Artist Glenn Kaino has stories to tell. And those stories include names like Olympian Tommie Smith, President Barack Obama, Civil Rights Leader John Lewis, the IRA’s Gerry Adams, and one-name-onlys like Bono and our patron saint Oprah.
If you’re in the art world like me, you know Kaino’s multi-disciplinary work, including larger-than-life installations like “Bridge” which was made from a decades-long collaboration with Tommy Smith, who famously gave the Black Power salute on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Or his immersive exhibitions like “In the Light of Shadow” at Mass MOCA in 2021 addressing the history of “Bloody Sunday.”
If you’re not in the art world, you may have seen his documentary “With Drawn Arms,” or seen the off-broadway show he was part of, “In & Of Itself.” Or perhaps the public collaborative project “A Forest for the Trees” in downtown LA last summer, produced with Superblue and The Atlantic, a public project addressing the climate crisis.
Listen to the episode on Apple HERE.
Kaino is the very definition of a multi-media artist. He went to school for computer science and art. He had a wildly successful early career in tech. His art is now in permanent collections around the world. He is a magician, a musician, and above all a believer in the notion that ideas matter. That we can achieve more together. Kaino’s life and practice is so layered but at its core it is all about the belief in the magic of humanity.
Listen to the episode on Spotify HERE
Glenn Kaino Notable Insights
“How can we realize ideas that are greater than ourselves? The only way to do that is collaboration: someone has spent 40 years in one thing, someone else in another, and together, you can make something that just can’t happen in a human lifetime.”
“For me, it’s always been about using art to make more space rather than to carve out space. My work in collaborations has been about creating space for each other.”
“People don’t deserve your story. They have to earn it. Oprah told me that.”
“When I got out of grad school, the art world offered me a bunch of binaries: you could work in media or do art, you could make political work or beautiful work. And I thought, why do I have to choose?”
“From a sense of access and post-coloniality, you realize who has been given the privilege to express ideas and how cultural hegemony works, how art and culture have been used throughout generations to shape the worldview that everyone has. I was inspired by all of that and thought, what would it be to even just have a voice?”
Glenn Kaino Resources
To learn more about the artist, visit HERE.
To view recent projects, visit HERE.
