Art21 announces its Fall 2025 season of programs, including broadcast and digital premieres, film screenings, artist conversations, and in-person events spotlighting the most impactful artists working today. Curated by Tina Kukielski, Art21’s Susan Sollins Executive Director and Chief Curator, and Jurrell Lewis, Associate Curator, the fall lineup amplifies the voices of emerging and established artists, including Anne Imhof, Sophie Calle, Dyani White Hawk, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ragnar Kjartansson, Josh Kline, and Delcy Morelos, among others. The fall also marks the 25th anniversary and 12th season of Art21’s acclaimed broadcast series Art in the Twenty-First Century, which launched on PBS in 2001 and remains the only series dedicated exclusively to contemporary visual art on public television. The season will premiere on October 17 and will be free and accessible online at Art21.org, on PBS, and YouTube.
As the leading independent producer documenting the art of our time, Art21 was established with a mission to expand access to artists and their ideas, meet audiences where they are, and explore the salient connections between artists and their communities. To date, Art21 has created 80+ hours of films documenting over 300 artists across six continents. “Our fall season boldly moves Art21 forward, weaving together a range of perspectives and practices that speak to the nuances of our contemporary moment,” said Tina Kukielski, Susan Sollins Executive Director and Chief Curator. “We are always guided by the artists we work with—their questions, their provocations, and their visions for what art can do. Their words and works serve as a guidepost, especially in times of crisis and change.”
Season 12 of Art in the Twenty-First Century
Episode 1 premieres on PBS on October 17, 2025
Dates for PBS premieres of Episodes 2 and 3 are slated for 2026. All films will also be available at Art21.org and YouTube following their premieres.
Peabody Award-winning series Art in the Twenty-First Century returns for Season 12 on PBS, offering three new one-hour episodes. The biennial series is the only program on television in the U.S. to focus exclusively on contemporary visual art and artists. Viewers observe the artists at work, watch as they transform inspiration into art, and hear how they struggle with both the physical and visual challenges of achieving their visions. This landmark season builds upon a quarter century of shaping how audiences experience art and artists today. The first episode of Season 12 follows artists Sophie Calle, Lubaina Himid, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Dyani White Hawk as they navigate the spaces in between, creating works that exist between cultures, storylines, migrations, and cosmologies. The film travels between the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Buras, home of a Vietnamese fishing community in Louisiana; the century-old Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Santa Fe Indian Market; and the Musée Picasso in Paris.
Art21 documents the art of our time through the words and works of the most impactful artists working today. Operating at the nexus of contemporary art and film, Art21 produces intimate portraits of artists at crucial moments of creation, inviting audiences to see the world from an artist’s perspective. From its award-winning public television series to in-person public programs, education initiatives, and film screenings, to broadcasting documentary films free, online, and across social media platforms, the independent nonprofit is dedicated to meeting audiences where they are and to making contemporary art accessible to all. For more information, visit Art21.org.