1. What It's Like to Be A Contemporary Artist 50:37

Whether you feel intimidated by art–or visit every museum you can–you will appreciate Nina Katchadourian.  Nina approaches the world with wonder and curiosity.  She is a world-renowned contemporary artist (her work has been shown all over the world, including at the Met and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Biennale, and the Palais de Tokyo, among many other locales), but her approach to art is so down-to-earth, humorous, and deceptively simple that it is accessible to everyone.   Nina often focuses on what is figuratively (or even literally) underfoot: one of her works was about dust in MoMA.  Nina has a show at the Morgan Library in New York through May 28, 2023.  She is also a professor at New York University. Interacting with Nina's work–and listening to her in this episode–will help you see not just art, but also your everyday world, in a new way. 

In this episode:

  • How Nina's curiosity guides her into various art projects (03:35)
  • Describing the genesis of “Sorted Books” (04:40)
  • How she came to focus on dust at MoMA (07:48)
  • We overlook a lot of things that are more worthy of attention than we think (13:48)
  • Nina's path from high school to professional artist (15:25)
  • Why artists need to be nimble and balance “work” with “work work” (19:32)
  • Nina's various “other” jobs–and how they informed her art (21:29)
  • Nina's process starting something new (29:26)
  • How “on hold” music became a piece of art (30:05)
  • Behind the scenes of “Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style”(33:32)
  • Humor as a tool in art (37:03)
  • How Nina goes through the world, “finding” material (42:23)

Want to know more about Nina?

  • Check out her website (a lot of the works we talk about in the episode are featured here): http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/
  • Find out about her show at The Morgan: https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/nina-katchadourian
  • See more of her work here: https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/nina-katchadourian/
  • Follow her on Instagram: @ninakatchadourian

Want to know more about “What It's Like To…”?

  • Sign up to be on our Insiders' List to receive our newsletters and insiders' information! Go to whatitsliketo.net (sign-ups are at the bottom of the page)
  • Follow us on social media:

Support the show

Most Recent Episodes
Load More Episodes
Elizabeth Pearson Garr Podcaster

Elizabeth Pearson Garr has spent a lot of her life asking questions. A daughter of a professor and a principal, as a kid she loved sitting at the “adult table” during their dinner parties so she could participate in the “real” conversations.

Elizabeth went on to graduate with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature, and promptly attended professional cooking school to become a food writer. That led to various career opportunities, including becoming one of the first employees of the Television Food Network; writing/producing gigs at networks from PBS to E!; anchoring/reporting at the NBC affiliate in Billings, Montana; earning a graduate degree in Documentary Film & Video from Stanford University; and various and sundry other things. The through-line to all this has been curiosity. Elizabeth is a skilled interviewer who loves diving deep into research, finding connections, and telling good stories.

Elizabeth has a husband, two daughters, and a fluffy white dog who rarely leaves her side.