Ask Addoley + Anna is a collaboration between artists Addoley Dzegede and Anna Ihle in the form of a podcast. As artists who love giving advice, Addoley Dzegede and Anna Ihle, give advice to both individuals and institutions in The Stay at Home- season. The Stay at Home- season is commissioned by the Norwegian National Museum.
In this first episode Addoley and Anna give advice on the following:
– How do we break down the intimidation that many people feel coming into a museum?
– Keep wanting to be rude to other people?
– Gallery attendants at the front line of community engagements?
Guests in episode 2 of Ask Addoley + Anna are Ya Jing Wong (art student at Kunstskolen i Stavanger), Rolf Yngve Uggen (Director of Collections management at The Norwegian National Museum) and Ayatgali Tuleubek (artist).They help Addoley and Anna give advice on the following:
-A big percentage of artists are experiencing exhibitions online through photo and video. How can we engage people in a more and more technology-driven art world?.
-Should I ban materials that we know to be very detrimental to the environment from the course I lead?
– I was asked to sell my work in a not-very-happening gallery/store in a little town in Norway…
– How we can be decolonizing?
– How to deal with art if you can not see it physically and experience it in a space?
– How do I know that what I’m spending my time and energy on is the right thing to do?
– If we strip down what the essential one needs to do as an artist, what would that be?
– How to deal with a narcissistic psychopath as a co- worker?
– What kind of communication you would expect museums and curators to have with artists?
In Episode 3 of Ask Addoley + Anna, Addoley proposes that if a museum has to ask itself bizarre questions regarding storage, they are doing something right, and Anna realizes that it is not a museum task to improve her mental health. Guests in Episode 3 of Ask Addoley + Anna are Ida Madsen Følling (artist), Ellen Marie Fodstad (Curator Learning at the National Museum Norway) and Sara Rodrigues de Miranda (art student at Kunstskolen i Stavanger). We will give advice on the following (and more):
How do I figure out what I should be paid for my performance at an institution?
How can I succeed as an artist living in a small town? Is it always better to move to a bigger city with a bigger art community?
What does it mean to make art “accessible”?
How do I start up an art space when my peers are not engaged?
Is it too much to ask that my friend meets up with me without their boyfriend for once? Can I ask them for that?
In Episode 4 of the stay-at-home-season of Ask Addoley and Anna, we have artist Aleksander Andreassen, Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the National Museum Norway, Stina Högkvist and art student Gulbahar Adanc help us tackle the following questions (and many more):
– How to deal with intimacy and sex as a single person during this time?
– Acquisitions of performance works in the collection? How to go about it?
– How is the museum doing anti racist work?
– How to enhance visitor experience and learning?
In Episode 5 of Season 3 of Ask Addoley + Anna, we chat with artist Hanan Benammar, Per Odd Bakke (Special Adviser Department: Education and Visitor Experience) at Nasjonalmuseet, and art student Galina Tatarkina. Hanan shares some of her reflections on colonial awareness and being a woman with a critical voice within the art world. Per Odd wears a T-shirt during our Skype meeting for its institutional critique and asks us how can the museum include more diverse voices. Galina shares her experience working in a grocery store during these times and tackles our most recurring relationship question!
In Episode 6 of Season 3, Anna questions what Ask Addoley + Anna is doing for the museum (Does the museum actually want our help? Will they listen to us?) and notes the positive aspects of living in a smaller city. Addoley has mixed feelings about “marketability” and doesn’t want to make art that just becomes more trash in the world. In this episode, we speak with artist Ebba Moi, Christopher Wick Wegner Simonsen, an art student at Kunstskolen i Stavanger, and Birgit Jordan, Special Librarian at the National Museum. With our guests, we discuss the pros and cons of small organizations working with larger institutions, the topic of trust and betrayal in experiences with contemporary art, how to prioritize time, fear of missing out, and more.
-How can smaller institutions work better with the National Museum?
-Which kinds of games or challenges can art institutions do to attract more visitors?
-How can I succeed as an artist living in a small town? Is it always better to move to a bigger city with a bigger art community?
-Is it okay to be rude to other people?
-Do you have any advice on how to combine freelance work and your own work as an artist? How do I prioritize my time?
-How does the museum reconnect artists and society? How to bridge the gap between those who are lacking resources to become engaged in art?
-How important is consistency in my work? Can I work in more than one style and still be marketable?
-How is the openness of the museum reflected in its exhibition texts, educational resources, etc, in the first meeting with the museum?
In Episode 7 of Season 3, Addoley comes to the realization that free education is not as big of a solution to accessing an art education as she thought when so many other obstacles still abound, and Anna says part of the reason she makes art is to stave off boredom and wants to explore, surprise herself and make connections. In this episode, we speak with artist and director Uma Feed Tjelta, and artist and writer Agatha Wara. With our guests, we discuss which audiences museums cater to with their text, programming and exhibitions, how to stay creative with limited supplies, and problems with thinking about “marketability” when making art.
-At this specific moment in time, I think we (the museum) should be asking ourselves on whose premises are we attempting to be inclusive? -Are we just ticking off boxes and not really committing to inclusion beyond our need for getting a larger audience?
-How important is consistency in my work? Can I work in more than one style and still be marketable?
-How is the openness of the museum reflected in its exhibition texts, educational resources, etc, in the first meeting with the museum?
-How do you stay creative when you are not home and do not have creative supplies with you?
-I keep falling in love with other people. How can I live well with this situation, while still in a relationship?
In the final episode of Season 3, Addoley and Anna tackle their own reflections, evaluations, and frustrations working with the Nasjonalmuseet from a distance. Addoley points out that people possessing power can often be unaware of it themselves, and then Anna realizes that usually someone literally has to tell her «you have some power in this situation» for her to recognize it herself. They talk about how art institutions are not very good at listening to advice, the noticeable difference between how artists, art students, and museum staff answer questions, and more.
As a guest in this final episode, Lisa Bernhoft-Sjødin, Curator of Learning at the Nasjonalmuseet, helps Addoley and Anna give advice on topics from accessing networks to disrupting social hierarchies and leveraging power. Together they address the following:
-Any advice on how to become a guest curator at an art institution?
-How do you think museums should change as a result of people around the world paying more attention to institutional racism?
Anna Ihle 