Episode 13: Hypnotized, Mesmerized by What Our Eyes Have Found

The latest episode of The Persistence opens with a very relatable childhood crisis: that first moment when a story you believed your whole life suddenly unravels. Host Angélica Cordero uses this myth-busting moment as a bridge into a larger cultural awakening, tracing how early 20th-century art movements like Dada, Neo-Dada, Judson Dance Theater, and Fluxus began shredding America’s shiny narratives long before the 1960s demanded it. Along the way, she spotlights boundary-pushers such as Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, and Yoko Ono, revealing how their weird, radical, rule-breaking work was not just art but prophecy. These creators exposed cracks in the culture decades before the mainstream could admit the foundations were shifting. This episode invites listeners to rethink the stories they were raised on, reflect on their own moments of disillusionment, and recognize why challenging the status quo has always been a necessary act of resistance.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsWant the full context? Check out the episodes referenced here:BooksAn Audience of Artists: Dada, Neo-Dada, and the Emergence of Abstract Expressionism by Catherine CraftAutocritique: Essays on Art and Anti-Art, 1963-1987 by Rose, BarbaraThe Experimenters by Eva DíazMarcel Duchamp’s Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917 by W. A. CamfieldNeo-Dada 1951-54: Between the Aesthetics of Persecution and the Politics of Identity by Seth MccormickPop Art and the Origins of Post-Modernism by Sylvia HarrisonSpecifically:* “Barbara Rose: Pop, Pragmatism, and ‘Prophetic Pragmatism’”, p. 115–145LinksA (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana by Jason Farago (New York Times, New York, Dec 8, 2019)About Peggy Guggenheim, (Peggy Guggenheim, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice)"The Avant-garde and the Society of Independent Artists", (Movements, Documenting the Gilded Age: New York City Exhibitions at the Turn of the 20th Century, New York Art Resources Consortium, New York, NY, 2011)“Chapter 23: Dada” by D. Rogers & Julianne Gough Hartley, (History of the Fine Arts: Visual Art, Brigham Young University)The Creative Act: Marcel Duchamp’s 1957 Classic, Read by the Artist Himself by Maria Popova, (The Marginalian, Aug 23, 2012)The Creative Act by Marcel Duchamp, (Convention of the American Federation of Arts in Houston, Texas, April 1957)“Enter Digital Archives of the 1960s Fluxus Movement and Explore the Avant-Gar