“I want to encourage everyone to go look at art and feel” An Interview with Alexandra Steinacker-Clark

Journal d’Ambroisie: Can we talk about the two year anniversary event?

 

Alexandra Steinacker-Clark: Yes, one of the best examples of these efforts is the “All About Art” second anniversary weekend. I wanted to throw an anniversary party, which I already did last year for the first anniversary on the Slash Arts Houseboat. The collective let me have the boat for the night. I baked a little hors d'oeuvres and I served drinks and it was a very chill night to say thank you to the people who supported me throughout that first year. In the last year, the podcast has grown massively. I'm now in the top 10% of the most followed and the most shared podcasts worldwide. To celebrate this, what I wanted to do this year is create an event that is, again, something that adds value to the larger arts community. I wanted to throw a networking event where we are reimagining party games (like jenga) and creatively incorporating these into a networking structure for the evening so that people feel like they can blatantly network with one another, but in a comfortable, fun environment with barriers brought down. Here, I have to say thank you to Kupfer, the project space and art gallery that I'm hosting the event at – they have given me their space for three days, and in addition to this they offered that if I wanted to do more surrounding the event, they would be happy to help. In fact, the anniversary has now developed into a full weekend with panel talks, exhibition tours, and this networking event, and with amazing professionals coming. I couldn't dream of the people who have said yes and are coming to talk about their experiences in the art world. It's so exciting, I'm thrilled!

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Journal d’Ambroisie: That’s a huge milestone, congratulations! Being here where you are now, is there something that you would tell your younger self?

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Alexandra Steinacker-Clark: This is such an emotional question, because looking at my childhood, it wasn't always the easiest. I say that it's a passion and goal of mine to make the arts more accessible to people from low income backgrounds. This is also because I come from a lower income background. I think I would tell my younger self that she does not have to worry, that she will be able to take care of herself and develop such a strong sense of self, and that she will not allow unhealthy patterns in her life anymore, be it from herself or from others in all aspects, for the most part anyway. Obviously no one's perfect and sometimes, things do still crop up. Some things I still need to work through, because I'm in my 20s, I'm far from being perfect, but I'll be working on myself when I'm in my 60s too. So young Alex, you don't have to worry, you’re safe and you’ll be able to take care of yourself, and you can be confident that you’ve worked hard enough.

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Journal d’Ambroisie: That’s beautiful, thank you for sharing it with us. Do you have any people in mind that inspired you throughout the journey and made you believe that the art world was for you as well?

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Alexandra Steinacker-Clark: The first person that comes to mind – and this ties into my last point as well, learning, even when you're in your 60s – is my mom, who is receptive to my experiences, who is supportive, and who is a workaholic like myself. My mom is the ultimate strong woman, the number one role model in my life. And she never once said, “How are you going to make money with all this?” She was the person who unconditionally supported my journey from the start. I think we can divide the inspiring people into two categories. There's the personal ones who I can be vulnerable with and who inspire me through their vulnerability, like my best friend, Emilie, or other people close to me who really allow me to grow personally and emotionally. Then there are people who I don’t know personally or closely, but who really inspire me in the art world, like Bettina Korek, CEO of Serpentine, or fellow podcaster Katy Hessel, host of “The Great Women Artists”, who is an absolute superstar in the art world, or like Sadie Coles, a gallerist and art dealer. These people inspire me and I look at their careers and think, “Wow, this is what I'm striving towards, this is what inspires me.” Of course, then there are all the guests who've been on my podcast and shared their experiences.

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Journal d’Ambroisie: You've recently given your very own Ted Talk in collaboration
with UCL, titled “Can Engaging with Art Increase Empathy?” First of all, congratulations! Could you tell us a little bit about the whole experience?

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Alexandra Steinacker-Clark: I'm going to be really transparent with you, the experience was mixed. It was panic and joy all in one. I knew I wanted to give a TED Talk for a long time, it was on my bucket list. In fact, one of my philosophies in my career is when you want something, don't keep it a secret, tell people because people are so willing to help and to see you grow if they believe in you. I have had so much encouragement and support from people and I wouldn't be where I am if I had kept everything I wanted a secret. So after receiving some great advice, I reached out to TEDXUCL and once I gave my pitch I had to wait a couple months, and then on February 5th (I can’t believe I know the exact date), I got the email saying that they're inviting me to come speak on the 8th of March 2023. So I had a month, but mind you, I work full time and I also have a podcast, I also want to have a social life, and I also like to exercise, to find time for that – so I had to juggle all of that while preparing for this huge moment. I've never spoken for 15 minutes straight without looking at cards and now I had one month to get ready, so of course I had a bit of anxiety about it. My mum helped a lot with preparing, she told me not to get overwhelmed by trying to memorise everything all at once. She told me to study one or two paragraphs at a time until they are fully memorised, and then move on to the next paragraph, without going back or going forward – just concentrating on one to two a day. As a matter of fact, with this method, I had my speech memorised within a week. Then I had another week and a half to practise without a paper, to just memorise the flow, to be able to speak in a way where I enunciated correctly. Likewise, thinking about what to wear is the hardest thing. I was at the gym when I had an idea, and I got off the treadmill and started texting artists. The idea was to wear an artwork on stage, to get my point across even better. I asked artist Haydn Albrow to tuft a work that I could wear around my shoulders, and we glued her work to a secondhand blazer – in fact, my whole outfit was secondhand. It made a statement and it was also really cool and empowering; and on top of all that, I got to work with a great artist. On the day of the talk, I got on stage, the first couple of sentences were a bit more breathy, I was nervous, and then it came really naturally, it flowed. And then all of a sudden I knew I was on the last paragraph and my brain just went, “Oh, my God, I've done it. I've done it without making a mistake. I've done it. It's done now. This is the last time I'm going to be reciting this. I've done it. It's done!” I definitely hope that I will have the opportunity to give speeches and talks in the future because this was the first time I've done it so there was a lot of anxiety around it, but now that I've learned how to navigate it and feel confident, I feel like it brought me so much joy to be on that stage. So I would love to continue to do that in the future.