Bad at Sports

• Bad at Sports Episode 912: Ben Davis

  This week Bad at Sports goes full meta, talking about talking about art. We sit down with Ben Davis, National Art Critic for Artnet News and author of 9.5 Theses on Art and Class, to unpack the state of art criticism in 2025. Davis has been one of the sharpest voices charting the relationship between culture, economics, and media—at once insider, outsider, and always keeping his mom in mind. From the collapse of traditional publishing to the weird vacuum left by social media, Davis doesn’t just describe the cracks in the system—he names them, theorizes them, and points to where something new might emerge. We talk ZIRP (zero-interest-rate phenomena), the rise of click-driven media, what AI means for art, and why communities matter more than markets. Listen & Follow Ben Davis on Artnet News - https://news.artnet.com/search/Ben+Davis  @benstoppable https://www.benadavis.com/ Name-Drop Artnet News — news.artnet.com https://news.artnet.com/search/ Brooklyn Rail — brooklynrail.org AI / ChatGPT — openai.com/chatgpt Neil Young — neilyoungarchives.com Slayer — slayer.net   Image care of... https://c4aa.org/our-research/interviews/ben-davis/  

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• Bad at Sports Episode 911: Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan

  Recorded live from the Chicago Architectural Biennial’s booth at EXPO Chicago, Bad at Sports tailgates with artist Edra Soto and designer Dan Sullivan—Chicago’s unofficial art-world power couple. Soto unpacks her first solo art fair booth at Engage Projects, where monoblock plastic chairs, airbrushed T-shirts, and Puerto Rican vernacular architecture collide with memory, loss, and celebration. Sullivan, founder of Navillus Woodworks, riffs on craft, Ikea hacks, and the business of making high-end furniture while moonlighting as Soto’s collaborator and fabricator. "Dan helps." What starts as a playful conversation about paparazzi, beer coolers, and chairs spirals into a meditation on grief, Puerto Rican cultural identity, and the design politics of everyday objects. Along the way, we hit Bad Bunny, the Bear restaurant, euphemisms around death, Catholic ritual, and the French (yes, the French). We close out with music talk—Sullivan on his bands Nadnavillus and Arriver—and a standing invitation for Bad at Sports to share the stage. Death, dying, lawn chairs, and punk rock. Welcome to EXPO. Artists & Designers Edra Soto Instagram: @edrasoto https://edrasoto.com/home.html Dan Sullivan / Navillus Woodworks Instagram: @navillus_woodworks https://navilluswoodworks.com/ Ryan Peter Miller Instagram: @ryanpetermiller http://ryanpetermiller.com/ Miguel Aguilar (Kane One) Instagram: @kane_one_   kane-1.com https://www.3arts.org/artist/miguel-aguilar/ Susan Gomes George Ortiz Instagram: @georgeortizphotography https://www.georgeortizphotography.com/ Bad Bunny Instagram: @badbunnypr  https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/459095/bad-bunny-puerto-rico-residency-history Institutions / Venues / Events Engage Projects Instagram: @engageprojects https://www.engage-projects.com/   Chicago Architecture Biennial Instagram: @chicagoarchitecturebiennial https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/   EXPO Chicago Instagram: @expochicago  expochicago.com WBEZ Instagram: @wbezchicago  wbez.org/about  105.5 FM Lumpen Radio (WLPN‑LP) Instagram: @lumpenradio   lumpenradio.com  The Franklin (project space) Instagram: @thefranklinoutdoor (site-run by Edra Soto & Dan Sullivan)  https://thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com/ABOUT The Bear restaurant (Sullivan furniture) This refers to the TV show The Bear on FX,  Art Basel Instagram: @artbasel artbasel.com The Armory Show Instagram: @thearmoryshow  thearmoryshow.com NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) Instagram: @newartdealers  newartdealers.org  Color Factory Instagram: @colorfactoryco  colorfactory.co  Electrical Audio (recording studio) Instagram: @electricalaudio  Tenement Museum (NYC) Instagram: @thetenementmuseum  https://www.tenement.org/  Cultural Figures & References Yolanda, Lucetta, Anita (Puerto Rican celebs) Gilberto Santa Rosa Lil’ Kim, Lil’ Romeo, Neil Young, Slayer, Jeff Koons   Bands & Music Navilus (Dan Sullivan’s project) https://navilluswoodworks.com/ Arriver (art-metal band) image courtesy of Engage Projects

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• Bad at Sports Episode 910: CAB 6 – Dirk Denison, David Salkin, and Jennifer Armetta

  In this lively and insightful episode, Bad at Sports hosts a roundtable conversation with Dirk Denison (Founding Board Member of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB)), David Salkin (Designer, Curator, and Board Husband), and Jennifer Armetta (Executive Director of the CAB). Together, they reflect on the impact and legacy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial and its shifting forms of experimentation, urbanism, and civic engagement. The episode explores the curatorial frameworks of CAB, the roles of education and public space, and how architecture becomes a lens through which cities reimagine themselves. Names Dropped: - Dirk Denison - https://www.dirkdenisonarchitects.com/ - David Salkin - https://www.davidsalkin.com/ - Jennifer Armetta - https://www.engage-projects.com/ - Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) - https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/ - Venice Architecture Biennial - https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2025 - CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal - https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/exhibitions/dress-rehearsal-chicago-architecture-biennial-2023 - CAB 6: Shift - https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/ - Chicago Architecture Center - https://www.architecture.org/ - Graham Foundation - http://www.grahamfoundation.org/ - Studio Gang - https://studiogang.com/ - MASS Design Group - https://massdesigngroup.org/ - Jeanne Gang - https://studiogang.com/people/jeanne-gang/ - Open House Chicago - https://www.architecture.org/open-house-chicago/about – Burnham - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham – Frank Llyod Wright - https://flwright.org/ – the ID at IIT - https://id.iit.edu/ – Mies - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe – Louis Sullivian  - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan - Professor Landis - https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1239455 - Rahm Emmanuel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel

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• Bad at Sports Episode 909: Paul Pfeiffer

  We meet Paul Pfeiffer inside his retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to talk about ghosts, spectacle, and the metaphysics of sports. Known for erasing athletes from footage and turning stadiums into stages of worship, Pfeiffer opens up about boxing as performance, the haunted loop of fandom, and building media rituals in the Philippines. Also: parrots, Deion Sanders, lip sync monks, and the death of the moment.   Names dropped: Deion Sanders - https://www.instagram.com/deionsanders/?hl=en  Manny Pacquiao - mannypacquiao.ph The Bible (yes, the text) - https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/hail-satan?srsltid=AfmBOoqTwkeDSDwxOmlvVLQX8QQduw8ehfzt3sYzUMFMvJO-_ym35hOg Tom Gunning - https://cms.uchicago.edu/people/tom-gunning Joshua Oppenheimer - https://cream.ac.uk/people/josh-oppenheimer/  DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) - djspooky.com Gina Osterloh - ginaosterloh.com Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago - mcachicago.org Biennale of Sydney - biennaleofsydney.art Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver - cagvancouver.org

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• Bad at Sports Episode 908: Rachel Adams and the Bemis Art Center

  We sit down with curator Rachel Adams to talk about institutional evolution, artists as infrastructure, and how curatorial practice shifts between museums and biennials. Rachel reflects on working with artists like Cauleen Smith, Liz Magic Laser, and Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, the power of slow curation, and why she’s drawn to hybrid spaces that defy the market. Along the way: phantom titles, artist contracts, Minneapolis moments, and a manifesto in a box of ice cream bars. Cauleen Smith cauleensmith.com   Liz Magic Laser lizmagiclaser.com   Beatriz Santiago Muñoz lima.art   Candice Hopkins indigenousnewyork.org   Nato Thompson https://www.natothompson.com/about   Christina Vassallo columbusmuseum.org   Sarah Schultz mplsart.com   Alison Hearst themodern.org   Andrea Andersson riversinstitute.org   Franklin Sirmans pamm.org   Mary Jane Jacob https://never-the-same.org/interviews/mary-jane-jacob/   Independent Curators International (ICI) curatorsintl.org   image: Asad Raza, Orientation, 2022. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Field Studio.

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