Podcasts about Somerset House

Have you ever wondered why we feel so alive when we're surrounded by nature? Why certain textures, materials, or natural elements spark deep emotions within us? The truth is reconnecting with nature through thoughtful design is a necessity, it is how we restore our bond with the earth and the more we do this, the more we are shaping a new way of living that sustains us all. Polish craft and innovation is going to take centre stage at Collect 2026 which opens in London on 25 February this year 2026. Nature connection, craft and design is taking centre stage. Biophilic Design helps people reconnect with nature. I am also a maker and artist (I sculpt, weave, sketch, etc), and for me, creating things with natural materials gives me a direct connection to nature and our planet. In this podcast we speak with the curator of this year's Collect Corinne Julius and one of the Polish artists featured during the show. We explore the significance of biophilic design, the metamorphosis of Polish craft, and the role of materiality in art. The conversation also touches on the challenges of the craft industry in the context of climate change and the importance of tactile experiences in our lives. Can slow craft be the antidote to the disconnection and environmental crisis we face today? Have you noticed when you touch a rough piece of wood, a cool stone, or a warm fibre, something stirs inside? That tactile experience connects us directly to natural material grounding us amidst what can sometimes be quotidian chaos. It's not accidental that craft practitioners, like Anna Bera, choose wood, stone, and clay to create, natural biophilic materials conduct our senses directly to our well-being and consciousness. Anna, a Polish artist from the mountains, explains it beautifully: “Working with natural materials is like engaging in a dialogue with the earth.”She crafts large-scale sculptures from wood, embracing imperfections, knots, and fungi. Her work isn't flawless in the mass production sense; instead, it's alive, real, and deeply connected.Contrast that with the sterile, sanitised surfaces of modern mass-produced objects. They're designed to be invisible, to blend into the background. But Anna's work demands you notice — it beckons tactile engagement, invites you to touch and reflect. Natural materials are imperfect, and that's what makes them beautiful. Their flaws tell stories—of growth, decay, evolution. When we embrace this, we find healing, grounding, and a fresh perspective on our relationship with nature. Corinne Julius, the curator of the Metamorphosis exhibition, champions the idea that craftsmanship embodies deep intellectual effort and storytelling. She believes that authentic craft can challenge our fast-paced, disposable culture. “Craft is a form of soft power. It shows us that beauty can win minds and hearts, making deep environmental and social issues approachable.” Her exhibitions, like Metamorphosis showing at Collect this year at Somerset House in London, celebrate transformation of materials, of countries, of ideas. The craftspeople and artists she showcases, like Alicia Patanowska or Marcin Rusak use their work to COMMENT. Their pieces question consumption, waste, and sustainability through poetic, tactile means. A tile that's thrown, cut, reassembled; a flower encased in resin—each reflects an urgent truth: We can transform waste into wonder, making us see the world differently, inspiring us to act consciously. So what is the biggest barrier to more craft specification? We have been disconnecting from nature more and more over the last two hundred years especially. Our built environments, homes, school, offices and hospitals, are often cold, uniform, and disconnected from the rhythms of the natural world. No wonder stress skyrockets, mental health suffers, and our environment degrades. Biophilic design flips this script. It's about embedding natural elements, wood, plant life, water, into our daily spaces. Think of the Polish artists who create immersive installations from living plants, or designers reimagining architecture with curving, organic shapes that mirror the human body.As Anna says: "We need more biomorphic shapes, fewer harsh lines, more presence of trees and nature in our surroundings." Her work, touching even those with sight impairments, demonstrates how materiality influences well-being. Touching a rough wood sculpture can ground you, calm you, reconnect you with your roots.Corinne agrees: “In a world obsessed with speed and perfection, slow craft and natural materials are an antidote. They remind us who we are—living, breathing, interconnected.”This of course is the heart of biophilic design. The Polish crafts scene, with its optimism and innovation, exemplifies a can-do attitude. Corinne points out: “When we collaborate properly with craftspeople, we create spaces and products that are sustainable, soulful, and inspiring."But it's not enough just to wish for it. We need action, whether in architecture, fashion, or daily choices. How?Specify handmade, natural materials in projects.A wooden table with visible grain, a ceramic vessel with imperfections. These aren't flaws, they're stories.Support artisans who work with sustainable practices.Their work embodies a dialogue with nature.Prioritise slow, thoughtful craftsmanship over mass-produced sameness.It's a rebellion, a stand against waste and environmental destruction.Educate and inspire others to value authenticity.Share stories, visit workshops, touch materials—rediscover the power of doing.As Corinne says "Join exhibitions, follow artists, advocate for crafted materials. That's how shifts occur." Every piece of authentic craft, every natural material, and every mindful space transforms our lives and our world. We can't afford to wait for systemic change alone; we must start with our own choices and specification.Visit Collect 2026 for more inspiration, and especially Metamorphosis curated by Corinne Julius, showcasing the work of Polish artists and experience the tactile, interactivity and beauty that is in handmade craft.Let's champion slow craft, embrace imperfections, and reconnect with nature's wisdom. Because if enough of us do, we can change the story—crafting a future rooted in sustainability, beauty, and genuine human connection. Want to see the full exhibition?To find out more about Collect, get tickets, and also explore the UK-Poland Season and learn more about the artists featured during this programme visit: https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/collect-fair/https://www.britishcouncil.pl/en/programmes/uk-poland-season-2025 Corinne Julius Freelance journalist, critic, broadcaster and curator she has a special interest in contemporary craft and design. She was for many years a reporter and producer on BBC Radio's Woman's Hour, made features for Radio 4 and contributes to the Arts programme ‘Front Row'. Anna Bera,is a multidisciplinary artist from Lechów in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, Poland, specializing in functional art. She runs her studio in Warsaw, where she creates predominantly large-scale works in wood. In her work, Anna focuses on the sensory perception of the materiality of the world.

Today's episode brings together two extraordinary creatives whose work has helped shape contemporary culture through a shared commitment to curiosity, counterculture, and championing unique voices. Ceri is joined by sisters Francesca Gavin and Seana Gavin, each working across different mediums but united by a belief in following instinct and staying close to what feels urgent and alive. Francesca is one of the most influential figures shaping how contemporary art is written about and presented today. She is Director of Visual Arts at Murmur, Editor-in-Chief of EPOCH, and a regular contributor to publications including the Financial Times. Her curatorial work spans major international contexts, from co-curating Manifesta 11 in Zurich to exhibitions at institutions such as Somerset House and the Palais de Tokyo. She is the author of eleven books on art and visual culture and has hosted Rough Version on NTS Radio for the past nine years, exploring the intersections of art and music. Seana is a London-based artist working primarily in collage, creating dreamlike worlds from vintage photographic material where past and future collide. Her work has been exhibited internationally, from Somerset House and the Serralves Foundation to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, with solo shows in Paris and London. Alongside this, her work features in major publications, brand collaborations, and collections including Soho House worldwide. Her photography monograph Spiralled, published by IDEA Books, is now in its fourth edition. In this conversation, they talk about creative longevity, instinct, and how to build a practice that remains porous, rigorous, and true over time. KEY TAKEAWAYS Creative longevity isn't about having a perfect plan. It's about staying close to what you're genuinely curious about, paying attention to what keeps returning in your life, and trusting those repetitions enough to follow them. Work becomes more resilient when different strands feed one another - writing into curating, music into thinking, collage into archives, archives back into books and shows. BEST MOMENTS “For me, personally, originality is that unique point of view or something fresh that they're saying - there's often a spirit in there that you can sense in the way something's been made.” ““It's very intuitive. It's almost like I'm going into a meditative state… I gather up lots of material that might fit in with that imaginary world… and then something starts to happen.” RESOURCES https://www.presentfuture.be https://www.francescagavin.com https://www.instagram.com/seanagavin https://murmur.earth HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals - https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com

In this episode 113, the Occupational Philosophers chat with the wonderfully curious David Bramwell - a writer, broadcaster, performer and professional seeker.  He's the author of The Number 9 Bus to Utopia, a philosophical travel memoir, in which he went looking for different and potentially better ways of living. He's presented many programmes for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 on subjects ranging from Ivor Cutler, Ken Campbell and time travel, to the art of public speaking.  As a podcaster, he produces and presents Adventures in Nutopia and The Ways of Water,  and has co-hosted other popular podcasts including, Odditorium, Watling Street with author John Higgs, and Seeker! The Ken Campbell Podcast with Daisy Campbell. In 2020 his book The Cult of Water was published, exploring belief and rituals, and then in 2023 he self-published The Singalong-A-Wicker-Man Scrapbook. Since 2004 he has been hosting Brighton's Catalyst Club, a monthly salon at which three guest speakers from all walks of life take to the stage to talk about their passions.  As a performer, he has toured several solo shows and performed at Soho Theatre, Somerset House, Tate St Ives, TEDx, Idler Academy, MOMA, UK festivals, and the Lowry Theatre.  And finally there's Oddfellow's Casino, an eclectic band project that blends spoken word, music and storytelling, and who are approaching their 25th anniversary this year.    In this episode they explore a wide range of topic including: How to use Brexit to dodge home DIY and tasks The Singalong-a-Wicker-Man show! Panpsychism and consciousness (Does Broccoli dream of sheep?) How do tomatoes feel about being eaten? Are tomatoes controlling us? What sparked David's curiosity superpower? What fashion items are best for a philosophical data analyst? What lessons David learned on ‘The Number 9 Bus to Utopia' How alternative communities show great creativity and imagination What the everyday interests of everyday people can tell us about curiosity and being human How we might engage better with people who have different views to ourselves What is the official name for a ‘Bum Reader'?   And as ever, enjoy the Thought Experiment …this time it's: Where is this bus going?   Learn more about David https://www.drbramwell.com/   https://oddfellowscasino.bandcamp.com/ https://catalystclub.co.uk/ https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/adventures-in-nutopia/id1649333497     References Trevor Noah https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/nonprofittechies/microsoft-and-trevor-noah-a-partnership-for-asking-questions/4036636 Australian Writers Festival boycott https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgm4jkwz2z8 The Wicker Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man Crows picking up cigarette butts https://stevedalepetworld.com/blog/something-to-crow-about/ Panpsychism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism Philip Goff https://philipgoffphilosophy.com/ Museum of Curiosity https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k3wvk Spalding Gray https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spalding_Gray Rudolph Steiner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner Underground Temple https://thetemples.org/ Shark House https://museumofoxford.org/bill-heine-the-man-behind-the-headington-shark/ Findhorn https://visitfindhorn.uk/ The Min Min Light https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/jun/27/what-are-glowing-orbs-of-light-in-the-sky-world-over The Positive Revolution https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handbook-Positive-Revolution-Edward-Bono/dp/0670830127 La Bete https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14407336/ November https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6164502/ The Web of Meaning https://www.jeremylent.com/the-web-of-meaning.html   John and Simon hope you enjoy the show as much as they enjoyed making it. Its the reason they started this show - interesting, cool and creative people who have taken the path less travelled and kicked arse!  Say Hello to the OP  www.occupationalphilosophers.com Their day jobs JOHN Bowland Consulting SIMON www.simonbanks.com.au SIMON SHOWREEL

Isaac Lythgoe is a sculptor, painter and writer based In Paris, FR. His practice is world-building; reimagining narrative traditions and modes of storytelling, he creates interconnected works that probe power structures, contemporary ethics, and shifting social norms. Within this constructed universe, arcs of romance and mortality intersect, inviting viewers to consider how collective memory is formed—and what future societies might resemble. This temporal drift between past and future is mirrored in Lythgoe's aesthetic language, where tensions between the natural and the synthetic unfold through form, material, and gesture. Recent and forthcoming shows include Phantasmagoria: Folkloric Sculpture for the Digital Age, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK, (2026), Would I lie to you, Duarte Sequeira, Seoul, KR (2024), Production Residency at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, FR, (2024), Cute!, Somerset House, London, UK, (2024), After Laughter Comes Tears, MUDAM, Luxembourg, LX, (2023) amongst others. Beautiful losers, 180cm x 140cm, oil on canvas, 2025. I pretended there was nowhere to love, 80cm x 60cm, oil on canvas, 2025 Everyone's a bad guy, 110cm x 80cm x 80cm fibreglass, carbon fibre, epoxy, cast aluminium, scarab beetles

I am so excited to bring you this conversation with the extraordinary Es Devlin, who joined me at Liberty last week to celebrate the release of How to Live an Artful Life. Es Devlin is an artist and stage designer renowned all over the world for her large-scale performative sculptures and environments – from theatre and opera design for the National Gallery and Royal Opera House, to kinetic stage sculptures for musicians like Beyoncé, U2 and Lady Gaga. She has also created luminous installations at the V&A, Serpentine Galleries, Somerset House, and more. Whether designing for Beyoncé, the opera, or creating public artworks, Es Devlin's works dissolve the boundaries between art, architecture and performance, and encourage us to rethink our position in the world. Expertly led by the wonderful Hannah Macinnes, we touched on all things to do with living an artful life – Es's morning routine; how we can get better at focusing our attention on one thing; artmaking as an expression of love; the artist hustle – and so much more. I can't wait for you to hear it. Pick up your copy of How to Live an Artful Life: https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-live-an-artful-life/katy-hessel/9781529155204 An Atlas of Es Devlin https://www.waterstones.com/book/an-atlas-of-es-devlin/es-devlin/andrea-lipps/9780500023181

On today's Tech and Science Daily from The Standard, we cover DLR cleaners striking over sick pay on London's driverless railway, the Courtauld's £82m plan to transform Somerset House into a state-of-the-art campus, and new UK analysis warning that over-reliance on carbon removals could push up climate costs. In gaming, Cyberpunk 2077 passes 35 million sales and outpaces The Witcher 3, while in consumer tech Apple is tipped to overtake Samsung as the world's top smartphone seller thanks to the iPhone 17. Plus, we're joined by Which? to reveal why eight in ten Black Friday “bargains” are often the same price, or cheaper, at other times of the year – and how to shop smarter this weekend. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enregistré à Somerset House, au cœur de la foire 1-54 London 2025, cet épisode capte Touria El Glaoui dans son élément, en pleine orchestration de cette édition londonienne qui marque une étape stratégique dans l'histoire de la foire : le basculement assumé de l'art africain et diasporique du récit périphérique vers le canon institutionnel.Dans cet épisode, nous abordons :• comment 1-54 est devenue, en 13 ans, bien plus qu'une foire : un laboratoire d'idées, un catalyseur culturel, un lieu de construction de récits structurants ;• comment cette édition londonienne articule exigence curatoriale, circulation des œuvres, archives, valorisation des patrimoines photographiques et montée en puissance des galeries basées sur le continent ;• le rôle de 1-54 dans la transformation du marché : structuration des prix, accompagnement des collectionneurs, création de passerelles entre musées, institutions et artistes ;• et enfin, une réflexion sur l'avenir : que signifie vraiment « ne plus être à la périphérie » ? et à quoi pourrait ressembler 1-54 en 2035 ?Une conversation vivante, nourrie, enregistrée dans le pouls de Somerset House, avec la femme qui a ouvert des portes, construit des ponts, et déplacé les lignes de l'art contemporain africain.Podcast Diptyk, le podcast qui donne la parole à celles et ceux qui façonnent les nouveaux récits de l'art contemporain africain.

Send us a textWriter Uwati Okojie speaks about ‘Le Salon - Art of Conversation' - a living exhibition by Le Tings (Harris Elliott) x Johnnie Sapong at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2025.She shares insights into a Ghanaian art activation at the 13th edition of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House in London in 2025.This installation was called: 'Le Salon - Art of Conversation' by Le Tings (Harris Elliott) x Johnnie Sapong and was one of a series of ‘Special Projects' that showcased at this year's art fair between 16th and 19th October 2025.In this podcast episode, Uwati walks me through the inspiration behind the installation which explores the intersection between art, music, culture and history within a barber shop/hair salon setting.The music in this episode is made exclusively for AKADi Magazine by Kyekyeku and the Super Opong Stars and is called 'Life No Dey Easy'.AKADi Magazine is a digital publication connecting Ghanaians in Ghana and the Diaspora, visit us at www.akadimagazine.com , www.akadimagazine.co.uk and www.msbwrites.co.uk for all your community news. Join our socials here: https://linktr.ee/AKADiMag

The internationally renowned choreographer Sir Wayne McGregor swaps stage for gallery in a landmark exhibition exploring his multifaceted career at Somerset House (from 30 Oct 2025–22 Feb 2026). ‘Infinite Bodies' investigates how Wayne McGregor has combined body, movement and cutting-edge digital technologies to redefine perceptions of physical intelligence. Throughout the gallery space he draws together designers, musicians, engineers and dancers to bring the artworks to life.The Booker prize winning novelist Anne Enright is in the studio to talk about her latest work, ‘Attention, Writing on Life, Art and the World'. Unlike her fiction, in these essays, Enright speaks directly to the reader, elucidating her thoughts on everything from family history to Irish politics and the control of women, to new perspectives on literary legends. There's a screen idol at the heart of Tanika Gupta's new play, Hedda (at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, until 22nd November). Inspired by the life of Anglo-Indian film star Merle Oberon, Gupta sets her play just after India's independence and transforms Ibsen's classic into a story about power, identity and representation.Producer: Katy Hickman Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez

It is an event that has shocked the world and prompted a national reckoning in France: the robbery of eight jewels from the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre last Sunday. Ben Luke talks to Anaël Pigeat, editor-at-large of The Art Newspaper France and journalist at Paris Match, and Dale Berning Sawa, a regular contributor to The Art Newspaper, about the heist, the reaction, the political fallout and what it tells us about the place of culture in French society today. The Performa Biennial is celebrating its 20th anniversary edition from next week, and Ben talks to its founder RoseLee Goldberg about the biennial and the publication of the updated version of Goldberg's classic book Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present. And this episode's Work of the Week is On the Other Earth, a new installation by the choreographer Wayne McGregor. It is unveiled next week at Stone Nest in London, as part of a major exhibition of McGregor's work at Somerset House, called Infinite Bodies. Ben speaks to McGregor about the installation.The Performa Biennial 2025, 1–23 November. Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present, RoseLee Goldberg, Thames and Hudson, $29.95/£24.99.Wayne McGregor: Infinite Bodies, Somerset House, London; On the Other Earth, Stone Nest, London, 30 October-22 February 2026; On the Other Earth is booked in one-hour slots, visit somersethouse.org.uk for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The very successful Canon ‘World Unseen' exhibition which showcases a series of photographs taken by world-renowned photographers accompanied by elevated prints, audio descriptions, soundscapes and braille that launched at Somerset House in London in April 2024 is now out on tour. Canon worked closely with the RNIB on the launch of the exhibition at Somerset House and now ‘World Unseen' is on display at the Iziko National Museum in Cape Town South Africa.  RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey was joined by David Preston from Canon South Africa and the British High Commissioner to South Africa, Antony Phillipson to find out more about bringing ‘World Unseen' to South Africa and how the exhibition is helping to show how art and photography can be made accessible for blind and partially sighted people as well as the exhibition changing peoples perceptions around sight loss too. All the photographs in the Canon ‘World Unseen' exhibition along with the soundscapes that feature audio description can be found on the following pages of the Canon website - https://www.canon.co.uk/view/unsee-the-world/ Image shows the World Unseen logo, white text in block capitals against a black background with a diagonal red line on the left

Tai Shani talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.Shani makes sculpture and installations, paintings, performances and films, underpinned by writing that is experimental in approach and singular in its voice. Shani, who was was born in 1976 in London, where she lives and works today, creates bodies of work that evolve and expand across her diverse media, often over several years. They take particular cultural forms, historical events or theoretical ideas as a cornerstone in creating worlds that are at once fantastical and utopian, yet shot through with contemporary political and social ideas and convictions. Tai's vision is fecund and colourful, and her aesthetic enters the sphere of the epic, the sublime and the gothic. She reflects with particular profundity on how the modes in which she engages have been historically gendered, and reimagines them for today's audiences. She reflects on writing as the cornerstone of her work, how her political outlook has shifted through her various projects, reflects on the revolutionary possibilities of art in a time of extreme right wing politics, and her enduring ambitions for her own work: “I still want to split the atom.” She discusses the early impact of seeing Ophelia by John Everett Millais, and how it ​​prompted in her a desire “to be able to move someone through an act of creativity”. She recalls seeing Valie Export at Camden Art Centre and how it “completely blew my mind, and nothing was the same afterwards”. She describes the deeply personal circumstances behind Epilogue, a new work responding to Marcel Duchamp's Étant Donnés. She reflects on the dramatic impact on her of writers including Christine de Pizan, Amy Hollywood and Octavia Butler, and of filmmakers including David Lynch and Carl Dreyer. Plus, she gives insights into life in the studio, and answers our usual questions, including the ultimate: “What is art for?”Tai Shani: The Spell or The Dream, Somerset House, 8 August-14 September; Tai Shani, Gathering, London, 26 September–8 November. Shani has a work in Dulwich Picture Gallery in London's new sculpture park which is unveiled as part of an opening weekend on 6-7 September; her sculpture for the High Line in New York will remain on view until March 2026.What is art for? Contemporary artists on their inspirations, influences and disciplines, by Ben Luke, featuring illustrated, edited versions of 25 artist interviews drawn from the A brush with… podcast series, along with new writings, published by HENI on 2 September (US) and 4 September (UK). Available exclusively from HENI.com now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode, contemporary artist Amba Sayal-Bennett joins EMPIRE LINES live, to trace the migrations of rubber seeds between South America, London, and British colonies in South Asia in the 19th century, plus the role of soil in anticolonial resistance, through their digital drawing and sculpture, Kern (2024).Rubber is a commodity that was once so highly demanded that its value surpassed that of silver. In a mission facilitated by the British government, Henry Wickham stole and trafficked 70,000 rubber seeds from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil in 1876. Transported to Kew Gardens in London, they were then dispersed across Britain's colonies for cultivation. Its plural uses and potential for profit led to its proliferation across the globe - yet the soil in India, then known as the British Raj, refused to take the seeds, which the artist puts forward as a form of environmental resistance to the colonial project.Amba Sayal-Bennett's wall-based sculptures Kern (2024) and Phlo (2024) are part of their investigations into the migrations of forms, bodies, and knowledge across different sites. Presented in SEEDLINGS: Diasporic Imaginaries, currently touring Scotland with Travelling Gallery, we discuss this visual research into how colonial practices often decontextualise and appropriate forms. Amba delves botanical and anatomical drawings, and how these illustrations have been used to commodify and control plants, environments, and people. We consider through the construction and overlapping uses of terms like ‘native' and, ‘invasive', ‘indigenous', ‘naturalisation', and ‘dispersal', to challenge binaries between human and more-than-human beings, and consider ideas of home, identity, and belonging in the context of diasporas. Amba details her relationship with ornamentation, abstraction, and displacement, and how she translates her digital drawings into sculptural forms, rendered with biodegradable, but ‘unnatural', industrial plastics. Drawing on her site-specific works for Geometries of Difference (2022) at Somerset House, and Drawing Room Invites... in London, we also delve into Amba's critical engagement with sci-fi and modernist architecture, travelling to Le Corbusier's purpose-built city of Chandigarh in Punjab, the birthplace of her maternal grandparents, to explore tropical modernism.This episode was recorded live at Somerset House Studios in London, as part of the public programme for SEEDLINGS: Diasporic Imaginaries, curated by Jelena Sofronijevic with Travelling Gallery in Scotland. The group exhibition, featuring Emii Alrai, Iman Datoo, Radovan Kraguly, Zeljko Kujundzic, Remi Jabłecki, Leo Robinson, and Amba Sayal-Bennett, is touring across Scotland, culminating at Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF 2025) in August 2025.For more information, follow Travelling Gallery and EMPIRE LINES on social media, and visit: linktr.ee/SEEDLINGSTG2025Drawing Room Invites…: Anna Paterson, Alicia Reyes McNamara, Amba Sayal-Bennett is at the Drawing Room in London until 27 July 2025.For more about Between Hands and Metal (2024), a group exhibition featuring Amba Sayal-Bennett, Alia Hamaoui, and Raheel Khan at Palmer Gallery in London, read my article in gowithYamo:. gowithyamo.com/blog/palmer-gallery-maryleboneFor more science fiction and sci-fi films, hear Tanoa Sasraku on her series of Terratypes (2022-Now) at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter: pod.link/1533637675/episode/3083096d6354376421721cfbb49d0ba7For more from Invasion Ecology (2024), co-curated by Jelena Sofronijevic for Radical Ecology, and Vashti Cassinelli at Southcombe Barn, an arts space and gardens on Dartmoor, visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠radicalecology.earth/events/invasion-ecology-exhibition⁠⁠⁠⁠ and instagram.com/p/C7lYcigovSNPRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.Follow EMPIRE LINES on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/empirelinespodcast⁠⁠⁠Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/empirelines

Choreographer Sir Wayne McGregor is one of the most acclaimed, innovative and influential figures in contemporary dance. His works are often the result of creative collaborations with artists, musicians, filmmakers, or with scientists to explore technological issues. In 2006 he was appointed as Resident Choreographer at the Royal Ballet. He has created more than 20 new works at Covent Garden in that time, including Chroma, set to music by Joby Talbot and The White Stripes, and Woolf Works, a full-length ballet based on the life and writings of Virginia Woolf. More recently, McGregor brought the post-apocalyptic vision of Margaret Atwood to the stage in his ballet MaddAddam, based on the writer's acclaimed trilogy of novels. He has worked as a movement director on films including Harry Potter Goblet Of Fire and Mary Queen Of Scots, collaborated with bands including Radiohead and Chemical Brothers, and choreographed the virtual concert, ABBA Voyage. In October 2025, Somerset House in London will mount a landmark exhibition dedicated to McGregor's trailblazing collaborations that have radically defined how we think about performance, movement, and the body. Having won numerous awards, including two Oliviers, Sir Wayne McGregor was knighted in 2024.Wayne McGregor talks to John Wilson about his childhood in Stockport, where he took dance classes and was inspired by John Travolta's moves in Saturday Night Fever. He recalls the house and techno music of the late 80s when he was a student, and how the freedom of expression he felt on nightclub dance-floors informed his style of choreography. Whilst living in New York after leaving university, Wayne came across an open-air performance by the legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham, whose company was dancing to live music conducted by the avant-garde composer John Cage. It was a chance encounter that had a profound impact on McGregor. He also discusses how science and technology has been a major thematic influence on much of his work in recent years, and how AI has been used to create new works through analysis of physical movement and artistic expression.Producer Edwina Pitman

Today's episode takes us from the fields to the heart of London to reflect on a truly unique and thought-provoking exhibition that has just wrapped up at Somerset House in London, marking its 25th anniversary. Titled Soil: The World at Our Feet, the exhibition brought together visionary artists to reframe how we think about the ground beneath us.Far from being “just dirt,” this exhibition invited visitors to see soil as a living, breathing system—one that underpins not only agriculture but culture, climate, and community. Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld from The Land Gardeners came up with the concept for the exhibition and they speak to Ben in this episode They talk about how the exhibition came to life, what it revealed, and put their case as to why soil should matter to everyone—not just farmers.SOIL | Somerset HouseHome — the land gardenersSoil Home — the land gardeners 

American documentary photographer and President of the Magnum Foundation Susan Meiselas speaks about her fifty-year career, as she receives the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025, and as her work goes on display at Somerset House in London.We hear how President Trump's economic tariffs are affecting specialist manufacturers of musical instruments here in the UK. Author and screenwriter Ewan Morrison, whose previous books have explored cults and pandemics, talks about his latest novel For Emma, a concept thriller set in the world of artificial intelligence and brain computer interfaces. And In Holy Week Antoni Gaudi - nicknamed " god's architect" - has been confirmed by the Pope as on the path to sainthood even though his most famous work, Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Basilica remains unfinished. Art historian and reverend Dr Aila Lepeen, who's associate rector at St James Church in London's Piccadilly, assesses cultural figures who've become saints. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Artists Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser explore the complex weave of histories and myths around Britain's imperial salt monopoly in India. Paul Waters joins them as they create an open-air installation at the Somerset House gallery in London, paired with a poignant indoor exhibition occupying spaces formerly used to administer Britain's colonial-era salt tax. The 80 metre long fabric installation is to replicate the Inland Customs Line, a monumental 2,500 mile long hedge across India, created by Britain in the 1800s, to enforce salt taxation. This reinterpretation draws on cotton printed with botanical dyes from the hedge's original plants, to highlight the human and ecological cost of colonial extraction. Himali and David aren't just creating one exhibition in one location. They are also creating a parallel installation further along the river Thames, at the Tate Britain art gallery and we'll be following them as they work across both sites.

Free Thinking looks at today's world with "a pinch of salt" tonight. From stories in the bible to desalination plants, preserving food to salt taxes: how does salt help us think about the past and present? We use phrases like "being worth your salt" or "dropping salt" meaning to spread rumours. With food writer Bee Wilson, materials scientist Mark Miodownik, the novelist and writer on folklore Zoe Gilbert and artist David Soin Tappeser. Plus, especially salty guest Baga Chipz. Matthew Sweet hosts.David Soin Tappeser, along with Himali Singh Soin, is one half of Hylozoic/Desires, whose exhibition Salt Cosmologies is at Somerset House in London until the 27th April.Producer: Luke Mulhall

As Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy explain in our first Earthly Matters episode, people come for the flowers but they stay for the soil. Since forming their company, The Land Gardeners, in 2011, they have combined their cut flower-growing and landscape design businesses with a mission that fuels them on a daily basis: researching the earth beneath our feet to better understand how to repair the soil that feeds nearly everything we build our existence upon.Their work has seen them transform unloved gardens and agricultural plots into hives of thriving, promising productivity - and Henrietta and Bridget are always looking towards the techniques that the less courageous will take years to deploy. This year, their insight is being shared in a major exhibition at Somerset House, called Soil: The World at Our Feet. Amid drifts of snowdrops in the garden of Henrietta's Cornish home, we spoke about how The Land Gardeners' persistent commitment to soil health has taken them all over the world, learning, speaking and spreading the secrets of soil. Use code WWGSPRING at Crocus.co.uk's checkout to save 20% on full priced plants. The code is valid until 11.59pm on May 30th, 2025, It is valid when you spend a minimum of £50 on full priced plants and / or bulbs. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other codes or offers.

SOIL: Common Ground is a three-part podcast series produced by Somerset House exploring what soil can teach us about being human, through the lens of art. Our entire existence is dependent on our relationship with soil. As awareness builds of the enormity of the ecological crisis that we are facing, a growing number of artists are engaging with soil as a material in their work. This three part series responds to the Somerset House exhibition ‘Soil: The World at Our Feet', unearthing soil's role in our future through the work of artists and thinkers working with it. Soil is the basis of many creation stories around the world. It is our beginning, and it is what we will return to. In Episode 1 of Common Ground we look at soil as the matter from which life emerges. Exploring growth, beginnings and the ways soil as a material offers unique opportunities for exploration. We hear from artist Asad Raza who makes ‘neo-soil' from scratch and covers the floor of galleries with it. Artist Eve Tagny's work examines the cultivation of the Rose as a way to ask questions about the ways we interact with the world. Agroecologist Nicole Masters and farmer Abby Rose, lay out what soil is and why it holds the key to our survival. The episode is set within the garden of our presenter Shenece Oretha. Working with soil has shaped her relationship to the place where she lives and informed her art practice. The series launches off from the Somerset House exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet. Presented by Shenece Oretha Produced by Jo Barratt and Alannah Chance Exec produced by Alannah Chance and Eleanor Ritter-Scott. The series is mixed by Mike Woolley Original music by Andrew Pekler Episode Image: Asad Raza: Plot feat. BB (Fabrizio Ballabio, Alessandro Bava) + Lydia Ourahmane e Moriah Evans, Curated by Leonie Radine, Museion Bozen/Bolzano, 25.03.2023 – 03.09.2023, Photo: Lineematiche – L. Guadagnini, © Museion This series is part of the Somerset House Podcast.

In this episode of Visual Intonation, we're diving deep into the fascinating world of Myah Asha Jeffers, an artist whose multifaceted practice is reshaping how we view the complexities of diasporic life. Born in London, raised in Barbados, and now based in London, Myah's work spans photography, theatre, and film, with an emphasis on "Black Interiority." Her exploration of class, cultural identity, queerness, grief, and gesture challenges us to reconsider the nuances of daily existence within marginalized communities. She shares with us her insights, struggles, and triumphs, offering a window into the art that speaks to both personal and collective experiences.  At the heart of Myah's journey is her debut narrative short film, *Bathsheba*, which world-premiered at the Toronto Inside Out Film Festival and had its UK debut at the S.O.U.L Film Festival at the BFI. The film tells the story of a grieving widow facing eviction, forced to live with a younger woman who unknowingly holds the key to her emotional liberation. Through this narrative, Myah intricately explores themes of mourning, vulnerability, and unexpected connections, all while capturing the rawness of the human experience. As we explore the making of *Bathsheba*, Myah reflects on the personal and professional motivations behind the film's creation and its broader implications for her artistic practice.  In addition to her work in film, Myah's photography practice is both tactile and deeply personal. Using primarily analog techniques, she develops her own black-and-white negatives and hand prints in her local darkroom. This slower, more deliberate process informs her portraits, which emphasize the "regality and beauty" of her subjects, particularly those within the diaspora. Myah's eye for intimacy and truth is evident in the photographs she's shared with prestigious outlets like *Vogue* and *The Guardian*, as well as in her work with institutions such as Tate and Somerset House. She discusses the importance of her approach to portraiture, which blends careful preparation with improvisation, allowing for the creation of a genuine connection between artist and subject.  Her work doesn't just stand as art; it's a document of the realities that shape our world. From photographing frontline health workers during the pandemic for the Empathy Museum's 'From Where I'm Standing' project to capturing Black students for Cambridge University's 150th-anniversary celebrations, Myah seeks to elevate voices often left unheard. Her photography serves as both a social commentary and a celebration of cultural legacy. Through her lens, she invites us to witness the hidden moments of struggle and triumph that define lives in motion, making the invisible visible and the mundane extraordinary.  As Myah continues to build on her artistic journey, she's embracing new challenges, including her upcoming residency at the Visual Studies Workshop in New York and her 2024 Joan Wakelin Bursary project in Montserrat. In this episode, she takes us behind the scenes of her creative process, offering a glimpse into the future of her work in photography, theatre, and film. Through her eyes, we are reminded that art is not just about what is captured; it's about how it makes us feelSupport the showVisual Intonation Website: https://www.visualintonations.com/Visual Intonation Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visualintonation/Vante Gregory's Website: vantegregory.comVante Gregory's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directedbyvante/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): patreon.com/visualintonations Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@visualintonation Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@directedbyvante

SOIL: Common Ground is a three-part podcast series produced by Somerset House exploring what soil can teach us about being human, through the lens of art. Much of the history of human making springs from the soil. Cuneiform, the earliest form of writing, was engraved into clay; paint pigments come from minerals in the soil; and much of our material history is held in ceramics. But soil is not neutral; it is deeply entangled with politics of ownership embedded in the land. In this episode Shenece Oretha probes the ways the soil and clay are inspiring artists today, looking at the stories soil can tell about our past and our potential future. Ceramicist and writer Jennifer Lucy Allan reflects on the ways clay connects us to the earliest forms of making. Artists Annalee Davis and Lauren Gault look at the ways soil bears witness to our histories, from the trauma of the plantation to the deep time of paleontology. We create art from soil, but through our extraction and interaction, it is also changed. How can we heal our relationship with the soil and in so doing, transform our relationship with the planet? Farmer and food justice advocate Leah Penniman unpacks how indigenous practices of soil care can reverse some of the most egregious effects of climate change. The series launches off from the Somerset House exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet. Presented by Shenece Oretha Produced by Jo Barratt and Alannah Chance Exec produced by Alannah Chance and Eleanor Ritter-Scott. The series is mixed by Mike Woolley Original music by Andrew Pekler. This series is part of the Somerset House Podcast.

SOIL: Common Ground is a three-part podcast series produced by Somerset House exploring what soil can teach us about being human, through the lens of art. Our Future is tied to the future of our soil. Our decisions as to how we care for and use it matter. Soil teaches us that cycles are ongoing, and even in decline every day offers us opportunities for new beginnings. In this final episode Shenece Oretha explores the regenerative qualities of soil and composting as a model for personal redemption. We hear from Palestinian grower Mohammed Saleh whose life story offers a personal story of hope, looking at how permaculture and art can help to heal the destructive impacts of war. Somerset Studios artist Harun Morrision's singing compost invites us to see decay in a new light and Fin Jordâo lays out how composting can be a radical action for rethinking our relationships with each other and the planet. Does the future hold a closer, more natural relationship with the soil by rethinking our relationship to burial? Radical undertaker Ru Callander reconsiders our attitude to death. The series launches off from the Somerset House exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet. Presented by Shenece Oretha Produced by Jo Barratt and Alannah Chance Exec produced by Alannah Chance and Eleanor Ritter-Scott. The series is mixed by Mike Woolley Original music by Andrew Pekler. This series is part of the Somerset House Podcast.

For February's Found Sound, Alice meets wood artist Darren Appiagyei in Greenwich Park in south-east London, before heading to his studio to learn more about his wood turning practice. In the background, you'll hear chirping parakeets, the rumble of traffic and the occasional plane overhead, all of which are part of the sonic tapestry of this urban landscape. This episode was produced by musician and sound artist Alice Boyd, featuring music by herself and The Breath. Thanks go to Darren Appiagyei - you can see his work at Somerset House in London from 28 February to 1 March as part of Collect Open. 'Found Sounds' are back for 2025 with another twelve episodes, each released on the middle Friday of the month. This year, Alice will be travelling across the UK to meet people inspired by heritage crafts, folklore and the landscape, creating a sonic scrapbook of their practice. 'As the Season Turns' is a podcast created by Ffern in collaboration with Lia Leendertz. Each episode, released on the first of the month, is a guide to what to look out for in the month ahead - from the sky above to the land below. Found Sounds are released on the middle Friday of the month. Ffern is an organic fragrance maker based in Somerset. You can learn more about Ffern's seasonal eau de parfum at ffern.co

A CROSS DISCIPLINARY WORLD FOR YOUNG ARTISTS. Jonathan Reekie has been Director of Somerset House Trust in London since 2014. During this time, the renovation of the historic site with its grand Renaissance architecture has been completed, including the launch of Somerset House Studios for artist residencies. Reekie has established Somerset House as a home of cultural innovators and in 2025 Somerset House celebrates its 25th birthday, marking its extraordinary transformation to one of London's best loved cultural spaces and home to one of the largest creative communities in the UK. “Thinking about how artists can help us make a better world” “Bringing artists back into a space in the centre of the city is very crucial if London wants to remain a creative centre.” “If I can help make a better environment for artists to work, think and thrive then I will always feel very fulfilled.”

Ep.231 Lina Iris Viktor is a Liberian- artist who lives and works in Italy. Influenced by architecture, archaeology, West African sculptural traditions, ancient Egyptian iconography, classical astronomy and European portraiture, her paintings, sculptures, performances, photography and water-gilding with 24-carat gold produce a charged materiality that address philosophical ideas of the finite and the infinite, the microcosm and macrocosm, evanescence and eternity. Her use of gold, marble, bronze, wood and volcanic rock establish an intimate and intangible timelessness whilst her focus on black as ‘materia prima' challenges the sociopolitical and historical preconceptions surrounding ‘blackness' and its universal implications. By interweaving disparate materials, methods and visual lexicons associated with contemporary and ancient art forms, Viktor authors an idiosyncratic mythology that threads through deep time, knitting together a diasporic past with an expansive present in order to divine future imaginaries. Viktor received her BA in film at Sarah Lawrence College and studied photography at The School of Visual Arts in New York. Solo exhibitions include Sir John Soane's Museum, London (2024); Fotografiska Museum of Photography, Stockholm & Tallinn(2020); Autograph, London (2019); and New Orleans Museum of Art (2018), among others. Group exhibitions include the Museum of the African Diaspora [MoAD],San Francisco (2024); Hayward Gallery, London (2022); North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh (2020); Somerset House, London (2019); Ford Foundation, New York(2019) ); Ford Foundation, New York (2019); Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento (2018); Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville (2016); Spelman Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (2016); and Cooper Gallery, Harvard University, Cambridge (2016). Photo credit ©2024 Courtesy of LVXIX Atelier.   Sir John Soane Museum https://www.soane.org/exhibitions/lina-iris-viktor-mythic-time-tens-thousands-rememberings Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD https://www.moadsf.org/exhibitions/liberatory-living Pilar Corrias https://www.pilarcorrias.com/exhibitions/419-lina-iris-viktor-solar-angels-lunar-lords/ Hayward Gallery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1ZHUFirMRM&ab_channel=SouthbankCentre New Orleans Museum of Art https://noma.org/exhibitions/lina-iris-viktor-a-haven-a-hell-a-dream-deferred/ Fotografiska Stockholm https://stockholm.fotografiska.com/en/exhibitions/lina-iris-viktor Autograph https://autograph.org.uk/online-image-galleries/lina-iris-viktor-some-are-born-to-endless-night-dark-matter-exhibition-highlights Elephant https://elephant.art/lina-iris-viktors-distinct-mythology-a-photo-diary-from-the-artists-home-on-the-amalfi-coast/ Apollo Magazine https://www.apollo-magazine.com/lina-iris-viktor-soane-museum-review/ An Other https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/15758/lina-iris-viktor-interview-mythic-time-sir-john-soane-museum-exhibition Artnet https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lina-iris-viktor-2379189 British Vogue https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/lina-iris-viktor-sir-john-soane Something Curated https://somethingcurated.com/2023/03/21/interview-lina-iris-viktor-on-the-libyan-sibyl-beauty-as-a-tool-for-truth/ The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/08/03/a-brush-with-lina-iris-viktor New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/arts/design/in-the-black-fantastic-london.html

Episode 286 President Trump has signed executive orders pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement, and out of the World Health Organization. Although he claims that withdrawing from Paris will save the US $1trillion a year, the reality is much less clear. As the world's second largest emitter and amid bans on renewable energy permits, just how catastrophic is this for global climate action? Leaving the WHO raises concerns too over the future of global health action. You probably know of the placebo effect, but have you heard of the ‘nocebo' effect? Known as the evil twin of the placebo, this is where being told something won't work or is inferior can make it less effective or problematic. Find out how researchers have been testing it out. Last year we heard the shock discovery that oxygen is being produced in the deep ocean. Believed to be coming from metallic nodules on the sea floor, the finding could upend accepted wisdom. And now the researchers who discovered this have set out on a 3 year mission for more data. Hear about the planned research and why lead researcher Andrew Sweetman has been subjected to “online bullying”. A new exhibition at Somerset House in London is celebrating the wonder of soil, titled ‘SOIL: The World at Our Feet'. Hear from co-curators of the show, Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy. Hosts Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet discuss with guests James Dinneen, Michael Le Page, Alexandra Thompson and Madeleine Cuff. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Visit: https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/press/soil-the-world-at-our-feet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anora is one of the leading contenders in the current film awards season - and its star Mikey Madison looks likely to get an Oscar nomination too. Its director Sean Baker explains how he uses both violence and comedy to explore the story of a son of a Russian oligarch who becomes entangled in the world of a sex worker in New York. Caryl Phillips talks about his new novel, Another Man in the Street about a young Caribbean man's search for a new home in 1960s London and the other people, all migrants in different ways, who become part of his life there.And Soil is more than dirt - co-curators Claire Catterall and May Rosenthal Sloan explain how a new exhibition at Somerset House in London sheds light on how the ground under our feet has played a crucial role in human civilisation, with 50 artists in the show using sculpture, painting, tapestry and video to explore its qualities. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Paula McGrath

The first days of January are for rest and recuperation but also new ideas, resolutions and, above all, dreams. This month we’re at London auction house Bonhams for a conversation that reflects on jewellery design and human emotion with expert Kate Flitcroft. We’ll meet British artist and stage designer Es Devlin and discuss her incredible show at Somerset House, ‘Face to Face: 50 Encounters with Strangers’, and speak to writer and biographer Justine Picardie about Dior’s incredible journey to Scotland for its 2025 cruise collection. So take up a pen to scribble your own ambitions while hearing our tips, thoughts and ideas for the year ahead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘A seagull flies across the sky, its wings flapping up and down like a wooden puppet's.' Please note before you start listening: this podcast is recorded in 3D sound! So make sure that you're wearing headphones for the very best experience. The small details in life can pass you by. Unless you take the time to stop to notice them. Which is exactly what author, actor and social media personality Miranda Keeling does in this podcast series. Expanding on the observations she shares on her popular Twitter account, she invites you to join her out and about as she captures those small, magical moments of everyday life, in sound. Thanks to 3D recordings, you'll hear everything she does as if you were right there with her. There are new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. These short but lovingly crafted episodes are an invitation to escape from life's hustle, immersing you in Miranda's world for a few minutes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘The sky above is dappled with white clouds, against a blue-grey sky.'  Please note before you start listening: this podcast is recorded in 3D sound! So make sure that you're wearing headphones for the very best experience. The small details in life can pass you by. Unless you take the time to stop to notice them. Which is exactly what author, actor and social media personality Miranda Keeling does in this podcast series. Expanding on the observations she shares on her popular Twitter account, she invites you to join her out and about as she captures those small, magical moments of everyday life, in sound. Thanks to 3D recordings, you'll hear everything she does as if you were right there with her. There are new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. These short but lovingly crafted episodes are an invitation to escape from life's hustle, immersing you in Miranda's world for a few minutes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a textNasim Nasr is an Iranian-born Australian artist whose work focuses on the issues facing her home country of Iran and the challenges she has experienced as a woman and female artist. These circumstances ultimately led her to leave Iran at the age of 25. Nasim relocated to Australia with her younger siblings, where she has built a life for herself and her family while establishing herself as a prominent artist.Working across photography, installation, and performance, Nasim has gained significant recognition, with her works recently acquired by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. We had the pleasure of speaking with Nasim about her life journey and her beautiful, thought-provoking art. Enjoy listening to her story, and feel free to reach out to Nasim to see her work or for a studio visit. 'Biography:Born in Tehran, Iran 1984Moved to Adelaide, Australia 2009,  Currently lives and works in SydneySince graduating with a Master Visual Arts (Research), University South Australia, 2011, Nasim Nasr's art practice has sought to comment upon the transience of cultural identities. With an interest in cultural relationships in contemporary society, her artworks have engaged themes of intercultural dialogue and perspective between the historical and contemporary. Using video, photography, performance,  3D objects and sound, these works highlight notions of cultural difference as experienced in her past and present homelands, between West and East and seeks to create a harmony between the two.Nasim Nasr is a third time finalist at Fisher's Ghost Art Award and will exhibit at Campbelltown Art Centre Oct-Dec 2024 with her new light box; Impulse 2024, In March 2024 Nasr won AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD from the Art's Minister Tony Burke and Shadow Art Minister Paul Fletcher at the Paliment House, Canberra. Nasr's latest video work ‘Impulse' was presented at the 2023 Adelaide Independent Film Festival where it won the best Micro Short Film Award, and was in the official selection at the 2023 A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival Awards in Paris. In 2017 Nasr won People's Choice Award in The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Art Prize, Monash Art Gallery Melbourne, and her Women in Shadow II video documentation won an award at the 10th Anniversary Edition, A Shaded View on Fashion Film, Maison Jean Paul Gaultier and Club De L'Etoile, Paris, France in 2018. Nasr exhibited in the inaugural Triennial of Asia: We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Museum in New York, October 2020–June 2021, her latest solo presentation Impulse at Mars Gallery, Melbourne March-April 2023. She exhibited at Photo London, Somerset House, London in May 2023. Nasr's latest photograph Impulse (2023) was reproduced on the front cover of ART COLLECTOR magazine in Australia, issue 104 included 8pp profile story on her practice.'

Oscar-winning Michelle Yeoh's career has spanned four decades. Starting out as a martial arts actor, she became a key figure in the Hong Kong action scene. But it was her role in James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies that catapulted her into Hollywood. She's since starred in many hits including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the multi-Oscar winning movie - including for her own performance - Everything Everywhere all At Once. Now, she's in the film adaptation of the musical Wicked. She joins Nuala McGovern live in the studio to discuss it.The Women's Equality Party voted to dissolve the organisation at a special conference this weekend. The political party was launched in 2015 to campaign for gender equality. Citing financial challenges and a changed political landscape, the leadership chose to recommend members vote to close down the party. In an exclusive interview, the two party co-founders - Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig - join Nuala. In a recent article, the author and writer Alice Vincent asks: Why does nobody speak about post-breastfeeding depression? This was something she experienced after she stopped breastfeeding her son. Alice joins Nuala to discuss her experience of stopping breastfeeding along with Hilda Beauchamp, perinatal and infant mental health lead at the Institute of Health Visiting, and a midwife and health visitor by background.Es Devlin is the artist and stage designer responsible for some of the most iconic moments in recent popular culture. Her innovative staging is currently on display at the National Theatre's The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre and her new work, Face to Face, is coming soon to Somerset House. She joins Nuala to discuss her career. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Emma Pearce

This week's text is about Imran Perretta's A Riot in Three Acts @ Somerset House, a lament for a dead city, mourning London. read it here: thewhitepube.co.uk/riotin3acts

Visible representation survey https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/50625-visible-representation-who-do-young-lgbtq-britons-say-helped-them-growing-uphttps://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/Internal_LGBTTabs_240618_combined.pdf More need for asexual representation in the media ? https://nique.net/opinions/2024/10/04/breaking-barriers-the-need-for-asexual-representation-in-media/Agatha All Along https://ew.com/agatha-all-along-infused-queer-energy-kathryn-hahn-aubrey-plaza-8722317Who Killed Emma? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09bxhkf/episodes/downloadsInto the Fire: The Lost Daughter https://www.netflix.com/title/81769165Queer family picnic at Somerset House https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/summer-in-the-courtyard-2024/queer-family-picnic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thelesbianprojectpod.com/subscribe

-> This episode is an extract from an interview. You will find the entire interview on this same account.In this episode, we are at Somerset House during Photo London with David Campany. He is a curator, writer, publisher, and educator, teaching at the University of Westminster, London, and serving as Curator at Large for the International Center of Photography, New York. We talked about his love and addiction for writing, the projects he undertakes as an independent, as a teacher, and at ICP. Through his experiences, he gave us advice on how to protect our passion and keep our curiosity alive. Subscribe to the podcast newsletter: https://bit.ly/lesvoixdelaphotonewsletterStay updated with the podcast: https://bit.ly/lesvoixdelaphotowebsiteYou can also find the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @lesvoixdelaphoto Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

In this episode, we are at Somerset House during Photo London with David Campany. He is a curator, writer, publisher, and educator, teaching at the University of Westminster, London, and serving as Curator at Large for the International Center of Photography, New York. We talked about his love and addiction for writing, the projects he undertakes as an independent, as a teacher, and at ICP. Through his experiences, he gave us advice on how to protect our passion and keep our curiosity alive. 1'40 - Born in the late '60s, he was influenced by TV culture and movies by Fellini, Godard, etc. 6' - He quickly realized that he wanted to be involved with images because he found pleasure in looking at them and thinking about how they fit into the world. 9' - After his graduation, he was invited to curate shows and write texts. He became known for making unexpected connections between things. For example: an exhibition at Le Bal about Anonymous Americans in film. 19' - Why it is important to write to a writer if you think their work is good. 20'30 - Writing as an addiction. 23'10 - Juggling multiple projects: working on 3 shows and 8 books at the same time. He does not support repetition. 27'30 - The first text he wrote as a professional and his book for Phaidon, "Photography and Art." 32'10 - The magazines he created with the auction house Christie's and the collector Christina Belker. 37' - His experience in NY at the ICP, managing the program for 5-6 years. 45' - Now, exhibitions are collaborations between photographers and curators because, most of the time, the photographer has an idea of what the show will look like. Making exhibitions is part of their work. 47'40 - Advice for curators: you need to go beyond your ego in helping the artist create the work they can't do on their own. It's tempting to say, "I will do it like this." But it is important to move past that phase. 51'30 - Advice for writers: just write, whether it will be published or not, and your writing will improve. Don't be afraid to approach people you admire. Stay interested and aware of the possibilities. There is no formal career path. 53'15 - Now, he says yes to only 10% of the proposals he receives. If his heart is not in it, he cannot say yes. He cannot do something he is not interested in because it would kill the thing he loves. One important thing is to keep your curiosity alive.Subscribe to the podcast newsletter: https://bit.ly/lesvoixdelaphotonewsletterStay updated with the podcast: https://bit.ly/lesvoixdelaphotowebsiteYou can also find the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @lesvoixdelaphoto Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

My guest today is Holly Gramazio, a writer, curator, and game designer. Born in Australia, she earned her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide, then moved to London where she founded the Somerset House-based games festival Now Play This, an annual celebration of experimental games. In 2019 she wrote the script for Dicey Dungeons, a game that subsequently sold 850,000 copies and won the Indiecade Grand Jury Prize. In April this year, Vintage Books published her debut novel “The Husbands”,  in which a young single woman discovers a limitless supply of husbands in her attic. The Times has described the book as “a brilliant satire on the Tinder generation's commitment issues.” LINKSHolly's websiteThe Husbands generatorNow Play This festivalSimon's write up of this year's NPT(Photo by Diana Patient.) Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AP correspondent Rica Ann Garcia reports on a fire that broke out at London's Somerset House, which houses priceless artworks.

In this riveting episode with dive deep with Best-Selling author Ruth Whippman about the task of raising boys in a way that charts a new path to give boys a healthier, more expansive, and fulfilling story about their own lives. With young men in the grip of a loneliness epidemic and dying by suicide at a rate of nearly four times their female peers, Whippman digs into the impossibly contradictory pressures boys now face; and the harmful blind spots of male socialization that are leaving boys isolated, emotionally repressed, and adrift.
 Ruth Whippman is a British author, journalist and documentary film maker living in the United States. Her essays, cultural criticism and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, Time magazine, New York magazine, The Guardian, The Huffington Post and elsewhere. Fortune Magazine described her as one of the "25 sharpest minds" of the decade. She is a regular speaker at venues including TEDx, Google, The Moth and Somerset House in London and appears regularly as a guest on radio, television and podcasts. 

To purchase her latest book: “Boy Mom” visit https://www.amazon.com/BoyMom-Reimagining-Boyhood-Impossible-Masculinity-ebook/dp/B0CH9M2CNN/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1703009937&refinements=p_27%3ARuth+Whippman&s=books&sr=1-2 If you love our podcast, you need to check out our membership with ICP!   80+ Parenting & Mental Health Courses Certificates of Completion for Continuing Eduaction Weekly Parent Coaching sessions Printables & Parenting Scripts Resource Library Webinars & Live Events And a Supportive Community Listeners can take 40% OFF their annual membership (or $19.99/m). Get your 7-Day Free Trial today! And we do not want to forget about our Best-Seller The Parenting Handbook: Your Guide to Raising Resilient Children For a limited time only, buy a copy of our book and recieve a free gift! Yes, you get access to our Compassionate Discipline workshop valued at $87.84. Click here for more info or navigate to www.icphelps.com !

Elizabeth Oldfield speaks to Lakwena Maciver about processing emotions, navigating comparison and using her artwork to speak powerful messages to herself and wider culture. Lakwena is a London-based artist who combines colour and bold text to inspire joy and the gentle subversion of cultural messaging. Her work has been shown internationally with brands such as H&M, Fiorucci & Mini, and at institutions including the Tate Modern, Somerset House, and the Rotterdam Kunsthal.

Hey there, fashion enthusiasts! Welcome back to Just A Fashion Minute, I'm your host, David M. Watts. In this week's episode, we have the incredibly talented stylist and designer, Harris Elliott, joining us for a captivating discussion on the impact of AI in the fashion industry, the unique challenges faced by stylists, and the power of fashion as a form of identity.Harris shares insightful experiences from his impressive career, including working with high-profile clients such as Gorillaz & Pharrell, and his involvement in thought-provoking exhibitions such as "The Missing Thread" at Somerset House. We dive into the world of fashion styling, the essence of fashion as a means of expression, and the fascinating alchemy of styling that combines various elements to create visually impactful looks.We also discuss Tokyo Rakuten Fashion Week, the significant early influences on Harris's career, and much more. As always, we have our Just A Fashion Minute News Roundup, bringing you the latest updates from the exciting world of fashion.If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcasting app to stay up-to-date with our latest fashion discussions and interviews. Let's dive into the world of fashion with Harris Elliott!Timestamps & Topics00:00:01 - Intro and BackgroundIntroduction to the podcast "Just A Fashion Minute" and overview of the topic of fashion styling.00:05:51 - Tokyo Fashion WeekHarris shares his thoughts on Tokyo Fashion Week restarting with international buyers and the press, which he sees as good news for Japanese fashion.00:07:08 - Dries Van Noten SuccessionDiscussion of Belgian designer Dries Van Noten stepping down and the succession plans for his brand.00:09:39 - Early Fashion InfluencesHarris Elliott shares his earliest memories and influences that sparked his interest in fashion, including shop window displays and military regalia.00:11:11 - Career Start with Judy BlameHow Harris got his start in fashion by cold-calling stylist Judy Blame, who gave him opportunities that launched his styling career.00:13:15 - Defining Fashion as IdentityHarris defines fashion as identity, relating to attitude, stance, cultural context and self-expression.00:17:56 - Working with Japanese ClientsHarris explains why he loves working with Japanese clients, who have a deep understanding and respect for his creative role.00:22:07 - Styling ExamplesHarris provides examples of his styling work, including projects with Gorillaz putting the band in head-to-toe pink looks, and styling Pharrell Williams.00:25:22 - Challenges with BrandsHarris describes some of the challenges and mistreatment stylists can face from brands that don't understand or value their role properly.00:28:09 - AI Already ExistingHarris points out that AI technology for styling is already being used, like virtual fitting rooms, and will continue advancing.00:30:46 - "The Missing Thread" ExhibitionDiscussion of the concept and creation of the groundbreaking exhibition "The Missing Thread" at Somerset House, spotlighting underrepresented Black British fashion designers.00:35:00 - Being a Black Male StylistHarris discusses his perspective as a Black male stylist and how he has moved the needle on perception of stylists in the industry.00:36:59 - AI Impact on StylingExploring how artificial intelligence is already impacting and may continue to transform the role of the fashion stylist.00:39:12 - AI PerspectivesHarris and David discuss their perspectives on the AI revolution in fashion, seeing it as both necessary but needing to be carefully monitored.00:42:42 - Quick Fire QuestionsRapid fire questions included an embarrassing fashion moment, Harris' favourite store, an unsung hero shoutout, and...

Fear can hold us back and make us feel stuck. But if we don't face the things that scare us, how will we ever progress? That's certainly the case for us creatives. Whether we're afraid of going freelance, starting a side project, applying for that job, or making a complete lifestyle shift, embracing what terrifies us could actually lead us to happiness. And if it doesn't? Well, there's always a lesson to be learned. Joanna Henly is no stranger to change. She spent her childhood moving around, as her parents' careers dictated. On making new friends at different schools and getting used to new roots, she naturally built resilience and, as a result, didn't shy away from her fears. That's not always been the case. Just like any of us, Joanna has her ups and downs. But in 2019, she suddenly decided to leave London for Lisbon, completely changing her entire lifestyle and career. And when the global pandemic happened, that only encouraged her to pursue her dreams even more. She became a creative mentor and now works with aspiring, emerging and mid-term career artists to propel their creativity and careers forward. She's taken everything she's experienced from her own journey of being an illustrator, muralist, fine artist, and digital and VR painter to help others. Joanna has worked with Reebok, Google, Vivienne Westwood, and Wacom. She's presented her work and ideas as inspiration sessions for Apple and sold out workshops and masterclasses at venues including The V&A, The Saatchi and National Portrait Galleries. Her artworks have even hung in the Saatchi Gallery and Somerset House, while her books are stocked at the Tate and National galleries. She's curated and exhibited solo shows in London and Hong Kong. More recently, she's presented ideas and interactive art with everyone from Google to fashion giants Galliano, painted in VR for the Land Rover Evoque world premiere, and so much more. So, how on earth do the rest of us face and overcome fear? How do we move forward as creatives and discover new ways of working and living? Essentially, how do we become unstuck and move forward? Joanna gives some excellent advice for anyone itching to make a significant change this year. This season is sponsored by MPB, the largest global platform for buying, selling, and trading used photo and video equipment. Visit MPB.com to find out more.

A series of conversations with Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and people who have been part of Qatar's architecture & culture development journey.In this episode, Her Excellency hosts former president of the Museum of Modern Art, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Qatar Museums Authority, Marie-Josée Kravis.Kravis is an economist who has served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the board of French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. Since 2011, she has been involved with the biannual Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic, and she has also served as the Board Chair of New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). With her husband, she runs the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, which has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to arts, culture, and medicine. Marie-Josée Kravis additionally supports New York's Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and Metropolitan Opera, and the Hermitage Collection at Somerset House in London.Marie-Josée Kravis and Her Excellency discuss the role of art and culture in enriching minds and contributing to the growth of grassroots small and medium-sized businesses. They also explore the intersection of art, fashion, and luxury hospitality; as well as how museums inspire and anchor the careers of future artists, contributing to nation building.The Power of Culture Podcast is a Qatar Creates production.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian, Michelin-starred chef and former food editor for Vogue, Skye Gyngell, invites Patrick into her beautiful restaurant, Spring, at Somerset House in London. Together they savour the story of Skye's upbringing through her choice of deep, dark greens and bright, bold yellows. She says: ‘If you've grown up in a country like Australia, the majesty of nature is so huge, the skies are so vast, the seas are so strong, the earth is so red, it gets into your DNA.' Skye also describes her passion for soft pink, which is the colour of Spring restaurant and of where she feels her life is now. ‘A lot of my life has been about trying to define who I am. I really wanted Spring to feel female, delicate and soft and to celebrate that it's a restaurant headed up by a woman.'Learn about the colours featured in each episode hereSee the colours of Skye's life hereFollow Skye on Instagram hereSign up to our weekly newsletter for inspiration Follow us on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We visit the contemporary craft and design fair celebrating its 20th anniversary at Somerset House.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artist Paige K.B. calls into the stream to discuss three major exhibitions: “Cute” at Somerset House in London, “Poetics of Encryption” at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin, and Simon Denny's shows in New York. Follow: https://www.instagram.com/guiltgroupe/ Exhibitions: https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/cute https://poeticsofencryption.kw-berlin.de/src/html/Exibition.html https://www.petzel.com/exhibitions/simon-denny5 https://www.petzel.com/exhibitions/multi-user-dungeon-mud https://dunkunsthalle.substack.com/p/simon-denny-exhibition-read-write

The creator of Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell, whose column in the New York Observer was the inspiration behind the TV series, joins Anita in the studio. The real-life Carrie Bradshaw is bringing her one-woman show about creating the hit series to the West End and then doing a UK tour.After 20 years of silence, prize-winning author Lisa St Aubin de Terán is back with a new book. Aged 16, Lisa married a Venezuelan landowner-turned-bank robber; she eventually ran away from him with her young daughter only to end up trapped in a castle with the Scottish poet George MacBeth. From there she eloped to Italy and in 2004 she settled in north Mozambique, establishing the Teran Foundation to develop community tourism. She lived there until 2022 when a cyclone took the roof off her house, and returned to London with a bag full of manuscripts including her memoir, Better Broken than New. She joins Emma in studio.A new study says that an ideological gap has opened up between young men and women in countries on every continent. These increasingly different world views could have far-reaching consequences. One of the leading researchers in gender studies Dr Alice Evans, Senior Lecturer in the Social Science of Development at King's College London tells Emma why Gen Z is two generations, not one. Emma also speaks to Professor Rosie Campbell, Director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London.Emma talks to the TV presenter Kaye Adams about her 10-year battle with HMRC over their claim she owed almost £125,000 in unpaid taxes. Best known for her role on the Loose Women panel show, she also hosts the morning show on BBC Radio Scotland. She says the protracted legal case has left her feeling “utterly, utterly beat up and gaslit”, despite her vindication.From cute cat memes to plush toys, a new exhibition at Somerset House explores the power of cuteness in contemporary culture. But is buying into a cute aesthetic regressive or even sexist, or can cute be reclaimed as a form of protest? And how would you feel, as a grown woman, about being labelled 'cute' or 'adorable'? To discuss, Emma is joined by Dr Isabel Galleymore, a consultant on the Cute exhibition; and the journalist Vicky Spratt.Have you ever thought about where your name came from? Perhaps you were named after a favourite relative, a character in a movie or maybe your parents just liked the sound of it. Photographer Deirdre Brennan wanted to mark the 1500th anniversary of Saint Brigid, one of the patron saints of Ireland. To do this, she photographed Brigids all over Ireland and asked them how they felt about their name. She joins Emma to discuss the project - as does one of the Brigids involved in her project - Brigid McDonnell, a sheep farmer from County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Episode No. 639 features artists Sin Wai Kin and Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork. The Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley is presenting "MATRIX 284/Sin Wai Kin: The Story Changing," the artist's first US exhibition. BAMPFA's exhibition includes Sin's two most recent video works: The Breaking Story (2022) and Dreaming the End (2023). "The Story Changing" was curated by Victoria Sung and is on view through March 10. BAMPFA's eight-page exhibition brochure features a conversation between Sung and Sin. Sin often uses speculative fiction and narrative in performance and in filmic works. Informed by their experience in London's drag scene, Sin's work asks questions about history, the present, and the construction of reality and factuality. Sin was shortlisted for the UK's Turner Prize in 2022. Their work has been shown at museums such as Fondazione Memmo, Rome, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva, Somerset House, London, The British Museum, London, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, the 2019 Venice Biennale, and more. On the second segment, a re-air of a 2017 segment with Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork. The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University is presenting "Poems of Electronic Air," Gork's East Coast institutional debut, through April 7. The exhibition combines recent sculpture with a commissioned, site-specific installation made for the CCVA's Le Corbusier-designed building. Gork has previously exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, SFMOMA, SculptureCenter, New York, BAMPFA, and in the Hammer Museum's 2019 Made in L.A. biennial. For images, see Episode No. 302. Instagram: Sin Wai Kin, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Tyler Green.

Following the speech last week by the head of the British Armed Forces calling for a new ‘citizen army', we look at what this could look like and what role women would play. Emma Barnett speaks to former RAF Group Captain Kathleen Sherit the author of Women on the Front Line, and to Diane Allen, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. It's been reported that the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fasts for 36 hours at the start of each week. He is said to stop eating by 5pm on a Sunday and doesn't permit himself to touch food again until 5am on a Tuesday, and allows himself to drink only black coffee and water. It is said that he has followed this practice for years. Emma is joined by Dr Saira Hameed to discuss fasting and how men and women should approach it differently. Amy and Anu are identical twins, but just after they were born, they were taken from their mother and sold to separate families. Years later they connected online and realised they were among thousands of babies in Georgia stolen from hospitals and sold, some as recently as 2005. Emma speaks to one of the twins, Amy Khvitia, and also Fay Nurse, a BBC journalist behind a new documentary, Georgia's Stolen Children. From cute cat memes to plush toys, a new exhibition at Somerset House explores the power of cuteness in contemporary culture. But is buying into a cute aesthetic regressive or even sexist, or can cute be reclaimed as a form of protest? And how would you feel, as a grown woman, about being labelled 'cute' or 'adorable'? To discuss, Emma is joined by Dr Isabel Galleymore, a consultant on the Cute exhibition; and the journalist Vicky Spratt.Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Emma Pearce