"What’s Changed, and What Should?" with Johanna Fateman

For this episode, Sky Goodden spoke with art writer and musician Johanna Fateman, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, a contributing editor at Artforum, and a frequent critic for 4Columns.org. Fateman co-owns the historic Seagull Salon in New York City, and is, as Lauren notes, “riot grrrl queer royalty” for her involvement in bands like Le Tigre. As Fateman spoke from New York, the epicenter of the pandemic, there were ambulances blazing in the background; her son was home from school, her partner was recovering from the COVID virus, her salon was holding on by a thread, and through it all, Fateman was fittingly working on her first book of dystopic fiction. However, with a measure of surprising calm, she said, “I just think now is not the time to pressure yourself to be original; I really don’t think there’s something original to say right now. I think this is the time to drill down on what’s common to us, and be honestly reflective.”