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.
Continue reading “Christine Sun Kim”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.
Continue reading “Sean Mooney”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.
Continue reading “Paula Gaither”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.
Continue reading “Anita Contini”Timothy Darden
We’re excited to welcome Timothy Darden, also known as BlacKostume, to The Emergence Room.
Continue reading “Timothy Darden”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.
Continue reading “David Keplinger”Margo Weitzman
This week we sit down with Margo Weitzman, Rome Prize Fellow and PhD candidate at Rutgers University, whose research traces a sixteenth-century merchant moving between India and Italy—translating worlds through trade, language, and desire.
Continue reading “Margo Weitzman”Boris Dramov & Bonnie Fisher
In this episode of The Emergence Room, we sit down with the extraordinary duo Bonnie Fisher and Boris Dramov of the ROMA Design Group—partners in life, in practice, and in purpose. This married team of architects has shaped communities, cities, and cultural memory through their work, including the iconic Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Continue reading “Boris Dramov & Bonnie Fisher”Pythagoras the Sage
In this episode of The Emergence Room, we sit down with Pythagoras The Sage — artist, philosopher, musician, and fellow traveler at the American Academy in Rome — to explore how flow, music, and philosophy merge in a practice rooted in transformation and queerness.
Continue reading “Pythagoras the Sage”Rick Luttmann
Rick Luttmann – Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Sonoma State University – joins The Emergence Room as a Rome Fellow Traveler at the American Academy in Rome. A mathematician, public servant, and lifelong wanderer of unconventional paths, Rick brings a generosity of spirit and a catalog of stories that simply do not fit into one episode.
Continue reading “Rick Luttmann”