Jennie C. Jones on Time Traveling Through Art, Sound, and Space

When the artist Jennie C. Jones listens closely to a piece of music, she’s particularly attuned to its pauses, in-between moments, and breaks. Widely celebrated for her abstract works in painting, sculpture, and sound art that, in many instances, incorporate architecture or space—through which she often elevates undersung or little-known Black artists and musicians—her practice is largely informed by minimalism and color field painting, as well as by jazz and avant-garde music. Jones currently has two exhibitions on view at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis (through Feb. 1, 2026): “A Line When Broken Begins Again,” which features a selection of new and existing paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and sound pieces, and “Other Octaves,” a group show she curated of works by artists who have been formative to her practice. She was also commissioned to create the 2025 rooftop installation at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

On this episode of Time Sensitive, she discusses what listening as a conceptual practice looks like in action, the art of putting together a playlist, and her deep love of things tactile and analog.

Special thanks to our Season 12 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.

Show notes: 

[03:00] “Jennie C. Jones: A Line When Broken Begins Again” (2025)

[03:00] “Other Octaves” (2025)

[03:21] Carmen Herrera

[03:21] Agnes Martin

[03:21] Martin Puryear

[03:21] Alma Thomas

[03:21] Mildred Thompson

[03:35] A Free and Shifting Tonal Center (2024)

[05:43] Ellsworth Kelly

[10:07] Fred Moten

[10:07] “Dynamics” (2022)

[11:26] Trisha Brown’s “Leaning Duets” (1970)

[13:04] Tadao Ando

[13:16] “These (Mournful) Shores” (2020)

[15:38] Moses Williams

[15:38] Louis Dotson

[16:37] Richard Tuttle

[28:41] Olly Wilson

[29:52] Maryanne Amacher

[29:52] Arthur Russell

[35:23] Jennie C. Jones: Compilation (2015)

[36:54] “The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism” (1993)

[40:48] “Slow Birds” (2004) 

[40:48] "Slowly in a Silent Way, Caged” (2010)

[40:48] Charlie Parker

[1:06:00] “Jennie C. Jones: RPM (revolutions per minute)” (2018)

[1:08:37] “Ensemble” (2025)