VCU news

By Jessica McCadden
Institute for Contemporary Art

Upcoming events at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University include a virtual lecture on podcasting and a live performance as part of its “Test Pattern” series.

The VPM + ICA Community Media Center will present a free, virtual lecture from the creator and host of the podcast “Death, Sex & Money,” Anna Sale, on Thursday, April 7, from 6 to 7 p.m. Registration is required.

In “Death, Sex & Money,” the podcast from WNYC Studios, Sale addresses “the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.” After debuting at the top of the iTunes chart in 2014, it was named the No. 1 podcast of the year by New York magazine in 2015. Sale won a Gracie Award for best podcast host in 2016 and the show won the 2018 Webby Award and 2021 Ambie Award for best interview show.

Sale will give a master class in podcast production and the art of interviewing, and talk about her recent book, “Let's Talk About Hard Things.”

On Friday, April 15, the ICA at VCU continues its “Test Pattern” series with a live performance at the Markel Center. Artist Shawné Michaelain Holloway presents “DEWCLAW,” a multimedia composition that uses the choreography of sadomasochist bondage play and the faux-rage fueled narrative vocalization styles of 1980s and ’90s wrestling promos to consider the forgotten memories, habits and desires that are stored within our bodies and identities.

The performance will be followed by a conversation with artist and VCU professor Julian Kevon Glover, Ph.D.

Curated by David Riley, ICA assistant curator and producer, “Test Pattern” is a hybrid performance series that invites visiting artists to use the ICA auditorium as an experimental production studio, inspired by the legacy of public access TV and alternative video movements in the United States.

During each weeklong residency, the artists will collaborate with community members, transforming the ICA auditorium into a space for music, movement, activism and deep conversations. Each week will culminate in a live performance and broadcast.

“Test Pattern” presents the public with a unique window into the creative process to observe rehearsals, participate in live tapings and online streams of the performances, and to later access each episode in its final form.