CONTENTS

00:00 – Introduction & Context 

Kamayani introduces the “Vestibular Criticism” episode, explains the Art Writers Award residency in Winterthur, and introduces guest Geraldine Tedder, curator and writer based in Zurich.

02:00 – Defining ‘Vestibular’ & Episode Themes 

Exploring the dual meaning of “vestibular” — physiological (inner ear, balance) and metaphorical (entryways to spaces). Connecting these to criticism, curation, and the balance between writing, speaking, and listening.

03:00 – Writing, Orality, and Critical Positions 

Discussion of Geraldine’s essay 'You Are Probably Completely Oblivious That This Text Actually Is About You,' referencing Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s reparative vs. paranoid positions in critique, and challenging authoritative structures in writing and curating.

08:00 – Orality as Challenge to Print Culture 

Kamayani reflects on orality as a levelling, egalitarian conversational form versus the fixity of print, with its colonial legacies. Both explore “snags” and unexpectedness in oral formats, and the interplay of affect and cognition in critique.

12:00 – Performativity, Misinformation & Media Forms 

Considering the strengths and vulnerabilities of informal knowledge production, risks of instrumentalization, and the necessity of distinguishing fact from speculation in contemporary media infrastructures.

15:00 – Podcasting as Critical Practice 

Kamayani shares her transition from academic writing to podcast scripting, challenges of adapting descriptive language for a listenership, and framing the podcast as a space for intimate “gossip” about artworks.

18:45 – Curatorial Conversations & Gossip as Subversion 

Geraldine reflects on curating as collaborative learning, informal exchanges with artists, and gossip’s feminist history as a subversive, supportive network.

21:45 – Oral Histories & Restoring Lost Voices 

Discussing oral history as a method in art historiography, its role in recovering marginalized narratives, and listening as an act of curatorial care.

24:30 – Care in Curating & Opening Processes 

Geraldine discusses discomfort with curatorial authority, working closely with artists over long periods, and considering more visible, collective curatorial processes akin to rehearsal in theater or music.

28:30 – Breaking Down Curatorial Authority 

Using “rehearsal” as a metaphor for collaborative exhibition-making; examples from Geraldine’s exhibition “Script Memory” on polyphonic, collective creation.

29:45 – Spatial Metaphors & the Vestibular 

Segue to Geraldine’s audio book “Notes on Furniture,” linking vestibular concepts to spatial categories like orientation and containment. Reading from her essay engaging Sedgwick, Sara Ahmed, and Moten & Harney on alternative forms of study and knowledge.

36:45 – Erotics, Love, and Reparative Reading 

Kamayani connects Sedgwick’s reparative mode to Susan Sontag’s “erotics”, considering love, tenderness, and vulnerability as critical strategies.

42:00 – The Transcript as Inter-Script 

Exploring how transcripts mediate between oral and textual forms; example of reworking a past podcast interview into a written review, maintaining conversational richness.

45:00 – Collaborative Writing & Challenging Structures 

Discussion of experiments in co-writing, letter exchanges, and resisting entrenched institutional modes of address.

46:45 – Demystifying Institutional Realities 

Acknowledging the gap between the image of curating and its practical realities, and the risks and value of revealing behind-the-scenes work.

48:00 – Closing & Reflections 

Both reflect on key ideas, words, and possible future collaborations.