I DON'T HATE THIS

Back at it again with a new podcat! Nina & Erik return for a short (long) discussion about a mysterious artwork depicting a magical dream land where maybe a cigar is just a cigar and paint brushes and towers are just a cuddly kitten's wildest fantasy. And all the while, an impending latent loaf of liminal luv looms large in Nina's psyche. =/ᐠ・ᆽ・ᐟ=

As winter tightens its grasp on our souls, let us take you to a tropical land filled with squawking birds, orange juice and gravel. Forget about snow, the white stuff blanketing this magical world is something all together different. We discuss “Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium”—the first major US retrospective of the artist (organized by the the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art). We also talk about Fischli & Weiss’ “Schneemann” outdoor sculpture. So there’s some schnow, but just a little bit.

Walk around EXPO CHGO with us! Artists notoriously love to hate art fairs and we are no exception. We spend a casual Saturday trying to find meaning in the most pointless of all the world's art fairs which is really saying something because all art fairs are pretty pointless. But hey, we had fun. Shoutout in particular to Spudnik Press for their letterpress coaster demonstrations.

Summer’s drawing to a close. And so we wistfully dream of Augusts past on this, the avant-est garde of podcasts. Thomas Hirschhorn and philosophical fan art, sneaky teens, Batman’s secret hotel, Nickelodeon auf Deutsch, bull semen, and Manifesta: the biennial backpacking through Europe after college instead of getting a job. So Whether you’re into rappin’ pandas or critiquin’ the flawed museography of bienialle model, there’s something here for you!

André has taken the unusual step of asking to appear before the Senate Subcommittee on Degenerate Funding for the Arts. Art on trial! After visiting the Whitney Biennial—portions of which remain on view through July 16—André has asked to appear before a joint session of podcast. And Lordy we have the tapes! Does the ‚"WhiBi" make, "an exciting, powerful case for art," featuring, "edgy, trending artists in 'turbulent' times," as its carefully selected pull quotes tout? Or is it just a bunch of baloney, "indulging in crass materialism and corporate cronyism?" Listen to Callot's testimony and find out! Artists Discussed: The one that made that painting, Pope.L aka William Pope.L, Occupy Museums (Arthur Polendo, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Kenneth Pietrobono, Noah Fischer, and Tal Beery), Andrea Fraser, André Callot, Hanne Darboven, Lyle Ashton Harris, Jordan Wolfson, Ulrike Müller

Press junket! Curator Michael Darling gives an overview of Takashi Murakami's exhibition "The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg," followed by a conversation with the artist. Marc Ecko explains that access to merch is the highest form of art and Erik asks a question from the audience.

Hot off the pod! We visited the preview of Takashi Murakami’s exhibition “The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. We discuss isolationism, nationalism, adults telling teenagers the best use of their creativity is to participate in capitalism and pigeons getting it on in the park.

We kick out the jams with some live music in Berlin's Maurer (Wall) Park, a wonderful communist-era grove known for its love of Oasis hits. Erik is late to the final opening ceremony of the Sommerakademie at the Zentrum Paul Klee because he doesn't know the exchange rate between American minutes and European hours. Andre makes a prophetic prediction about the next project of Tania Bruguera. And instead of the Zurich edition of the roving European biennial, Manifesta, we discuss manifest destiny.

We ran into each other on the bus in a meet-cute. And like a romcom we were supposed to meet at the art opening but went to different galleries. Our star-crossed podcasters discuss the recent Christopher Williams exhibition at Corbett vs. Dempsey, podcast mattresses, the new default d-bag voice and smooshing koosh.

The gang accidentally went for drinks after brunch last Saturday. On the walls of the bar we were confronted with works of art including a painting of a fish mounted to a plaque mounted to a wall. Co-host Nina joined us after receiving local anesthetic at the dentist. Additional topics: Ice storms Humping, dry

Many people are troubled by the world and scared about the future. But there is good news, if you are willing to hear it. Are you a rebel who will be judged or are you willing to accept The Risen Trump? Which way do you want to live?

Technically, anything deliberately sent to a reporter or media source is considered a press release: it is information released by the act of being sent to the media. However, public relations professionals often follow a standard format that they believe is efficient and increases their odds of getting the publicity they desire. The format is supposed to help journalists separate press releases from other PR. ###

We are joined by bean magnate and architecture impresario Keefer Dunn. Architecture, white cubes, ziggurats and telephonophobia are discussed. We also talk about the real need to get hacienda style Taco Bells on the historic register.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to mix Tequila and Dr. Pepper. Maybe it was an even worse idea to start recording a podcast afterwards. But either way, I Don't Hate This is proud to take you on an inebriated journey through Art History's greatest moments where we learn a thing or two about the Mona Lisa, Napoleon, Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and her toothy smile, and a certain monarch's alleged horse related proclivities.

The City Chicago is in a pension crisis! And in order to pay for it Mayor Rahm Emanuel is raiding the treasures of the city’s cultural heritage! Join a dowager countess, a trophy wife, a thinly veiled caricature of Julian Schnabel and a security guard as they pay top dollar for works in the Art Institute’s collection. It’s Masterpiece, the board game that brings all the fun and intrigue of the money-laundering and tax-dodging international art world to the kitchen table. Special Guest: "Fucking Delightful" Aja Saunders.

Fully exploiting the global resources of the Callot Media Empire, Erik and Nina are joined via Skye by sculptor Olivia Martin Moore, reporting in Berlin.

Nina went on a boat and to her complete and utter horror found it full of art available for purchase. We discuss vacation cruises, populism, elitism, price-points and which islands have cats and which ones have alcoholic monkeys.

​I Don't Hate This is recorded in front of a live studio audience. In STEREO (where available). We welcome Brandon Alvendia, our first guest ever, to the podcast as he welcomes us into his exhibtion The Great Good Place. Recorded on location at Threewalls. Nina, Erik and Brandon discuss his exhibition, tree rodent dating sagas and being a reverse hoarder. All this and more on our 20th episode!

It turns out you were consuming contemporary art all along! Erik and Nina take the show deep inside the white cube for part one of Brandon Alvendia's The Great Good Place exhibition at Threewalls Gallery.

It was just an ordinary day in Chicago. Erik Wenzel and Nina Litoff were talking about Young British Art. André Callot dialed up the internet and said, “there’s been a p-p-p-podcast.” A sensational episode that includes such scandalous topics as art about murderers, Playboy getting less sexy and those cheeky yBa’s.

...Fills Us With Anxiety Nina has become a pupil in the way of the KonMari and is converting Erik to the stealthy art of sock folding. Like ninja assassins adherents of the KonMari ruthlessly ask of their possessions, “Does this spark joy?” If the answer is, “No,” the items in question are honorably discharged to the land of wind and ghosts, freed from roaming the earth in the backs of closets and parents’ basements. We also talk about the proper way to destroy your art and if there was anything worth seeing at EXPO Chicago this year. The full title of this episode is: Sorting Through Possessions Which Hang About Our Necks Like Millstones Sparks Panic and Fills Us With Anxiety

Erik wraps up his travelogue and discusses the Venice Biennale where you can get a brick for free if you make a mandatory voluntary donation of at least €10. We do the hard work of breaking down all the lazy art about physical labor. Also therapy donkeys.

Erik tells us of his pilgrimage to see a talismanic artwork that forms the center of his Elements & Principles of Art & Design pedagogy and his yearly sojourn to die Schweiz. Topics include a unique annual residency for artists and curators funded by a Swiss bank and what it feels like to be a cat who wants nothing more than to just be let in.

What do a dead tree, a (possibly imaginary) silver dog, a mime, a dad bod and a hover hand have in common? They can all be seen in the work of American sculptor Charles Ray. Listen to Nina and Erik review the exhibition "Charles Ray Sculpture: 1997–2014" on view at the Art Institute of Chicago.

This round it’s time for Erik to enter the hot seat when Nina puts his advanced art vocabulary knowledge to the test with her Modern and Contemporary final exam notes.

Howard L. Willett Most Valuable Adjunct Professor Erik Wenzel has a midterm test for all of you freshman Intro to Art students out there. And this test proves that sometimes the simplest questions are the hardest to answer.

It's the Fourth of July and you know what that means? Summer school is in session! Drop your hot dogs, grab your books, and hit the classroom with Nina and Erik in their three-part quiz series where they revisit their art education. In part one: Nina's memory is put to the test when she rediscovers her AP Art History practice test from the 11th grade.

Nina went to Germany and is back to tell us all about it. She and Erik address important contemporary art concerns, like falling asleep in yoga class, the Phantom Menace licensed Monopoly game and buying a dumb old rock from a vending machine.

Nina and Erik won't...stop...thinking about tomorrow, or about Documentia, the show Erik curated at Sidecar Gallery on the subject of archival obsessions.

Nina and Erik carefully document each moment as it passes during a conversation about the career of conceptual artist On Kawara.

Jan. 16, 2015. Recorded Podcast. In honor of the passing of On Kawara and the New Year 2015, Erik and Nina perform one hour's worth of subtitles from On Kawara's Today series.

Let's travel back to the year 2012, and hear Nina and Erik meet for the very first time in a time warp/gift wrap episode of I Don't Hate This!

Nina and Erik crawled up a vaseline-drenched cement ramp to bring you this episode on smashed vases, torn canvases and all kinds of other unfortunate events.

Senior Christopher Williams Correspondent André Callot went to see the Christopher Williams show at David Zwirner in New York, so you don't have to.

Parents. They care for you, love you, protect you, and they just don't understand your art. Join Erik and Nina for some emotionally searing personal stories of their parents as well as stories of famous parents from art history.

On an extra-special crossover episode with Noisy Ghost, Erik and Nina get lost in a moonage daydream, oh yeah, with Eleanor Russell, André Callot and Amy Wenzel. They went to "David Bowie Is" at the MCA in Chicago, and you're gonna hear all about it.

On episode two, Erik and Nina are ordered around by this summer's MoMA retrospective for Sigmar Polke, whom we all love. Plus, listener mail!

Episode one of I Don't Hate This, a new contemporary art podcast hosted by Nina Litoff and Erik Wenzel. On the first episode, Nina and Erik don't hate the Christopher Williams show "The Production Line of Happiness" at the Art Institute of Chicago. Follow @idonthatethis on Twitter and idonthatethispod.tumblr.com.