Heart in Art

Neoclassicism is the label we use for the period of art history after the Baroque. Spanning the 18th century enlightenment era and into the beginning of the 19th c. Paradigms or broad thought trends always develop in relation to the period before them, and often shift to embrace an opposing aesthetic. In this case, the flowery ornamentation and ostentatiousness of the baroque and the rococo eras, gave way to the embrace of the clean lines and pared back style of classical Greek and Roman antiquity.Today we will discuss:-Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Iliad. 1715-1720. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-h/6130-h.htm-Sir G. Kneller's portrait of Alexander Pope. 1719https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/portrait-of-alexander-pope-by-sir-godfrey-kneller-1719-J.Maubert's portrait of John Dryden. 1700. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/portrait-of-john-dryden

Continuing on with our art history series, this episode we’ll focus upon the aesthetic of The Baroque, with reference to European classical music. The term ‘Baroque’, coined by 19th century critics, describes the period in western European classical music between 1600 to around 1750. The name derives from the Portuguese barroco, or “oddly shaped pearl.” Join our host, Dani Van De Broucke, as she explores the lives and works of Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Part of Series 3: Artistic Movements for Beginners. Join our host Dani Van De Broucke, as she explores the Renaissance paradigm through the exploration of three famous art pieces of the time:The Sistine Madonna [the Madonna di San Sisto ] by Raphael [Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. (1513-1514)The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyk (1534)David by Michelangelo [Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni] (1501-1504)A fitting theme for the start of a new year, and a time where all our old world systems and paradigms seem to be shifting and crumbling around us. On a positive note, new ideas flourish in times of change, just as they did during the Renaissance!

Get your Christmas treats out, light the fire and get cosy. Join our host Dani Van De Broucke for a yuletide Victorian classic story, A Christmas Carol, by English author, Charles Dickens.

This episode starts our new exciting new season, which is a beginners crash course in major artistic styles and movements across the centuries. This episode has a spooky vibe, and focuses upon Gothic Literature in particular, which spans a vast time period from the Middles ages (13th century) up to the 19th Century. Join our host, Dani Van De Broucke, as she shares excerpts from seminal Gothic works and discusses some of the conventions of the Gothic.

Meghan O'Dea has been writing for the past decade about everything from tech to travel to cultivating resilience. Most recently, she joined Lonely Planet at a digital editor, where she frequently writes and commissions stories on getting back to nature, and how to make the outdoors more accessible and intersectional. Join our host, Dani Van De Broucke, as she asks what qualities make good travel writing, and its' defining characteristics in 2020.

With special guest, Canadian DJ and Producer, Model Citizen. Electronic Music has been an important part of counter-culture in both Europe and America over the past 40 years, but how did it makes it's way into the mainstream? What has changed since the 80s? Join us as we explore these questions and talk to Techno and Prog lover Model Citizen, about his experiences on the scene.

Today, I'll be talking to the first photographer we have welcomed to Heart in Art, Adam Lang of LangShot Photography. His work focuses upon portraiture and the urban landscapes and architecture in the some of the most beautiful cities in Europe. He describes his style as 'moody,' and he certainly captures the Gothic elements and plays with light and shadow in a way that makes the familiar a little unfamiliar.

Our special guest today is children's author and journalist, Ritu Hemnani. We talk about her new children's book 'Gope and Meera,' based upon the 1947 partition of India and the resulting destruction of the state of Sindh, which led the to largest mass migration in history. Ritu tells us about her personal inspiration for the story and we discuss the importance of ALL children seeing themselves represented in the stories that they read.

This comic novel was published in 1923. The story takes place in London, and depicts the self-absorbed elite in turbulent times following the end of World War I. Listen and enjoy, as our host, Dani Van De Broucke, narrates chapter 1.

A multi-disciplinary storyteller from Indonesia, Edward Gunawan has worked as writer, producer, director and actor on award-winning stage and screen projects across Asia and the US. He was a producer on How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) and an executive producer on By the Time It Gets Dark. Both films were selected as Thailand’s Oscar entries for Best Foreign Language Film. He recently launched Project Press Play, a webcomic and online community that promotes mental well-being. He is now based in Hong Kong where he *TRIES TO* keep a regular yoga and meditation practice. He loves creating and collaborating on socially-impactful transnational projects. His work can be found on addword.com.Link: www.projectpressplay.com

Sonia Leung began writing when she turned forty. In 2016, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with distinction from City University of Hong Kong. Presently, Sonia is working on rewriting her English memoir Hong Kong Dream. She is also at work on her first bilingual lyric-poem collection, titled Don’t Cry, Phoenix. Her work has appeared in multiple publications including Cha, Mala Literary Journal, The Shanghai Literary Review, Chinarrative, Linepaper, and Afterness – Literature from the New Transnational Asia, an anthology. A message from Sonia below: Your podcast listeners can find my work in the following places: https://www.asiancha.com/content/view/2694/606/ https://chinarrative.substack.com/p/the-moon-in-a-dogs-eyehttps://podcast.rthk.hk/podcast/item.php?pid=1319&eid=103001&year=2017&lang=en-US https://www.shanghailiterary.com/store/issue-2https://www.shanghailiterary.com/store/issue-4With Asian Cha and Chinarrative, your listeners can read two of my personal essays online. RTHK link is a podcast where they can listen to a DJ's reading of my work. The Shanghai Literary Review issue 2 & 4 are hard copies with my personal essays in them where your listeners can purchase online. Thank you.

This is a short story, borne out of a writing experiment with perspective and time. Set in Oaxaca, Mexico, it tells of the interesting relationship between the protagonist David, and his mother Maria.

Mental health issues, such as addiction, remain a societal taboo, despite many high-profile celebrities, such as Elton John, Steven King and Daniel Ratcliffe to name but a few, bravely breaking their anonymity. This week we explore the role that storytelling plays in healing from addiction, and how art in general can play an essential holistic role in the recovery process. Sharing our stories can hopefully help to normalise the issues (that all too often) many of us still face in silence, afraid to share in case we are ostracised or unfairly judged.

"Graffiti writing breaks the hegemonic hold of corporate/governmental style over the urban environment and the situations of daily life. As a form of aesthetic sabotage, it interrupts the pleasant, efficient uniformity of "planned" urban space and predictable urban living. For the writers, graffiti disrupts the lived experience of mass culture, the passivity of mediated consumption." - Jeff Ferrell, Crimes of StyleGraffiti art has come a long way. It's historic roots are in typography or lettering. (similar to font, in a digital context) This is where the subversive element lies; 'tagging' or signing ones name in a public space without state permission. Some people don't appreciate the artistic element of tagging, and this is perhaps because the level of artistry (or not) involved, varies greatly. Some might look like mindless vandalism, accompanying other acts of destruction; However, other pieces may be far more complex, aesthetically pleasing and add value to their setting. There is also the politically challenging nature of some street, or graffiti art. We've all heard of Banksy, and he has many global counterparts; In the NYC 'Fade', in India 'DAKU', In Spain 'ESCIF.' In every country around the world, you can find graffiti and street artists using their art to challenge the social hegemony. Perhaps it is only natural that an art form with its roots in a more underground culture, should be the medium to transmit this kind of message.Conversely, sanctioned graffiti art can also now be found on the walls in every major city. Private residents pay to have artists 'add value' to the boring walls of their property. Street art is being used as a medium through which communities are being brought together. This is exactly what is happening at HK Walls. We hope you enjoy the show.

Good fiction writing requires characterisation that makes you feel invested in a character because they seem three dimensional, have human flaws and also, desires. The bare bones of any plot rely upon a character who wants something, but their yearning is extended, and perhaps never realised, due to a series of problems or obstacles along their journey. This is a uniquely human story. We enjoy it because it mirrors our own life journey.

Artists sometimes discover their talent late in life, and some have a lifelong relationship with their chosen art form. As a writer, I know there have been times in my life I have loved fiction writing as a hobby, times when I have felt confident in my ability and realised it is my calling, and should be my profession. Other times, I have felt like an imposter, who should just give up. It has brought me stress and highlighted the places in my life where I am stuck. But throughout all of this, I have maintained the absolute conviction that writing is what I was born to do, and this sentiment certainly rings true with our guest this week, Kritika Kumar. Kritika has a tangible vitality that is borne out of her love for dance. She shares her ups and downs, dance as both a hobby and a profession, and the way in which dance is an inherent part of her identity.

In Chimamanda Adichie's 2009 Tedtalk 'The Danger of a Single Story,' Adichie talks about the danger of dominant or one track stories; discourse that can be culturally reductive, deny groups with less political or social impact a 'voice' i.e. representation in the prevailing historical or social narrative and deny young people of role models that look like them. In this episode, I talk with a young Indian woman, Maya Prakash, an international student, who had an article published in the New York Times on the Rohingya crisis, and has recently built a website named 'Shakti Stories,' designed to share the lesser heard narratives of some powerful women in the Indian feminist movement, and dispel some myths about the female experience in India.

Often artists work spans forms, for example writers/musicians, poets/singers and so on. There are also artists who work in a variety of mediums; writers who use many different platforms, for differing audiences and purposes, or visual artists who work with oil paints and digitally. But what lies behind this adaptibility and desire to express oneself in many different ways? Do some art forms complement each other, or can the variety sometimes 'muddy' the proverbial waters? In this episode, we talk with Boris Burgess, a Hong Kong based artist, whose works span both form and medium, to explore this phenomenon a little more closely.

Today, we are joined by Karina Calver. Karina is an International Bestselling Author of A Girl’s Faith, published in February 2019. She is a counselor from Monash University, Australia, specializing in Trauma and Relationship counseling. Her memoir entitled “A Girl’s Faith”, is a collection of short stories dedicated to her Grandma who passed away in 2018. Her memoir uncovers her experiences as a rape survivor, which has led her assistance of women with #MeToo events in Hong Kong.Today's show contains brief references to sexual assault, which some listeners may find triggering. If you or anyone you know is impacted by the content of today's show, please contact:http://endincest.org/safechat@rainlily.org.hkor alternatively, call the Rainlily hotline on:2375-5322

'Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of art.' (Wilde, O, 1854-1900) 'Art is a lie that makes us realise the truth.'(Picasso, P, 1881-1973) Aesthetic, a lie, the truth, intention, concept, craft, imitation, lesson or challenge? Let's think about what art means to us today.