Pio Abad
speaker
490 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 30 Jun
Pio Abad’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
I mean, that quote goes way back.
And I think, yeah, I think it's still the contradiction of those two things and the ability of art to be able to hold those two things in one hand.
It's really what powers, you know, my desire to make stuff or my desire to tell stories.
And really it comes from this kind of deepening understanding of what art is capable of and what it isn't.
The need to talk about these really quite dark histories that we live through, that we're living through, but pair it with a kind of seduction of the surface.
I think that choreography between the two is still, you're right, very much important and very much powers the desire to keep making.
Yeah, I think especially when you're kind of dubbed a political artist, it's almost like you're forbidden from making beautiful things.
And I don't really think that's applicable to me, or I don't think it's true.
I think there is a way that beauty can...
enable you to talk about these histories.
And actually, beauty becomes like a really important tool to gather an audience, you know, because ultimately, at least for me, I'm sure it's not the same for all artists.
But whenever I make work, I always have a kind of constituency in mind, you know, a group of people, a public that I'm addressing.
And I think beauty plays a big part in gathering that constituency, in speaking to people, in telling stories, you know.
I always talk about art and viewing art as a game of seduction.
And as an artist, I mean, I've overused this quote, but I always think my role is to seduce people towards knowledge.
And I think that's why beauty becomes central to this whole enterprise.
I think that the answer to that is a fluctuating yes, you know, because I think the older you get and I guess the more political realities unravel, you know, you start questioning arts agency.
But then also as an artist, like you have to believe in it.
You have to believe in its potency.
And I think, you know, going back to my family's history, I've always been really wary when people describe my work as activist because I have first-hand experience of what activism is actually like and the heartaches involved in activism, the sacrifices involved in trying to change the world.
Showing 1–20 of 490 · page 1 of 25
Next →