoMA, The Guggenheim, and The Tate, including many others.
Ryan McGinleyPhotographer Ryan McGinley has the word penis tattooed on the inside of his mouth. His quixotic images of often naked, often uninhibited youth raises questions around our own judgments around being young and hedonistic. He has graced the pages of all the best magazines, had a solo exhibition at The Whitney when he was 25 years old (one of the youngest artists to do so) and his gallery shows do not disappoint.
Larry SultanPhotographer Larry Sultan grew up in the San Fernando Valley, near Los Angeles, and became most well known for his photographs of adult film actors and crew, many of which shot their films in the crevices of his home town. Exploring an entirely different part of his childhood home, Sultan’s series Pictures From Home captures his parents through images and interviews, which was later turned into a Broadway play.
Charlie KaufmanFilmmaker and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has a way with words and emotion that is arresting. His profound and curious films—Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, NY—burrow themselves into your soul and stay there for a long while. His candor and transparency is infectious and his was of seeing is profound. He started as a comedic writer but developed into filmmaking, exploring themes around identity, mortality and meaning.
Eugene JareckiAward winning documentary filmmaker isn’t so sure about the moral compass of the history of our country, particularly in the context of war and the “military industrial complex” the US has built and maintained for decades. His film, Why We Fight, critiques the importance the US has given to its military, at the expense of its people.
Dalai Lama and Paul EkmanHis Holiness the Dalai Lama and social scientist Dr. Paul Ekman may seem like they come from different schools of thought but as it turns out have very similar perspectives on something they share a passion for: Human Emotion. The Dalai Lama has been a spiritual leader since he was enthroned at the age of 15. Dr. Paul Ekman has been studying non verbal communication for over 50 years, and is famous for his work on facial expressions and the emotions behind them.
Wayne ShorterSaxophonist, composer and band leader, the cosmic and inimitable Wayne Shorter has collaborated with all the greats: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea and so many others. Winner of 12 Grammy awards, many of his compositions have become standards. His mind and creativity is otherworldly and he shares his vision through the ages.
William Pope LArtist William Pope .L is a performance artist, painter, photographer and interventionist. As he once said, “I am a fisherman of social absurdity, if you will… My focus is to politicize disenfranchisement, to make it neut, to reinvent what’s beneath us, to remind us where we all come from.” And according to his gallery, “The goals for his work were several: joy, money and uncertainty— not necessarily in that order.” Thoughtful, kind, brave, questioning, curious, odd and indelible.
Joan RiversDoes Joan Rivers need an introduction? People of a certain generation will know her the moment they hear her voice and, because of a documentary her daughter made about their relationship, they have come to know her as well. If you haven’t heard of her, however, Rivers was an actress of stage and screen, and undoubtedly one of the greatest comediannes of the 20th century.
Robert Frank The Americans - Corey KellerThe Americans, first published in France in ‘58 set an example for American photography for the next half century.
Frederick WisemanFilmmaker, and former Law professor, Frederick Wiseman, came to filmmaking circuitously: He was teaching his students about the criminally insane and started filming, cinema verité style, in an asylum which was immediately closed once his film Titicut Follies came out. He left law behind and became a truth teller of our most fundamental institutions: Hospital, High School, Social Security. Over fifty films later, Wiseman is one of the most important documetarians of our time.
Atom EgoyanArmenian Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan is known for several things: He films with his heart on his sleeve, his wife, Arsinée, is often his lead actress and his films spark debate and reverence both within and outside the film community. Calendar is a must, as are many others. He’s made 18 films, over 10 short films and several films for TV.
Lawrence FerlinghettiFounder of City Lights Books, publisher of formerly banned books, poet, beat movement leader, activist and maybe one of the most important literary figures of the 20th Century, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, author of A Coney Island of the Mind, speaks his truth. When Ginsberg’s Howl was banned, he took it to court and changed the meaning of obscene, opening the floodgates for literature and poetry. As he once wrote, “I am awaiting, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder”
Barry JenkinsBefore there was the Academy Award winning Moonlight, filmmaker Barry Jenkins made Medicine for Melancholy, an elegy both to love and to San Francisco, a city where he developed his skill as a filmmaker before changing cinema forever. Two people fall in love in a chance encounter, embarking upon several key San Francisco moments that highlight race and class in a complex city, both beautiful and unattainable, much like the love itself.
Wim WendersWings of Desire, Paris, Texas, Perfect Days, Pina. The list goes on and on for filmmaker Wim Wenders who makes movies that change the way we see the world. He started his film career in 1970, as part of the New German Cinema era and hasn’t stopped since. He’s made short films, commercials, music videos and has been the president of the European Film Academy since 1996.
Russell BanksAuthor Russel Banks has written some of our most beloved novels—Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter and many more. Several of these have been turned into films, and all of them touch upon some of America’s most tender spots: Race, class and how we all find ways to relate to each other.
Stephen SoderberghFilmmaker Stephen Soderbergh made a splash with Sex, Lies and Videotape, his directorial debut which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Of his many films and TV series’ one thing remains clear, Soderbergh has a distinctive vision that he is not about to compromise. While often seen as an art house filmmaker, he has made major blockbuster films including Ocean’s Eleven, Contagion, Che, Eric Brockovich and Out of Sight.
Christian McBrideJazz legend (he may be too young to be called a legend but he certainly has the resume to be) Christian McBride has been playing stand up bass since he was five. The list of people he has played alongside is staggering—Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Nancock, Joshua Redman, Queen Latifah, and the list goes on. He’s also a wonderful person.
Julian TempleBritish filmmaker Julian Temple knows a thing or two about culture, especially the kind that involves punk. He was an early chronicler of The Sex Pistols. Here, he turns his gaze to another seminal figure of the British music scene, The Clash, and his dear friend Joe Strummer.
John BaldessariI am Making Art, I Am Making Art, I Am Making Art. I am putting colored circles on the faces of people in a photo, I am using sans serif letters to write manifestos on canvas, I am inspiring a generation, I am in the collections of some of the best museums in the world, I am artist John Baldessari.
Sylvie BlocherWhat is it about having your name on a building, or earning vast amounts of money that makes one feel like they are worthy of something. Video artist Sylvie Blocher set out to discover what makes the wealthy, specifically of Silicon Valley, click.
Gaetano PesceThere is no one quite like Gaetano Pesce. He sees furniture making and design not so much as a means to an end but rather an extension of his vastly creative and colorful mind. Agnostic to material, Pesce finds ways to make the things he envisions and gives us the chance to delight in his world. His studio, a vast space in lower Manhattan, is whimsical, vibrant, intoxicating and utterly Pesce.
Erik Spiekermann
Graphic designer extraordinaire, Erik Speakermann, was there when the Berlin Wall came down but that’s not his claim to fame. He may have made the typeface you use every day and others you wish you could have made.
Hiroshi Sugimoto Photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto makes dreamlike, magical, large scale photos with long exposures that change our perceptions of the species they represent. His work is like none other and if you know it, you recognize it the second you see it. For one, it will make you rethink internal space, both literally and figuratively. And, as he says, his work is a expression of “time exposed.” He also is a highly accomplished architect, has made public art works and is part of collections at The Met, Centre Pompidou and the National Gallery.
Edward BurtynskyPhotographer Edward Burtynsky takes very large format photographs, documenting the inevitable industrialization of landscape, one born from unfettered capitalism, and its impact on nature and man. He was the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary, Manufactured Landscapes, directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
Mike JudgeRemember Beavis and Butthead, the slacker teens who are obsessed with heavy metal. If you’re of the MTV generation, you can hear their cackling in your head right now. That laughter and those voices were Mike Judge, an animator, writer, producer, director and musician. He’s made many films, including Idiocracy, which he speaks about here.
Pico IyerBritish born but a global citizen, Pico Iyer’s writing takes us on journeys outside and within ourselves. As he says, his writing reflects on, “how to blend the realism we all need with the hope we can’t live without.” Some of his books include, “Falling off the Map: some lonely places of the world,””The open road : the global journey of the fourteenth Dalai Lama,” and, most recently, “The Half Known Life : In Search of Paradise.” These titles give insight into Iyer’s way of seeing and being in the world.
Alice SeboldAuthor Alice Sebold made her creative mark with The Lovely Bones but it was a controversial truth telling, one that shined a light on the malleability and mystery of memory, that put her in the shadows. This conversation is before all of that.
Laurent CantetOur middle school classroom carries a wealth of memories. So much happens in middle schools. Many of our foibles, our triumphs, our curiosities are influenced by those years and they can change the trajectory of our education for years to come. Laurent Cantet took a gander at what that portentous time might feel like, in The Class, which won the Palme d’Or. But his film took us a step further, looking closely at the class and race disparities in contemporary Paris and the ways those affect education.
Jennie C. JonesJennie C. Jones is a sound and visual artist whose work looks at “listening as a conceptual practice.” In her world, the visual and aural are in a constant interplay. She also has a love for jazz and plays with some of the greats in unexpected, surprising and resonant ways.
Paola AntonelliThe debate between is it art or is it design seems endless, and by all accounts, fruitless. What does it matter? Will it change the way we like, or don’t like, something. Senior curator of design at MoMA, Paula Antonelli has been blurring these lines since she started at the museum nearly three decades ago, creating one exhibition after another, making the seemingly ordinary, extraordinary.
Tobi WongOn meeting the artist Jenny Holzer, designer Tobi Wong asked her if she would sign his forearm. She did, spelling out, “Protect Me From What I Want.” Tobi turned it into a tattoo. Much of his work is playing with our desires and expectations. In person, he’s thoughtful, charming, polite and considered manner belies the riot he can cause. A true artist. Although he describes his work as Paraconceptual.
Trevor Paglan
Artist, sculptor, writer, investigator Trevor Paglen makes the unseen seen. Go to his website and some of the first words you’ll see are “The Bureaucratic Sublime,” “Skies and Clouds,” “Celestial Objects,” and “Symbols & Signs.” His interests are vast, his expressions agnostic and his approach, sublime.
Ricki LakeMost of us know Ricki Lake as the sparkling, insightful, ever so charming, talk show host, who introduced a younger generation to universal concepts like sex, love, partnership. When it came time to go through another universal experience, having a baby, she discovered how rather than a natural process it had become a medicalized industry, a “business of being born”. So she did what she does best, made a documentary about it.
Stanley NelsonFilmmaker and documentarian Stanley Nelson comes from an exceptional lineage and his work is dedicated to digging deep into some of America’s darkest moments. One of those is the terrifying Jonestown massacre where followers of Jim Jones moved to Guayana and drank the Kool-Aid that would ultimately kill nearly 1000 of them, 70% of which were African American.
Josh RouseThis is directly from singer/songwriter Josh Rouse’s website because it says it best: “You don’t have to work hard to enjoy Rouse’s music. His songs present themselves to you with an open heart, an innate intelligence, and an absolute lack of pretension. They are clear-eyed, empathetic, and penetrating. Without pandering, they seek to satisfy both your ear and your understanding. The verses draw you in with telling detail, both musical and thematic, and the choruses lift and deliver. They resolve without seeming overly tidy or pat.”
Wavy GravyHippie, activist, jokester and all around beloved figure of the counterculture movement, Wavy Gravy isn’t just a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor. He is someone that brings both levity and awareness to the ways in which we can make the world better. As he once said, “Keep your sense of humor, my friend; if you don't have a sense of humor it just isn't funny anymore.”
Stefan SagmeisterGraphic designer and artist Stefan Sagmeister is no stranger to controversy. He has used his own body as a canvas, famously inscribing DIY into it, amongst other things. He’s worked with Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones and countless others. His work has been shown in museums across the globe and he is not afraid of sharing his opinions.
Ram DassCharles Alpert had it all, or so it seemed. A graduate of Stanford, a professor at Harvard, he was working on game changing studies in psychology. And then research he did with Timothy Leary around LSD took him down another path. Suddenly, all the conventional notions of success became suspect, he knew there was something more to it all, so he went to find out. He moved to India, was given the name Ram Dass and became a spiritual teacher for millions. Be Here Now became one of the most important books of the 60s and 70s counterculture. One of his quotes is, ““It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.” He certainly took this to heart when he had his stroke and bounced back even stronger.
Stephen BurksAmerican designer and a professor of architecture at Columbia University, Stephen Burks roots his practice in the human relationship with object and material. His output is as much a collaboration with makers and users as it is the production of objects.
James FrancoActor James Franco is handsome. He loves school. He has been parodied and honored. And he starred in Milk, a brilliant film about Harvey Milk, the assassinated San Francisco beloved mayor, an event that placed homophobia in the nation’s spotlight. Here, he speaks of his role in Howl, where he portrays poet Allen Ginsberg.
MarwencolAfter a traumatic brain injury that left Mark Hogancamp unable to recall his previous life, he builds an elaborate, made-up one in his garden, with dolls representing himself and others, trying both to make sense of his past and his present. When filmmaker Jeff Malmberg read about this in Esopus Magazine, he knew he had to go exploring and from that came the documentary Marwencol.
Sweet Grass A documentary like Sweetgrass comes very few times in our lives. A mediation, quiet and moving, saying nothing and everything, following contemporary shepherds as they lead their flock into the mountains of Montana. Utterly timeless and immensely beautiful, the story is told through the eyes of anthropologist Lucien Caistaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash.
Lone ScherfigDanish filmmaker and screenwriter Lone Scherfig’s An Education marked a seminal moment in her career: An adapted screenplay by Nick Hornby, a BAFTA nomination, Academy Award nominations for best actress, best screenplay and just a great film.
Sandra Phillips-Avedon SFMoMA senior curator of photography Sandra Phillips, has been in love with photography since she studied at Bard College. She has curated dozens of shows: Larry Sultan, Ansel Adams, Helen Levitt, and, in this case, the late, great Richard Avedon, whose larger-than-life photographs of the most well-known cultural figures of our time go beyond the glitz and glamor and get into the heart and soul of who they are, doing what some people think a camera does, offer a lens into the soul.
It Might Get Loud Rock lovers all have their favorite guitarist: Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Kurt Cobain. In Davis Guggenheim’s documentary, It Might Get Loud, he chooses three of the greats—Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White—exploring their individual styles and culminating at an unforgettable moment where they all play together, on camera.
Brian CopelandActor, playwright, comedian, and author Brian Copeland had the longest-running one-man show in San Francisco history called “Not a Genuine Black Man” about his upbringing in San Leandro, which, in 1971, was considered one of the most racist suburbs in the US. Copeland aptly plays 20 characters, including his young eight-year-old self, his sister, parents, landlord and all others who were present in his life at this complex time. He does it with humor and honesty, leaving a mark that is both a combination of “wry humor and heartbreak.”
Warhol with Tim BurgardCurator Tim Burgard created an exceptional exhibition on one of the most famous artists of all time, Andy Warhol, whose vast amount of work—film, photographs, prints, painting, and sculpture—has continued to captivate audiences for decades. Known for his role in music (he managed The Velvet Underground), this exhibition focuses primarily on his engagement with music and musicians, from The Rolling Stones to Elvis Presley.
Jill D'Alessandro on Yves Saint Laurent
Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Jill D’Alessandro has put together a stunning collection of Yves Saint Laurent pieces from 40 years of Haute Couture. Arguably, YSL revolutionized women’s wear and we can see the imprint of his work in so much of women’s clothing today. He’s been called a virtuoso, a visionary, a genius, and, as he once said and very much demonstrated, “Fashions fade, style is eternal.”
Ari Folman Filmmaker Ari Folman was a soldier for the Israeli army at the height of their war with Lebanon. He witnessed and took part in unspeakable clashes and needed to better understand some of those experiences through a medium he knows best: Movies. The result is his animated and multiple award winning film, Waltz With Bashir.
Wayne WangWho needs to show films in movie theaters when there’s YouTube? That’s not entirely accurate but for a moment, YouTube was featuring films by well known directors and Wayne Wang was intrigued. So he adapted a Yiyun Li novel and the result is a film called Princess of Nebraska. It’s a whole new way of looking at distribution, and at YouTube. Director, screenwriter and producer, Wang has dozens of films under his proverbial belt including The Joy Luck Club and Smoke, which won the Berlin Silver Bear Award.
Note by NoteAfter seeing Ben Niles’ film Note by Note, you will never look at a Steinway piano in the same way again. He shows the craftsmanship that goes into making the best pianos in the world, “from forest floor to concert hall.” It takes 12 months to build a Steinway and we get an inside look into the gestation of this magnificent instrument.
Henry UrbachHenry Urbach was an author, educator, and curator of architecture and design at SFMoMA. He left this earth before his time, and his colleague, Joseph Becker, had this to say about him, “Henry was a crusader and a pioneer. He was uncompromising in his vision—to push on the boundaries of art and architecture, to excite the sense, to provoke us out of our comfort zone. He asked us to think not just through the ideas of the built environment but around them and against them. Every act of curating, teaching, or writing was a chance to dismantle a preconceived notion and think differently, deeper and with more curiosity, about the world around us.”
Jennifer Fox FlyingDirector, writer, producer and cinematographer Jennifer Fox doesn't shy away from the tough topics: War, interracial relationships, sexuality, abuse, feminism. In her series, Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, she explores her sexuality and female identity while inviting other women around the world to do the same. 17 countries, 1600 hours of tape, multiple revelations.
Sandra Phillips- FreidlanderSFMoMA senior curator of photography Sandra Phillips, discusses the work of Lee Friedlander, whose stunning photographs break all kinds of rules in photography and set new pathways for making pictures. Light and shadow play a huge role in his work alongside a kind of image layering within his pictures that suggest multiple realities happening at once. He’s one of the greatest American photographers of our time.
Raimonds StapransArtist and playwright Raimond Staprans’ paintings are distinguished by their exceptional use of light and color, “creating a ‘tension between representation and abstraction that plays with viewers' expectations.’ Everyday objects—a bowl of fruit, a bottle of water—are rendered transcendent, luminous, vibrant, alive.
Ben RubinMedia artist Ben Rubin has created some exceptional projects and possibly most well known of all is his massage installations titled Listening Post. Working with statistician Mark Hansen, together they made a work that collects thousands upon thousands of chat room conversations, highlighting one of the most common words, “I am.” The piece has traveled around the globe, making an appearance at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Whitney Museum of American Art, amongst others.
Cinematic OrchestraKnown for their immersive, jazzy style that also incorporates turntables and goes so well with moving images, Cinematic Orchestra have been moving audiences since 1999 and have played around the globe.
Raymond NasherBusinessman and banker Raymond Nasher fell in love with art and sculpture when he was quite young but it was a Jean Arp sculpture, purchased for him by his wife, that inspired him to build one of the most revered and extensive collections of modern sculpture in the world. The work needed a home so he built the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas and had Renzo Piano design it. The collection is expansive: From Basquiat to Miro, the collection is unlike any other.
Do Make Say ThinkDo Make Say Think make dreamy, somewhat jazzy, somewhat electronic, somewhat glitchy, always beguiling music.
Quinceañera - Wash Westmoreland and Richard GlatzerThere’s a beautiful tradition in Latin culture of celebrating a young woman’s coming of age. It’s called a Quinceañera and director Wash Westmoreland, with his husband Richard Glatzer, wanted to explored this remarkable moment in a life, one filled with promise and expectation. Pulling from their own personal experience as a couple, moving into Echo Park in LA, they created a fiction film with a cast of largely non professional actors bringing a special authenticity to the film.
Matthew HiggsArtist, writer, curator and director of White Columns gallery in NYC, Matthew Higgs, knows a thing or two about contemporary art. He was a judge for the Turner Prize, he has worked with some of the most famous artists we see today and there’s even a "non-membership-based honor society" focused on his life and work. He is beloved and humble, with a keen eye. Oh and he is an artist himself, so he knows what it takes.
Ralph Rugoff
Invisible ArtCurator Ralph Rugoff has presented hundreds of exhibitions but one that really stuck was his exhibition on a genre of conceptual art called Invisible Art. Wait, what? Art you can’t see? Why yes. Take, for instance, trickster and genius Maurizio Cattelan who claimed an invisible sculpture was stolen from his car and has the police report to show for it. Rugoff was in California for some time before becoming the director of the Hayward Gallery in London.
George BeylerianBeylerian almost single-handedly brought European design to North America, his legacy can be found in furniture, retail, interior design, materials and what we now call Lifestyle. An immigrant success story born in the creative cauldron of 60’s NYC.
Christophe Pillet
French designer of architecture, objects, and furniture Christophe Pillet's breadth of work belies a simplicity of purpose, that of beauty and refinement. From his early days in the Memphis group, Michele De Lucchi and Philippe Starck, to his own practice and role as design director for Lacoste, Pillet quietly practices perfection.
Ayse BirselDesigner and author of Design the Life You Love Ayse Birsel turned the focus of her design thinking away from objects and towards the practice of life itself.
Humberto Campana Humberto, along with his brother Fernando, are more commonly known as the Campana Brothers and occupy a distinct position in the world of design. The Brazilian brother's approach to design elevates craft and repurposing of material to new levels and makes such phrases as favela chic look as clumsy and outmoded as their imitators.
Giulio CappelliniGiulio Cappellini effuses old-world charm and an acute sense of the future. He has employed these traits in building the eponymous Italian Furniture brand Cappellini, one of the world’s leading voices in design since the 1980s. His ability to both spot talent and bring resources together made Cappellini a distinct voice in twentieth-century design and helped bring about the careers of Jasper Morrison, Tom Dixon, Marc Newson, Marcel Wanders, Erwan & Ronan Bouroullec, Nendo, and Michael Young, among others.
Laurene BoymOne-half of Boym Partners and founder of the Association of Women Industrial Designers Laurene Boym has taught at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her objects are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. and has designed for brands like Alessi, Authentics, Swatch and Flos.
Ingo MaurerNicknamed “the poet of light, Ingo Maurer employed whimsy, wit, and beauty in his passion for lighting design, using light as a medium as much as metal and wire. Ingo changed the world of lighting design, his sense of humor and charm are embodied in his designs, and his eponymous lighting company always leads with style. He was passionate about his work and when Germany wanted to ban incandescent light bulbs, he assured them that it would cause a “boom for psychiatrists” since light has a direct correlation to feeling.
Hella JongeriusThe oeuvre of Dutch industrial designer Hella Jongerius is one of complementing opposites, matching and merging: such as craft with technologies or plastics with ceramic. Emerging from the famed design hothouse Design Academy Eindhoven, she quickly got to work with the now legendary Droog design and became seen as part of the wave of Dutch designers of the early part of this century. Jongeruis, however is more than that, her understanding and approach to material and process show a level of sophistication and engagement beyond her peers.
Jay OsgerbyWe may not give much thought to the things that inhabit our lives, but Jay Osgerby -one-half of the design firm Barber Osgerby - pays a tremendous amount of attention. Furniture, lighting, door handles, luggage, and even Olympic torches are conceived, thought through, experimented with, and finally launched, quietly improving our material world.
Jehs and LaubThe German industrial design duo Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub known more colloquially as Jehs and Laub have for years worked with the top furniture and design brands across the world, including Cassina, Fritz Hansen, Knoll, Stelton, and Mercedes-Benz. Despite the scope of clientele, their Stuttgart office is no bigger than it needs to perform.
John MaedaFormer professor at MIT and President of RISD, Maeda has been a visionary and a protagonist at the crossroads of art, design and technology for over two decades.
Konstantin GrcicGrcic was born and raised in Germany and trained as a fine furniture maker in the rural depths of England at the John Makepeace Parnham House two-year residential cabinetmaking course. This unusual background for an industrial designer may be one of the keys to both his success and his oeuvre. He has worked with the leading furniture manufacturers in the world and collaborated on projects with Herzog DeMueron and Jasper Morrison through his eponymously named firm "Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design" (KGID), in Munich, Germany, working with a staff of five
Maira KalmanThe American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer known for her painting and writing about the human condition, also her colorful New Yorker cover art was also married to designer Tibor Kalman and helped build the famous M&Co with him.
Matteo ThunArchitect and designer Matteo Thun worked with the inimitable Ettore Sottsass and together they formed the famous Memphis Group, a group of Italian designers and architects who designed a wide range of postmodern objects including furniture, lighting, fabrics, carpets, ceramics, glass and metal objects. They were revered and reviled and their impact is undeniable.
Martino GamperThere are few people who are to be found cutting up museum-quality Gio Ponti furniture and hardly any who could do so and show the brilliance of the idea. Gamper, a trained ébéniste, reconfigures our expectations of form, aesthetics and just where craft and design may appear in our world. A quiet but confident iconoclast he has no mission but an ability to reimagine, beautifully.
Mario BelliniAward winning and groundbreaking architect and designer Mario Bellini has worked with all the best: Olivetti, B&B Italia, Cassina, Yamaha, Renault, and so many others creating objects as wide ranging as TVs and typewriters to chairs and cameras. Sometimes we forget how everything we touch has been designed. When a designer like Bellini works on everyday objects, he makes daily life more wondrous.
Nacho CarbonellWalking into Nacho Carbonell’s workshop is like walking into another world, one that may be underground or underwater. Delightful, confounding and awe inspiring, his pieces are unmistakable and he truly toggles this somewhat unnecessary but relevant discussion around the burred lines of art and design. One could say many of his creations are interactive, they invite your engagement, allowing you to, “escape everyday life.”
Michael AnnasstaisadesWhen you walk into a room and the lighting is just right, you can feel it. Lighting has such an effect on how we feel and experience our worlds and few contemporary designers know this as well as Michael Annasstaisades does. His elegant and refined pieces are not only beautiful in the light they emanate but are also stunning in the way they look. He extends that design sensibility to other objects as well: jewelry, furniture and tabletop.
Max LambOne of Max Lamb’s pieces of furniture he made on a sandy beach, pushing rods into the sand to create cavities while smelting the recycled aluminum on a portable stove that he then poured into the holes. You could call it “performance sand casting”. Or just brilliant. His approach to the making of furniture is a lesson in revision, revisiting, and re-imagining. He brings a kind of hope to how human creativity may save us.
Naoto Fukasawa
Described as one of the world’s most influential designers, Naoto Fukasawa’s work is almost ubiquitous if you love design. One of the lead designers for Muji, he has designed clocks, kettles, blenders, rice cookers, card holders, cd players, chairs and so much more. He has used words like, "design dissolving in behavior", "center of consciousness," and "normality", paying close attention to the relationship between design and behavior. In this conversation, he speaks to not only his work but also another project he has, a small cabin he is building using only his hands, no tools whatsoever.
Patricia Urquiola
Architect and designer, Patricia Urquiola, loves color and vibrancy. Her designs invite both play and repose and her work can be seen in the collections of Alessi, B&B Italia, Cappelini, Flos and Cassina, where she is also the creative director.
René de GuzmanCurator Rene de Guzman led the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco, through some exceptional exhibitions, one of which was in honor of the Black Panther Party’s 40th Anniversary. “We want freedom. We want the power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.”
This was the starting point, the foundation of the Party’s political platform, one of the 20th century’s most controversial, effective, and inspiring organizations. Artists in the exhibition include Joseph Beuys, Nick Cave, Emory Douglas, David Hammons, Kerry James, Andy Warhol, Carrie Mae Weems, and others.
Johnathan CaquetteFilmmaker Jonathan Caouette has been making films since he was 8 years old and his deeply personal, Tarnation, was “something of a miracle,” and, “a triumph” according to critics and viewers alike. The award winning film takes a look at his relationship with his Mom but visually it is unlike anything you have seen before: An experimental, totally brilliant, beautiful, magical, mystical, creative journey through Jonathan’s early life.
Blonde RedheadFounded in 1993 and still playing today, Blonde Redhead is a noise rock band made up of Italian identical twins Simone and Amedeo Pace and Japanese lead singer, Kazu Makino, who was once trampled by a horse but recovered and continues to carry audiences to cosmic places.
Roxy PaineA machine that dips a canvas into thick white paint and gently, slowly pulls it out to create a sculpture. Perfectly crafted poppies and mushrooms made out of polymer. Massive steel sculptures of tree roots. These are some of the things that artist Roxy Paine makes. One of his fascination is to create “machines addicted to making paintings, to the labor of painting.” He explores the inherent conflict between the natural world and the man made one, and somehow brings them together in the pieces he creates.
James LongleyA MacArthur genius, photographer and filmmaker James Longley has dedicated his life and lens to the war zones of Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza. His award winning film, Gaza Strip, recorded the events that took place during the second intifada, through the eyes of a 13-year-old Mohammed Hejazi, a second-grade dropout who throws rocks at Israeli soldiers, sells newspapers and paints the stark reality of living in a constant war zone.
Eric DrookerYou may have seen his work on the cover of The New Yorker, or maybe you have read his graphic novels but if you haven’t, you should take a look at his, “Romantic, existential, timeless” work. Evoking a deep sense of radicalism, independence, love and city life, Drooker is adjacent to the Beat Movement and designed the animation for Howl. Go wander in his world for a bit.
Anika NailahAuthor and activist Anika Nailah doesn’t want to turn a blind eye to the microaggressions that are experienced by black people in America every day but rather shine a light on them so that some healing can take place. Her book, Free, was a first step in this process but she went on to write more and encourage others to do the same, through her Director of Books Of Hope, a Boston-area program that encourages youth to write, self-publish, and sell their own books.
Amy BloomPsychotherapist and author Amy Bloom has written several award winning, best selling books. Her most recent one, In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, chronicles her beloved husband’s confrontation with impending Alzheimers and the decision they made to end his life. Her 2002 book, Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops, And Hermaphrodites With Attitude, is a staple in sociology and biology courses, helping to redefine the complex word, “normal.”
Alex GreyArtist, author, teacher and co-founder of the Hall of Sacred Mirrors, Alex Grey brings you into the spiritual realm, one that he explores through the use of psychedelics. He was in art school, debating between life and death, when he tried LSD with his now wife, Alyson, and discovered another consciousness, bringing that vision through work for decades to come.
Thank you for visiting and to all those who’ve taken the time to sit down with me over the years