{"podcast":{"title":"The Conversation Art Podcast","slug":"the-conversation-art-podcast-420741","podcast_index_feed_id":420741,"rss_url":"https://theconversationartpodcast.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://theconversationpod.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/5/f/3/3/5f33d065eadfe8e8/Square_Logo_Dark_1600x1600.jpg","author":"Michael Shaw","episode_count":99,"summary":"A podcast featuring both one-on-one and three-way roundtable conversations with contemporary artists, dealers, curators, and collectors--based in Los Angeles, but reaching nationally and internationally.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conversation-art-podcast-420741"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 385- Useful Art explodes what your sense of Art with a capital \"A\" is and can be, with John Byrne, author of \"Useful Art- How Activist Artists Can Change the World\"","slug":"episode-385-useful-art-explodes-what-your-sense-of-art-with-a-capital-a-is-and-can-be-with-john-byrne-author-of-useful-art-how-activist-artists-can-change-the-world","published_at":"2026-03-28T21:30:04+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conversation-art-podcast-420741/episode-385-useful-art-explodes-what-your-sense-of-art-with-a-capital-a-is-and-can-be-with-john-byrne-author-of-useful-art-how-activist-artists-can-change-the-world","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conversation-art-podcast-420741","url":"https://theconversationartpodcast.libsyn.com/epis-385-useful-art-explodes-what-your-sense-of-art-with-a-capital-a-is-and-can-be-with-john-byrne-author-of-useful-art-how-activist-artists-can-change-the-world","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/theconversationartpodcast/Episode_385-_Useful_Art_Use_Value_and_Aesthetic_Value_with-_John_Byrne.mp3?dest-id=386248","summary":"John Byrne , author of \" Useful Art- How Activist Artists Can Change the World ,\" and professor of Useful Art at Liverpool John Moores University's School of Art and Design, talks about: The city of Liverpool and its art community, with about 20 total galleries, and how he fits into it; where he'll be book touring the book; a key framing in the book, being in a 'neo-liberal occupation' that we live under, which has a huge impact on the culture industries and means the financialization of essentially everything; the surprising pushback there's been at conferences and other events where Useful Art is discussed, including a lot of resistance from those in the art world who may feel that their positions of power are being threatened; the complex but far too under-considered distinction between \"use value\" and \"aesthetic value,\" and why it's worth considering \"use value\" as a legitimate part of art-making (and which can even somehow manage to incorporate some aesthetic value); how one of the things he's interested in is having a radical re-think of what aesthetics are but also what they can be; some among many Useful Art projects, including by individual artist Tania Bruguera and Indonesian collective Ruangrupa, which curated Documenta 15, and how they came to be as a group…and, in turn, what the effect of having Ruangrupa curate that Documenta, which was an adventurous choice of curation, a role that John has heard described as \"the curatorial Everest.\" In the 2 nd half of our conversation, available to Patreon supporters of The Conversation , John Byrne talks about: how ruangrupa came to be, a very different trajectory as they didn't grow up in a culture with contemporary galleries or museums (though they did go to art schools abroad), but had a goal to make a living as a…","meta_description":"John Byrne , author of \" Useful Art- How Activist Artists Can Change the World ,\" and professor of Useful Art at Liverpool John Moores University's School…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4160,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-conversation-art-podcast-420741/episodes/episode-385-useful-art-explodes-what-your-sense-of-art-with-a-capital-a-is-and-can-be-with-john-byrne-author-of-useful-art-how-activist-artists-can-change-the-world/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conversation-art-podcast-420741/episode-385-useful-art-explodes-what-your-sense-of-art-with-a-capital-a-is-and-can-be-with-john-byrne-author-of-useful-art-how-activist-artists-can-change-the-world.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}