Podcast
Bad at Sports
Hosted by Bad at Sports · EN
Bad At Sports is a weekly podcast about contemporary art. Founded in 2005, the series focuses on presenting the practices of artists, curators, critics, dealers, various other arts professionals through an online audio format.
48episodes
Episodes
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Bad at Sports Episode 955: Mindy Rose Schwartz
2d ago00:53:54Tap to summarizeThis week on Bad at Sports, Brian Andrews, Ryan Peter Miller, and Duncan MacKenzie sit down with Chicago artist Mindy Rose Schwartz to discuss Countersealed, her recent exhibition at M. LeBlanc Gallery. The conversation explores a deeply immersive exhibition built around ceramic scorpions emerging from cracks in the gallery floor, glowing bronze aliens, reconstructed fur animals, monumental incense sculptures, woven memorial forms, and a contemporary incantation bowl based on ancient Mesopotamian protective magic. Schwartz discusses material experimentation, memory, ecology, astrology, political anxiety, and the possibility of making art that is simultaneously playful, hopeful, sentimental, and critical. Name drops and links: Mindy Rose Schwartz – https://www.mindyroseschwartz.com M. Leblanc Gallery - https://mleblancchicago.com/ Louise Bourgeois – https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/louise-bourgeois-2351/art-louise-bourgeois Helen Mirra – https://hmirra.net/ Luba Krejci – https://browngrotta.com/artists/luba-krejci Dr. Justin Sledge – https://www.esoterica.tv King's Leap Gallery – https://www.kingsleapfinearts.com/
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Bad at Sports Episode 954: Heather Mekkelson
5d ago00:55:47Tap to summarizeThis week on Bad at Sports, Brian Andrews and Ryan Peter Miller sit down with Chicago artist Heather Mekkelson to discuss her recent paired exhibitions, Bass Note at 65GRAND and Snare at Boundary. Across two installations separated by nearly sixteen miles of Chicago, Mekkelson transforms obsolete communication technologies into sprawling sculptural environments wrapped in jute. The conversation explores technological obsolescence, archaeology, sound, labor, environmental extraction, analog nostalgia, artistic trust, and the strange afterlives of the materials we leave behind. From bog-preserved artifacts and ancient spears to dead HDMI cables and power distribution boxes, Mekkelson traces the resonances between human invention and human consequence. Name Drops and links Heather Mekkelson — https://www.heathermekkelson.com/ 65GRAND — https://www.65grand.com/ Boundary — https://www.boundarychicago.space/ Clacton Spear — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clacton_Spear Ancient Danish Corded Skirt (Egtved Girl context) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egtved_Girl
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Bad at Sports Episode 953: George Scheer
1w ago00:59:56Tap to summarizeExecutive Director of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, former co-founder of Elsewhere Museum, printmaking evangelist, institutional theorist, and recovering residency founder George Scheer joins Duncan and Ryan for a sprawling conversation about artist-centered institutions, the legacy of Robert Blackburn, socially engaged practice, the economics of DIY arts infrastructures, and what happens when artists try to build sustainable worlds inside systems that rarely reward care work. The conversation moves from the legendary Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop to the anarchic magic of Elsewhere's living archive, through New Orleans arts policy, cross-sector cultural work, printmaking discourse, academia, administration, and the impossible balancing act between artists, institutions, donors, and communities. George discusses the evolution of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts from grantmaking organization to one of the most significant artist studio and printmaking ecosystems in the country, including the continuation of Blackburn's radical community printshop model and the preservation of a major archive featuring artists like Faith Ringgold, Elizabeth Catlett, and Romare Bearden. Name Drops & Links Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts — https://www.efanyc.org/ Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop — https://www.rbpmw-efanyc.org/ Elsewhere Museum — https://goelsewhere.org/ NADA New York — https://www.newartdealers.org/ Library of Congress — https://www.loc.gov/ Mellon Foundation — https://www.mellon.org/ Faith Ringgold — https://www.faithringgold.com/ Elizabeth Catlett — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Catlett Romare Bearden — https://beardenfoundation.org/ Jasper Johns — https://www.jasper-johns.com/ Robert Rauschenberg Foundation — https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/ Common Field — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Field Creative Time — https://creativetime.org/ Walker Art Center — https://walkerart.org/ Central Saint Martins — https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — https://www.unc.edu/ Duke University — https://duke.edu/
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Bad at Sports Episode 952: Tali Halpern
2w ago00:54:15Tap to summarizeBad at Sports Episode 951 has Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller still in Miami for a conversation with Chicago artist Tali Halpern at NADA, representing 1210 Gallery. The conversation spans weaving, sobriety, punk music, queer identity, labor, spectacle, and the ecstatic possibilities of fiber art. Halpern discusses their transition from painting and addiction into weaving, their work with digital looms at Loom Room, and the way embellishment, rhinestones, embroidery, and collage become acts of healing and reconstruction. The episode touches on Chicago's art community, punk aesthetics, club culture, spiritual labor, and the tension between craft traditions and contemporary experimentation. Name Drops & Links Tali Halpern — https://tali.rocks/ Twelve Ten Gallery — https://twelvetengallery.com/ NADA Miami — https://www.newartdealers.org/ School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) — https://www.saic.edu/ Loom Room Chicago — https://www.lmrmchicago.com/ Hope Lange — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Lange Gregg Araki — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Araki Nowhere — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119809/ Mike Kelley — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Kelley_(artist) Paul McCarthy — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCarthy Tracey Emin — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracey_Emin Sylvia Plath — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath Elliott Smith — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Smith Ken Burns — https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/ Nirvana — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(band) The B-52's — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_B-52s Guns N' Roses — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_N%27_Roses Howardena Pindell — https://www.garthgreenan.com/artists/howardena-pindell Melissa Cody — https://www.garthgreenan.com/artists/melissa-cody Cranbrook Academy of Art — https://cranbrookart.edu/ Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art — https://bmoca.org/ The Weaving Mill — https://theweavingmill.com/ Mikey Mosher — https://www.mikeymosher.com/ Cindy Sherman — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman Noelia Towers — https://www.noeliatowers.com/ The Killers — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killers
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Bad at Sports Episode 951: William Powhida
2w ago01:11:27Tap to summarizeAt NADA Miami, Duncan MacKenzie, Ryan Peter Miller, Tom Sandford and returning guest William Powhida dig into the art world's annual power rituals, the shifting geography of cultural influence, Gulf-state biennials, wealth concentration, and the contradictions of contemporary art's relationship to capitalism. Starting from Powhida's commissioned work for the annual ArtReview Power 100 issue, the conversation encompasses discussions of oligarchy, philanthropy, redistribution, art fairs, nationalism, soft power, artist-run infrastructure, and Powhida's ambitious experimental project, the Zero Art Fair. William Powhida — https://williampowhida.com/NADA Miami — https://www.newartdealers.org/ ArtReview Power 100 — https://artreview.com/power-100/ Ben Davis — https://www.benadavis.com/ Art Angle Podcast —Art Angle Podcast Nicole Eisenman —https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Eisenman 52 Walker — https://52walker.com/Zero Art Fair — https://zeroartfair.com/Flag Art Foundation — https://www.flagartfoundation.org/
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Bad at Sports Episode 950: Justin H Long
3w ago00:54:26Tap to summarizeBad at Sports Episode 947: Justin H. Long Live from the fair circuit heat (not Miami… but spiritually always Miami), Duncan MacKenzie, Ryan Peter Miller, and Tom Sanford catch up with artist Justin H. Long, self-described "original Florida man," to talk boats, comedy, identity, and the strange poetics of nautical culture. Long's sculptural practice moves between deadpan humor and conceptual rigor: a capsized Laser sailboat turned vertical monument, a palm tree replacing its mast, and a title—S.O.S.—that refuses to resolve cleanly into sentiment. From Morse code to yacht club politics, from Spanglish boat names to disaster-relief coolers, Long builds a practice that blends maritime history, Miami mythologies, and a punk-inflected irreverence toward art's seriousness. Also featured in this episode – a CalArts performance art involving chocolate milk vomit, signal flags translating hip-hop lyrics, and why humor still makes the art world uncomfortable. Justin H. Long — https://justinhlong.comDuncan MacKenzie — https://kurasmackenzie.com/Ryan Peter Miller — http://ryanpetermiller.com/Tom Sanford — https://www.tomsanford.art/Lumpen Radio — https://lumpenradio.comFlorida International University — https://www.fiu.eduCalArts (California Institute of the Arts) — https://calarts.eduBaker Hall Gallery — https://bakerhall.art/Spring/Break Art Show — https://www.springbreakartshow.com Design Miami — https://www.designmiami.comKey Biscayne Yacht Club — https://kbyc.orgContemporary Arts Center New Orleans — https://cacno.orgDamien Hirst — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst Nicole Eisenman — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Eisenman The Simpsons — https://www.thesimpsons.comKids in the Hall — https://www.kidsinthehall.ca
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Bad at Sports Episode 949: Hilde Lynn Helphenstein
3w ago02:22:07Tap to summarizeI don't quite know how to start this. It feels important to repost this interview because of Hilde. Hilde Lynn Helpenstein was a kickass human. "Jerry Gogosian" was a lance aimed directly at our pretensions and self-importance. Through Jerry, Hilde developed an incisive understanding of how the art world works. She created a space where many of us felt seen, derided, embarrassed, challenged, or simply able to laugh at our own reflection. She used Jerry to investigate us, for better and worse. In doing so, she exposed the paradoxes, half-truths, and hypocrisies embedded in what we do and how we choose to spend our lives. I think we should have listened more carefully when she tried to take what she had learned and suggest other ways forward. Hilde fucking loved art. More than almost anything. I know that feeling. She knew something wasn't working and she was trying to understand it, diagnose it, and imagine alternatives. What changed for me in this interview was realizing that we were on the same trip. My friend Chris Johanson used to say, "Trip on it, don't fry on it." It's hard not to fry on the thing you love most, especially when you feel responsible for all of it. Hilde was generous and generative. Sadly, the art world can't love you back. It's a little like summer camp: a temporary bubble of perfection that can be difficult to bring back into everyday life. What Hilde wanted, I think, was for us to find a way to reconnect art to the world outside that bubble, and maybe get over ourselves in the process. I, and all of us at Bad at Sports, will miss our fellow traveler. d.
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Bad at Sports Episode 948: Esther Park
3w ago00:32:35Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Bad at Sports, recorded at the tail end of a sun-soaked, sweat-drenched, and somehow still magical Miami Art Week, Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller sit down with curator and cultural programmer Esther Park—the force behind this year's public programming at New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA). Park traces her origin story from working the front desk at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami to throwing illegal block parties in Wynwood, to shaping NADA's ambitious "Ecologies" program. The conversation spirals (as it should) into art world mythologies, Miami as mirage, the collapse and reinvention of criticism, and why the real work happens far below the visible surface. This is a conversation about infrastructure, community, exhaustion, joy, and why—despite everything—the ecosystem still matters. Esther Park — cultural programmer and curator (NADA Public Programming) Duncan MacKenzie — https://kurasmackenzie.com/ Ryan Peter Miller — http://ryanpetermiller.com/ New Art Dealers Alliance — https://www.newartdealers.org/ Art Basel — https://www.artbasel.com/ Sam Keller — https://www.patrickparrish.com/artist/sam-keller Knight Foundation — https://knightfoundation.org/ Pérez Art Museum Miami — https://www.pamm.org/ Heather Hubbs — https://www.newartdealers.org/ Mel Chin — https://melchin.org/ Jerry Saltz — https://nymag.com/author/jerry-saltz/ Roberta Smith — https://www.nytimes.com/by/roberta-smith Peter Schjeldahl — https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/peter-schjeldahl Christopher Knight — https://www.latimes.com/people/christopher-knight Hyperallergic — https://hyperallergic.com/ Ben Davis — https://www.benadavis.com/ Artnet — https://www.artnet.com/ Brad Troemel — https://bradtroemel.com/ Jerry Gogosian — https://www.instagram.com/jerrygogosian/ Lori Waxman — https://60wrdmin.org/home.html KAWS — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaws Alec Monopoly — https://www.alecmonopoly.com/ Beeple — https://www.beeple-crap.com/
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Bad at Sports Episode 947: Heather Hubbs
4w ago00:40:20Tap to summarizeRecorded live in the blazing Miami heat (seriously, surface-of-the-sun conditions), Duncan, Ryan, and crew sit down with Heather Hubbs, Executive Director of the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), for a conversation about art fairs, artist ecosystems, and what it actually means to build a sustainable contemporary art community. From CBD waters and early-morning whiskey to global art economies and the future of ceramics, this episode captures Bad at Sports at its most "tailgate meets art world summit." Heather walks us through NADA's evolution from a member-driven trade association into a flexible, responsive platform that supports galleries, artists, and experimental projects across Miami, New York, and beyond. The conversation digs into post-pandemic market shifts, the logic behind fair restructuring (goodbye Sunday drag), and how Warsaw is unexpectedly a site of mass public hunger for art. Along the way: project spaces as incubators, ceramics as a rising force, and the enduring legacy of Chicago art world figures who shaped how fairs operate today. Also: inflatable dancing airmen. Chickens. Buttholes. You know, professionalism. New Art Dealers Alliance — https://www.newartdealers.org/ White Columns — https://www.whitecolumns.org/ Matthew Higgs — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Higgs 47 Canal — https://47canal.us/ Bureau — https://bureau-inc.com/ Green Gallery — http://www.thegreengallery.biz/ Good Weather — https://www.instagram.com/goodweather.llc/?hl=en Blade Study — https://bladestudy.net/ Rhona Hoffman — https://www.rhoffmangallery.com/ Art Chicago — https://www.expochicago.com/ SOFA Chicago — https://www.sofaexpo.com/ John Riepenhoff — https://www.johnriepenhoff.net/ Celebrity Book Club — https://celebritybookclubpodcast.com/
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Bad at Sports Episode 946: Chris Succo
May 2801:09:28Tap to summarizeChris Succo joins Duncan MacKenzie, Ryan Peter Miller, and Tom Sanford in Miami for a conversation that slides easily from pronunciation jokes into a deep dive on abstraction, immediacy, and the quiet, often unspoken labor of sustaining an art practice. Succo unpacks a studio logic built on contradiction: paintings that feel fast but are deeply considered, surfaces that appear minimal but hold layers of decision-making, and a practice that balances commercial necessity with experimental risk. The conversation ranges across Succo's "white paintings," photographic references, sculptural work in foundries, and the strange economics of being a working painter. Along the way, the crew hits Miami art fair nostalgia, Miley Cyrus backed by The Flaming Lips, and the enduring romance of making something that might never sell. This one is about intuition, material intelligence, and what it actually means to keep going in the studio. Chris Succo - https://chrissucco.com/images/ Mark LeBlanc — https://mleblancchicago.com/ Richard Prince — https://gagosian.com/artists/richard-prince/ Paul McCarthy — https://hauserwirth.com/artists/paul-mccarthy/ Willem de Kooning — https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/willem-de-kooning Bushwick Bill — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushwick_Bill Miley Cyrus — https://www.mileycyrus.com/The Flaming Lips — https://www.flaminglips.com/MC Serch — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC_Serch Fugazi — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugazi Michael Harding Paint — https://www.michaelharding.co.uk/ Gamblin — https://gamblincolors.com/
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