The Emergence Room

April 10, 2026April 13, 2026

Kaaj Tshikalandand

In this episode of The Emergence Room, T.J. Dedeaux-Norris hosts a conversation with Kaaj Tshikalandand – cultural mediator and anthropological researcher. Recorded at the closing of T.J.’s exhibition Black Body: Ancient City at Murate Art District in Florence, Italy. This marks the podcast’s first-ever live episode, held in the museum with a live audience, and the first time T.J. is hosting the show on her own within the space of her own exhibition.

April 9, 2026April 10, 2026

Liz Glynn

In this episode of The Emergence Room, we sit down with Liz Glynn – a sculptor, performance artist, and current Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Known for her work navigating endurance, material transformation, and the politics of labor, Glynn has been in Rome working with wax and plaster – materials that hold memory, pressure, and impermanence, echoing her ongoing interest in how bodies, histories, and systems leave their imprint.

March 26, 2026March 24, 2026

Aliza Wong

On this episode of The Emergence Room, we are joined by Aliza Wong, Director of the American Academy in Rome and a professor of history at Texas Tech University, where she has spent over two decades teaching and mentoring students. Her scholarship centers on modern Italy and the Mediterranean, with a focus on race, nation, culture, and identity – nwork that feels deeply connected to the kinds of conversations she fosters in the spaces she leads.

March 12, 2026February 3, 2026

João Salema

In this episode of The Emergence Room, we sit with João Salema, a fellow traveler whose practice feels as fluid and transient as the way she moves through the world.

Our conversation unfolds around living between places—between homes, cities, languages, and selves. We talk about what it means to build an art practice while constantly in motion, and how João makes objects appear, disappear, and reappear—both materially and emotionally.

February 26, 2026February 12, 2026

Christine Sun Kim

In this episode, we are joined by Christine Sun Kim, an artist whose work rigorously examines sound, language, power, and access. Christine’s practice challenges assumed hierarchies of communication and invites us to reconsider how meaning is produced, circulated, and authorized. Her work moves across drawing, installation, performance, and social engagement, often asking who systems are built for and who is required to adapt.

February 12, 2026February 12, 2026

Sean Mooney

On this episode of The Emergence Room, we’re so honored to sit down with Sean Mooney — American Academy in Rome Fellow, artist, curator, and longtime collaborator with Chuna McIntyre.

This conversation unfolds around music and singing, and how sound becomes a way of holding memory, devotion, and care. We talk about what it means to live as an artist who is also a caretaker — of ideas, of objects, of people, and of shared histories.

January 29, 2026January 1, 2026

Paula Gaither

Okay – today’s episode is one of those conversations that reminds us why we love doing this podcast. We’re so excited to share this conversation with Paula Gaither – and truly, talking with Paula was such a gift. She is equal parts party, equal parts scholar, equal parts absolute bright light of a human being.

January 15, 2026January 1, 2026

Anita Contini

Just moments before we recorded this episode of The Emergence Room, roles briefly reversed.

Anita Contini – founder of Creative Time and longtime leader at Bloomberg Philanthropies – was in the midst of conducting interviews for her current research project, Origins and Outcomes. As part of that work, she interviewed T.J. while T.J. is working at the American Academy in Rome.

January 2, 2026January 1, 2026

Timothy Darden

We’re excited to welcome Timothy Darden, also known as BlacKostume, to The Emergence Room.

December 11, 2025December 11, 2025

David Keplinger

This week in The Emergence Room, we sit down with someone whose presence feels like stepping into a poem — David Keplinger, poet, translator, teacher, and Rome Prize Fellow.