Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #11

We’re back once again with another special podcast produced exclusively for the Art21 Blog’s “Centerfield” column. This week, our panelists, artist Dan Gunn, artist and Bad at Sports co-founder Duncan MacKenzie, and Chicago arts writer and Art21 Blog editor Claudine Isé review the solo exhibition Cathy Wilkes: I Give You All My Money at The Renaissance Society and discuss the artist Damien Hirst as sign, signifier, and circus ringmaster of the contemporary art world and commodity culture at large–a discussion sparked by art critic Christian Viveros-Faune’s tongue-in-cheek eulogy for Hirst in the January 18, 2012 issue of the Village Voice. We also share our monthly recommendations of what to see in Chicago and the Midwestern region, with links below. As always, thank you for listening!

[audio:https://hw.libsyn.com/p/3/2/2/322675085f50926f/Fielding_Practice_11fin.mp3?sid=ddafa1a17ad275f7a7c24c4d6da7631c&l_sid=29830&l_eid=&l_mid=2878883&expiration=1327519036&hwt=1484d563108186833cb1d9d15f71f18f] Click here to listen to the podcast.

Installation shots from Cathy Wilkes: I Give You All My Money (note: shots are from the installation at The Modern Institute, not The Renaissance Society):

Cathy Wilkes. "I Give You All My Money," 2008. Mixed media installation. Dimensions variable. Photo courtesy The Modern Institute.

Cathy Wilkes. "I Give You All My Money" (detail), 2008. Mixed media installation. Courtesy The Modern Institute.

Cathy Wilkes. "I Give You All My Money" (detail), 2008. Mixed media installation. Courtesy The Modern Institute.

Cathy Wilkes. "I Give You All My Money" (detail), 2008. Mixed media installation. Courtesy The Modern Institute.

Panelist’s Picks for this Month:

Dan: Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, February 16-June 10 at The Smart Museum of Art at The University of Chicago.

Duncan: Call for volunteers and participants for Version Fest’s Version 12: Bridgeport, the Community of the Future, a month-long urban experiment in Chicago where organizers “will be opening and remixing twelve temporary spaces, businesses, enterprises and projects, all to celebrate the neighborhood they love and call home.”

Claudine: Not About Bombs, January 31 – March 3, 2012 at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, MN. Photo-based works by five Iraqi women artists that challenge the West’s assumptions about gender roles in the Middle East. Located at 2822 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis.