How can history and traditions be reimagined for today’s audiences?
Our Questions of Practice series has often focused on the query: “Who gets to be a contemporary artist? When? And why?” As Carl Cheng has his first major museum survey show at the age of 82, we approached the artist to ask how he sees his six-decade career today.
Nels Cline explains why he found the idea of a musical lineage “troubling” in his early musical life and which traditions eventually informed his “between the cracks” aesthetic.
Trenton Doyle Hancock discusses his interest in dolls as representations of identity and culture, and we hear from Barbara Whiteman, founder and executive director of the Doll Museum, as well as Aida Villanueva, a member of Temple Contemporary’s Young Curators Council.
Choreographer Reggie Wilson discusses his approach to choreographing and curating dance in religious spaces with Pew Fellow Yolanda Wisher.
Richard Torchia and Catherine Morris consider visual artist Pati Hill's contemporaneity, the creative influence of emerging technologies, and Hill's place in contemporary and conceptual art.
Composer Vijay Iyer on the musical lineage that influences his artistic practice.
Director Michał Zadara and actress Barbara Wysocka on how classical works influence contemporary theater-making.
Conductor Donald Nally and violinist Hanna Khoury on how tradition influences their approach to bringing together a classical Arab chamber ensemble and a Western choir in performance.
Carnatic musician and composer Kiranavali Vidyasankar talks with us about continuing her family's musical legacy, the role of tradition in her artistic practice, and more.
We speak to postmodern dance pioneer Anna Halprin about her introduction to dance, various turning points in her artistic career, and the importance of creating dance that responds to pressing social and political issues.