Venus Williams will host a new podcast for the Carnegie Museum of Art

Today, the Carnegie Museum of Art announced that the work will be on view from May 11, 2024, to January 12, 2025, in the museum’s Heinz Galleries. Next month, a podcast amplifying the voices of artists, writers and scientists will debut, hosted by tennis champion and humanities advocate Venus Williams.

The 6-episode podcast series, premiering on June 26, 2024, will feature 20 celebrities including AK Burns, Raven Chacon, Dionne Lee, Xaviera Simmons and Sky Hopkina. Podcast authors will address issues of colonial legacy, landscapes marked by memory, human adaptability and complicity, and ecological anxiety, foreground narratives and people who find themselves often missed or excluded from conversations about landscape.

“I am honored to collaborate with the Carnegie Museum of Art on an incredibly meaningful project that integrates art, the environment and thoughtful storytelling,” says Venus Williams. “The participating artists and thinkers you will hear on the podcast represent diverse, global perspectives and a wide range of backgrounds and experiences; I’m proud to help amplify their voices as they encourage us to consider new and alternative ways of relating to our landscapes through photography.”

The synergistic partnership between the Carnegie Museum of Art and Williams has resulted in a shared interest in increasing access to art, engaging new and diverse perspectives, and scary conversation around the exhibition’s timely, key themes. An avid collector of contemporary art with a particular interest in promoting and preserving the legacy of artists of color, Williams was drawn to the collaboration by the opportunity to expand her knowledge of the photographic medium and have interaction a wide audience who may not otherwise give you the chance to accomplish that. interact with the museum.

In addition to the podcast series, the project consists of an intensive exhibition bringing together nearly 100 works by 19 artists, an intensive suite of public programming, and a fully illustrated publication offering visitors multiple entry points into the American landscape. The exhibition – and broader project – has emerged as one of the most significant surveys of contemporary photography presented this 12 months, and is a component of the latest installment of the museum’s renowned Hillman Photography Initiative, an ongoing series that invites viewers to explore new ideas about art and photography.

“The project is explicitly looking at how the camera can act as a tool to challenge inherited narratives about people and ecology, and foreground stories that are often overlooked or excluded,” says Dan Leers, curator of photography at the Carnegie Museum of Art. “We are excited the opportunity to bring together a multitude of artists and thinkers who stimulate their creative agency to ask difficult questions and envision possible futures.”

A series of public programs launch on Saturday, May 11, 2024, activating the project inside and out of doors the museum. Visitors can join artists, environmentalists and poets to locate themselves and their stories in space.

Additional details about programs and events will be found at carnegieart.org.