Bad at Sports Episode 914 – Kenny Schachter: Chickens, Auctions, and Foundries (Part 1)

This week on Bad at Sports, Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller find themselves in Chicago with curator Bianca Bova and the indefatigable Kenny Schachter — artist, writer, teacher, collector, and provocateur.

What begins as a conversation about Schachter’s exhibition at Old Friends Gallery — featuring chicken-assisted artworks and bronze casts forged in Slovenia — quickly expands into a meditation on the art world itself. Schachter reflects on his collaborations, his obsession with foundries, and his refusal to keep resources secret. The group debates the zero-sum mentality of the art market, why artists sabotage themselves, and how absurd projects (sometimes with actual chickens) can be the most serious acts of art-making.

Equal parts candid and comedic, the conversation cuts across auctions, art fairs, and the everyday realities of teaching. Expect reflections on generosity vs. gatekeeping, the fragility of the art system, and what it means to make art that is more conceptual than commercial.

Highlights

• Chickens as collaborators and muses.

• The foundry in Slovenia that casts Rudolf Stingel’s panels.

• Why keeping fabricators secret is a sign of weakness.

• Auctions as democratizing, even anarchic, art spaces.

• The necessity of art in a divided and compassion-starved world.

Names Dropped

Kenny Scharf, https://kennyscharf.com/
Kenny Schachter, https://www.kennyschachter.art/
Bianca Bova, https://www.biancabovagallery.com/
Billy Connolly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Connolly
Rudolf Stingel, https://gagosian.com/artists/rudolf-stingel/
Tobias Rehberger, https://pedrocera.com/artists/tobias-rehberger
Paul Thek, https://whitney.org/exhibitions/paul-thek
Giacometti, https://www.moma.org/artists/2141-alberto-giacometti
Jerry Saltz, https://nymag.com/author/jerry-saltz/
Cy Twombly, https://cytwombly.org/
Jasper Johns, https://whitney.org/artists/653
Robert Rauschenberg, https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/
Joan Mitchell, https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/joan-mitchell
Helen Frankenthaler, https://gagosian.com/artists/helen-frankenthaler/
Georgia O’Keeffe, https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/
Andy Warhol, https://www.warhol.org/
Joseph Beuys, https://walkerart.org/collections/artists/joseph-beuys
Sigmar Polke, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sigmar-polke-2213
John Cage, https://www.johncage.org/
Devendra Banhart, https://devendrabanhart.com/
Brad Pitt, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/09/19/brad-pitt-debuts-his-sculptures-in-finland
Cindy Sherman, https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/cindy-sherman/
Robert Longo, https://www.robertlongo.com/
Julian Schnabel, https://www.julianschnabel.com/
Old Friends Gallery, https://www.oldfriendsgallery.com/