Bad at Sports

This 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

Executive 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/

Bad 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

At 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/

Bad 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.com
Duncan MacKenzie — https://kurasmackenzie.com/
Ryan Peter Miller — http://ryanpetermiller.com/
Tom Sanford — https://www.tomsanford.art/
Lumpen Radio — https://lumpenradio.com
Florida International University — https://www.fiu.edu
CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) — https://calarts.edu
Baker Hall Gallery — https://bakerhall.art/
Spring/Break Art Show — https://www.springbreakartshow.com
Design Miami — https://www.designmiami.com
Key Biscayne Yacht Club — https://kbyc.org
Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans — https://cacno.org
Damien Hirst — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst
Nicole Eisenman — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Eisenman
The Simpsons — https://www.thesimpsons.com
Kids in the Hall — https://www.kidsinthehall.ca