The Art World: What If...?! artwork

Visual Arts · Allan Schwartzman and Charlotte Burns

The Art World: What If...?!

by Allan Schwartzman and Charlotte Burns

What if we reimagined everything in culture, from painting to patronage? Tune in to The Art World: What If…?! to hear leading thinkers, creators and innovators in art rethink the system, exploring the consequences with wit, wisdom and humor. Join art journalist Charlotte Burns and world-renowned art advisor Allan Schwartzman as they exclusively interview museum leaders, collectors and artists including MoMA director Glenn Lowry, Guggenheim deputy director Naomi Beckwith, non-profit leader Kemi Ilesanmi, curator Cecilia Alemani and Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the director of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and many others over the course of the series. From the team behind In Other Words and Hope & Dread, The Art World: What If…?! is brought to you by Schwartzman& for Art& and produced by Studio Burns.

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman

As this season of The Art World: What If?! takes a break, Charlotte and Allan reflect on the conversations that have shaped it — from artists reimagining knowledge, time,

Oct 16 2025
48 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Thelma Golden

In this episode, Allan Schwartzman sits down with Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, ahead of the November opening of the museum's

Oct 9 2025
1 h 02 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Glenn Lowry

In this episode, host Charlotte Burns sits down once more with Glenn Lowry during his final week as director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over three decades,

Oct 2 2025
56 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Sin Wai Kin

Artist Sin Wai Kin constructs fantasy worlds to show how storytelling doesn't just reflect reality—it creates it. Through characters like 'The Storyteller', and works tha

Sep 25 2025
52 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman

After a long, news-filled summer, host Charlotte Burns reconvenes with founder Allan Schwartzman to take stock of an art market that feels… different. From major shifts a

Sep 18 2025
48 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Nana Oforiatta-Ayim

There is never just one way of seeing. And Nana Oforiatta-Ayim—writer, filmmaker, cultural historian, and institution builder—has spent her career proving exactly that.

Sep 11 2025
1 h 08 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Glenn Ligon

Glenn Ligon makes art that asks us to look again. An artist, writer, and curator, his practice moves between the studio and the gallery, the page and the public sphere, s

Sep 4 2025
1 h 14 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Kemi Ilesanmi

Kemi Ilesanmi is planting seeds for the future. Three years ago, she stepped back from running The Laundromat Project, took a gap year in which she visited 13 countries,

Aug 28 2025
1 h 08 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman

Longtime podcast collaborators Allan Schwartzman and Charlotte Burns sit down for a conversation about an art industry in profound flux. After almost a decade of podcasts

Aug 21 2025
46 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Agnes Denes

The artist Agnes Denes saw it coming. Machines taking over. Technology converging with consciousness. History on a pendulum swinging perilously back and forth. In this

Aug 14 2025
41 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Dr. Mariët Westermann

In this bonus episode, we're joined by the newly appointed director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, Dr. Mariët Westermann, who is the first fe

Jul 3 2024
1 h 02 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Deana Haggag, Mia Locks and Jay Sanders

Join us for the almost final episode of this season where we welcome back our incredible team of editorial advisors who guide, suggest — and even challenge — what we've d

Jun 13 2024
1 h 06 min

The Art World: What If...?! Transforming Museums with Mia Locks, Fatoş Üstek and Laura Raicovich

What if you were embroiled in a public workplace controversy? And what happens on the other side of the headlines—would you walk away from your field, or would you reenga

May 23 2024
57 min

The Art World: What If...?! with LaToya Ruby Frazier

This time, we're joined by the artist LaToya Ruby Frazier, just before the opening of her major new exhibition 'Monuments of Solidarity' at the Museum of Modern Art in Ne

May 9 2024
1 h 06 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Bryan Stevenson

In this episode, we visit the Legacy Sites in Montgomery, Alabama, including the newly opened Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, a 17-acre site on the banks of the Alabama

May 2 2024
1 h 13 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Karen Patterson

This time we welcome Karen Patterson, the Executive Director of the Ruth Foundation for the Arts. The organisation immediately became a major player when it launched in 2

Apr 18 2024
46 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman

"The market is poised for a big fall, so it's more 'when', than 'what if'," says Allan Schwartzman, founder of the podcast. He's back on the show to talk all about the st

Apr 11 2024
43 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Kemi Ilesanmi

We welcome back Kemi Ilesanmi, the former executive director of the Laundromat Project and one of the standout stars of our first season. In season one, Kemi was just abo

Apr 4 2024
47 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Koyo Kouoh ~ Part 2

For the second part of our interview with Koyo Kouoh, the chief curator and executive director of Zeitz MOCAA, we hear about how she has worked to overhaul the infrastruc

Mar 28 2024
31 min

The Art World: What If...?! with Koyo Kouoh ~ Part 1

Joining us from Cape Town in South Africa is Koyo Kouoh, the chief curator and executive director of Zeitz MOCAA for the first in a two-part special. Originally destined

Mar 21 2024
38 min

Chart trend

Position in the Visual Arts chart (US), last 90 days.

#2
all-time peak
1
day in the top 3 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where The Art World: What If...?! ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 29, 2026).

#101 ▲ 69 Visual Arts US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

Charlotte covers the larger Art World in an informative and entertaining way. Her guests are varied and extremely interesting. I enjoy learning about what is happening around the world in art. This show is one of my favorite ways to learn about art and the art world. Tricia Leonard

Ozzie'sOwner · Jan 2021

Charlotte Burns is insightful, well-prepared and well-researched, and respectful of all of the guests on In Other Words. This is by far the best produced, most wide-ranging, and nuanced podcast about contemporary art and the art market that I’ve come across.

Kakajikakaji · Sep 2020

This is the first art podcast I found and started to listen to. It is by far, still my favorite. Charlotte Burns so seamlessly bring the entire world of art into my phone. I feel completely informed about artists, museums, art purchasing, curating, auction houses, and fairs. Thank you for loving art!

Stellaki10 · Feb 2020

For anyone remotely interested in art, artists, museums, and curators/writers, this is the best and most informative podcast I’ve found. Charlotte Burns is a great interviewer and she is often accompanied by either Amy Cappellazzo or Allan Schwartzman. Wide variety of interview subjects. 11/20/19 Charlotte Burns’ interview with Catherine Opie is my favorite among so many great IOW interviews and discussions. It covers so many issues and the artist is so intelligent and candid.

born1832 · Nov 2019

We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.

More podcasts like The Art World: What If...?!

Popular shows in Visual Arts, for your next listen.

Browse charts by category

Daily updated Apple Podcasts rankings for the United States.

About The Art World: What If...?! on Reason.fm

Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of The Art World: What If...?!, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.

Contact

Questions or issues? Reach us at hello@reason.fm

0:000:00