[March 9, 2022 | Season 2, Ep. 10 | Barbara London Calling]

Barbara London: Today, my guest is the artist Ken Okiishi, born 1978 in Ames, Iowa. Ken comes from what he calls a linguistically expressive family, with roots in Hawaii and Japan. The simultaneity of those different cultures and identities helped motivate Ken’s interest in language. He received a BFA from Cooper Union in 2001 and went on to explore image networks and media systems through his art. Welcome, Ken, and thank you so much for joining me.

Ken Okiishi: Hi, Barbara. It’s great to be on the show.

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[February 23, 2022 | Season 2, Ep. 9 | Barbara London Calling]

Barbara London: My guest today is Ed Atkins, an English artist whose lively practice revolves around writing, the moving image and installation, with a keen interest in the emotions our digital technologies are unable to contain. Born 1982, in an English village outside Oxford, Ed grew up in a household that considered literature to be the creative pinnacle. He graduated from London Slade School of Art in 2009. That same year, his father died of cancer. Death, loss, distemper and debility have been preoccupations ever since. Ed, thank you so much for joining me.

Ed Atkins: Pleasure. Thanks for having me, Barbara.

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[January 26, 2022 | Season 2, Ep. 6 | Barbara London Calling]

Barbara London: Today I’m speaking with Nalini Malani, a versatile artist who easily moves between the mediums of painting and video, and between the cultures of Bombay, as she still prefers to call it, and Amsterdam. Born 1946 in Karachi, British India, her Sikh agnostic parents and family fled during Partition, in 1947, to Bombay before settling in Calcutta. After a job transfer of her father to Bombay, Malani studied at the conservative British style Sir J.J. School of Art, where in 1969, she received her diploma in painting.

During her studies she already had a studio in the multidisciplinary Bhulabhai Memorial Institute, Bombay. There, she interacted with actors, musicians, poets, and dancers, and saw how theater reaches an audience rarely found in the elitist gallery spaces. That summer, in 1969, she was selected to be part of the renowned Vision Exchange Workshop, VIEW. As the only female participant, she became its most productive member, creating a large series of camera-less photographs, experimental 8mm color stop-motion animation and a series of short black-and-white 16mm films. From this, she developed a filmic view that would dominate the rest of her artistic life in all the different media she used. Nalini, thank you so much for joining me.

Nalini Malani: Hello, Barbara, it’s lovely to see you and it’s lovely to talk with you this afternoon. We’ve known each other for a long time, but it’s lovely to meet across oceans at this moment. At least that’s possible.

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[January 12, 2022 | Season 2, Ep. 6 | Barbara London Calling]

Barbara London: Today I’m speaking with Sondra Perry, an interdisciplinary artist born 1986 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Sondra creates insightful artwork using video, computer-based media, installation and performance. She is one of today’s bright, young stars, highly respected as an innovator. Technically adept, with wit and grace she investigates such timely topics as desire, race, power and gender. Sondra, welcome to Barbara London Calling 2.0. I’m delighted to talk with you today.

Sondra Perry: Thanks for the invitation, Barbara. This is really cool.

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