The Modern Art Notes Podcast

Museum responses to fascism (or not)

Episode No. 770 features former museum director, former Association of Art Museum Directors president, and Souls Grown Deep president Maxwell L. Anderson, and Oakland Museum of California director Lori Fogarty. With the Trump administration and its Congressional allies having threatened, diminished, or attacked national cultural institutions such as the National Gallery of Art, the Kennedy Center, and increasingly the Smithsonian Institution, Anderson discusses whether the sector's response to government hostility has been appropriate. The first, and perhaps only museum to speak out [https://www.janm.org/press/release/janm-supports-smithsonian-and-national-museum-american-history-and-rejects-white] after the most recent Trump administration attacks on Smithsonian museums and the directors was the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles. (JANM will be hosting National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig, the director the administration has most recently attacked, for a live program on August 22. [https://www.janm.org/democracy/events/2026-08-22/making-history-making-change]) The Association of Art Museum Directors has not spoken about administration attacks on federal museum institutions since this December 2025 statement. [https://aamd.org/for-the-media/press-release/aamd-statement-on-smithsonian-institution] The American Alliance of Museums "condemned" [https://www.aam-us.org/2026/07/20/aam-statement-on-the-independence-of-the-smithsonian-and-americas-museums/] the Trump administrations attacks nearly two weeks after JANM issued its statement. * Read and/or subscribe to Anderson's Art Scoping [https://artscoping.substack.com/] Substack. Museums also do internal work to meet our moment. Fogarty joins the program to discuss how museums and their staffs best work within their community and in ways that advance their communities values, especially in ways that go beyond narrow, essentializing approaches to administration, exhibitions, and more. * Read Fogarty's recent The Art Newspaper op-ed [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/27/comment-lori-fogarty-oakland-museum-california-museums-civic-institutions], "Museums are civic institutions. It's time we acted like it." Air date: August 6, 2026.

Remembering Betye Saar

Episode No. 769 features a conversation with Betye Saar recorded in 2016. Saar died on Sunday [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-07-27/betye-saar-dead-artist-assemblage-aunt-jemima-99] a few days short of her one hundredth birthday. Saar, known especially for her use of assemblage and her often pioneering address of complicated and often troubling US, and diasporic African and Caribbean histories, was one of the most influential artists of the last 60 years. Generations of artists, including Saar's artist-daughters Lezley and Alison, have found Saar's work foundational. Even though Saar was recognized around the world as among the most influential artists of late-twentieth and early twenty-first century United States, remarkably, shamefully, and revealingly, none of Saar's hometown art museums ever launched a retrospective of her work. Saar was a guest on The Modern Art Notes Podcast in 2016 on the occasion of a survey of her work organized by De Domijnen (which was formerly known as Museum Het Domein) in Sittard, the Netherlands in partnership with Scottsdale (Ariz.) Museum of Contemporary Art. For images of artworks discussed in this conversation, see Episode No. 222. [https://manpodcast.com/portfolio/no-222-betye-saar/] Air date: July 30, 2026.

Derrick Adams

Episode No. 768 features artist Derrick Adams. The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is presenting "Derrick Adams: View Master" [https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/derrick-adams-view-master/] through September 7. It is the first mid-career survey of Adams' [https://www.derrickadams.com/] twenty-year career. The exhibition was curated by Dexter Wimberly and Tessa Bachi Haas. An Adams monograph was published by Monacelli in association with Gagosian, an art dealership chain, last year in anticipation of the exhibition. Adams' work celebrates contemporary Black Life in works that emphasize joy and leisure. Among the institutions presenting solo exhibitions of his work are the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver. His work is in collection of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; the Studio Museum in Harlem; and Adams' hometown Baltimore Museum of Art. Series of Adams' work discussed on the program: * Floater [https://www.derrickadams.com/floater-series]; * Figure in the Urban Landscape [https://www.derrickadams.com/figure-in-the-urban-landscape]; * Profile Pics [https://www.derrickadams.com/profile-pics]; and * Family Portraits [https://www.derrickadams.com/family-portrait]. Instagram: Derrick Adams [https://www.instagram.com/derrickadamsny/], Tyler Green. [https://www.instagram.com/tylergreenbooks/] Air date: July 23, 2026.

Young Joon Kwak; "The Crossing"

Episode No. 767 features artist Young Joon Kwak and curator Laura Igoe. Kwak is featured in the 2026 Whitney Biennial [https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2026-biennial] at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Curated by Drew Sawyer and Marcela Guerrero with assistance from Beatriz Cifuentes and Carina Martinez, it's on view through August 23. Kwak [https://www.youngjoon.com/] uses sculpture, performance, and collective action to explore bodily transformation, intimacy, and the politics of visibility. Through visually lush, often highly detailed sculptures, Kwak challenges traditional and dominant modes of representation while manifesting ways that trans and queer bodies might be seen. Kwak is the co-founder of Mutant Salon and lead performer in the electronic-dance-noise band Xina Xurner with Marvin Astorga. They have had solo exhibitions at museums such as the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley; the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York; and ARKO Art Center, Seoul. Kwak's work is in the collections of BAMPFA, the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Speed Art Museum, Louisville; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Igoe is the curator of "The Crossing: Picturing the American Revolution" [https://michenerartmuseum.org/exhibition/the-crossing/] at the Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Penn. The exhibition looks at how artists have represented Continental Army commander-in-chief George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776. Upon reaching the New Jersey side of the river, Washington and his troops would attack carousing Hessian mercenary soldiers fighting for the British, earning a pivotal victory for the Patriots. "The Crossing" is particularly interested in how artists have built on and 'refuted' Emanuel Leutze's famed 1851 Washington Crossing the Delaware [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417], which is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The exhibition is on view through January 10, 2027. As discussed on the program: * Kwak's Glitter Mani Festo. [https://www.youngjoon.com/glitter-manifesto] Igoe was a guest on Episode No. 732 [https://manpodcast.com/portfolio/no-732-igshaan-adams-laura-igoe/], when she discussed her election to the Jenkintown, Penn. school board. Instagram: Young Joon Kwak [https://www.instagram.com/youngjoonkwak/], Laura Igoe [https://www.instagram.com/lauratigoe/], Tyler Green. [https://www.instagram.com/tylergreenbooks/] Air date: July 16, 2026.

Marcel Duchamp, Nic Nicosia

Episode No. 766 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features curators Matthew Affron, Michelle Kuo, and Ann Temkin, and artist Nic Nicosia. The Museum of Modern Art, New York is presenting "Marcel Duchamp" [https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5820] through August 22. The exhibition, the first Duchamp retrospective in the United States since 1973, features over 300 works from across Duchamp's career. The show was curated by Affron, Kuo, and Temkin, with assistance from with Alexandra "Lo" Drexelius, Helena Klevorn, Danielle Cooke, and Julia Vázquez. MoMA has published a catalogue for the show; Amazon [https://amzn.to/4vTOitn] offers it for $63. The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas is showing "Nic Nicosia: Everyday Surreal" [https://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/art/exhibitions/exhibition/id/2178] through August 16. The exhibition surveys the last 25 years of Nicosia's career (the period since a 1999-2000 mid-career retrospective) a time during which he has particularly focused on sculpture, films, and drawing. The exhibition was curated by Jed Morse. The Nasher has published a valuable catalogue of the exhibition. It is available from the museum. Air date: July 9, 2026.