Dialogues
Life As No One Knows It
July 29–August 1, 2025
AIR’s Dialogues form a cornerstone of AIR programming, building on decades of field-defining conversations held in Aspen since the Goethe Bicentennial in 1949. At their heart is a belief in the transformative role of art in shaping cultural, scientific, and philosophical inquiry. AIR 2025’s Dialogues convened pairs of visionary artists, thinkers, and makers to explore the porous boundaries between the natural and artificial, the architectural and ecological, subjectivity and consciousness, and the living and the dead. Each dialogue models a dual engagement—poetic and sensory on one hand, technical and thickly historical on the other—designed to hold both intellectual inquiry and embodied experience at once.
P. Staff and Jamieson Webster
Following the performance of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Rafiq Bhatia’s On Blue, artist P. Staff and psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster reflect on the intersections of dreams and consciousness, and mortality and breath, in a moment defined by the shared vulnerabilities of environmental harm. For Staff, death is an antonym of power—a transformative force that transcends societal, physical, and existential boundaries. Webster, meanwhile, draws on psychoanalytic theory to examine the psychological and poetic dimensions of breath as a site of interdependence.
Sara Imari Walker and Sophia Al-Maria
Physicist and astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker and artist Sophia Al-Maria explore life on other worlds. Departing from Walker’s radical rethinking of the origins and definitions of life in her 2024 book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence, and Al-Maria’s visionary contributions to feminist science fiction, the two delve into physics and art through the lens of speculative futurism to consider what forms of life lie on and beyond our planet and understanding.
Adrián Villar Rojas and Álvaro Enrigue
Novelist Álvaro Enrigue and artist Adrián Villar Rojas manifest speculative fictions that reframe how we relate to objects, the environment, and the linear narratives we have constructed around time. In their dialogue, historical events and temporal frameworks are open to interpretation, allowing audiences to envision new possibilities for the past, present, and future.
Anil Seth and Zoë Hitzig
Neuroscientist Anil Seth and poet and technology researcher Zoë Hitzig delve into the evolving concept of consciousness as it relates to the rise of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Their dialogue touches on the boundaries between human and machine cognition, the future of AGI, and how the development of intelligent machines may challenge our understanding of the mind, subjectivity, and art.
Frida Escobedo and José Esparza Chong Cuy
Curator José Esparza Chong Cuy and architect Frida Escobedo—longtime collaborators and friends—reflect on architecture as a palimpsest of time. Drawing on their shared interest in how the built environment is formed through social use over time, the conversation explores how buildings are not fixed in meaning but are constantly reinterpreted through memory, inhabitation, and shifting political and environmental contexts.
Aria Dean and Courtney J. Martin
Leading voices in contemporary art and critical theory, artist and writer Aria Dean and foundation director and art historian Courtney J. Martin engage in a critical exchange that reframes legacies of modernism from within.
Glenn Ligon and Thelma Golden
The artistic exchanges between Glenn Ligon and Thelma Golden that unfolded in the 1990s and early 2000s have had a lasting impact within the field of art history. From Ligon’s inclusion in Golden’s groundbreaking Black Male (1994–1995) exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art to Golden’s curation of the debut of Ligon’s Stranger paintings (1996–ongoing) at the Studio Museum in Harlem, their collaborations demonstrate the profound role of interpersonal relationships and community in shaping both artistic and curatorial practices. Their conversation offers a glimpse into the shared histories, mutual influences, and evolving dialogues that continue to shape their lifelong friendship. The talk will proceed Ligon’s honoring later that evening at the museum’s annual ArtCrush gala.
Issy Wood and Johanna Fateman
Painter and musician Issy Wood joins writer, musician, and CULTURED co-chief art critic Johanna Fateman for a conversation that traverses art, music, and criticism. This event is one of five Summer Series lectures presented by Anderson Ranch Arts Center featuring prominent contemporary artists, critics, and cultural figures.