Women in Dark Times (Fitzcarraldo) begins with three remarkable women: revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg; German-Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon; and film icon Marilyn Monroe. The story of these women blazes a trail across some of the defining features of the twentieth century – revolution, totalitarianism and the American dream – and compels us to rec ... Show More
Yesterday
Sophie Lewis & Lola Olufemi: Enemy Feminisms
In Enemy Feminisms (Haymarket Books), described by Judith Butler as ‘honest, brutal, historically comprehensive, and brilliant’, Sophie Lewis provides a field guide to the reactionary stereotypes that have affected and distorted feminisms past and present, and propounds a paradig ... Show More
1h 7m
Sep 24
T.J. Clark & Caroline Arscott: Those Passions - On Art & Politics
Art historian T.J. Clark began his academic career with two groundbreaking works on the art of mid-nineteenth century France, expounding materialist theory of art that has remained his watchword for five decades, with books on Poussin, Cézanne, Picasso and modernism. Those Passio ... Show More
1h 10m
Sep 17
Richard Scott, Emily Berry & Jane Yeh: That Broke Into Shining Crystals
‘With his electric Soho, Richard Scott has arrived like a lightning bolt in our midst’ said T.S. Eliot Prize judge Sinéad Morrissey on the publication of his first collection in 2018. To celebrate publication of his second, That Broke into Shining Crystals (Faber), Richard will b ... Show More
39m 30s
Nov 2024
Maria Balshaw on Museums (+ Tracey Emin, Frida Kahlo, and more!)
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is Maria Balshaw. Currently serving as Director of Tate, a position she has held since 2017, Balshaw began her career as an academic and lecturer in cultural studies. At the dawn of the 2000s, she swapped this to become Dire ... Show More
44m 22s
Nov 2023
A brush with... Sutapa Biswas
Sutapa Biswas 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. Biswas was born in Santinekethan, India, in 1962, and her work in painting, drawing, photogra ... Show More
1h 1m
Jan 2025
Contemporary Curation with Leah Triplett
Leah Triplett is a curator and writer, currently serving as the Director of Exhibitions and Contemporary Curatorial Initiatives at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Her writing has appeared in ArtAsiaPacific, ArtNet News, Sculpture, Public Art Dialogue, Flash Art, ... Show More
42m 34s
Nov 2024
American sculpture—race and racism, Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art, Jusepe de Ribera in Paris
Shortly after the US election on 5 November, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington opens The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture, a radical new perspective on the history of the discipline from 1792 to now. Ahead of its opening, Ben Luke speaks to K ... Show More
1h 5m
Sep 2024
Episode 606 - Dmitry Samarov
Artist Dmitry Samarov returns to the show to bail me out after a stressful couple of weeks and to explore his fantastic new book, MAKING PICTURES IS HOW I TALK TO THE WORLD, a survey of his art from the '80s to today. We talk about the process of selecting pieces for the book, wh ... Show More
1h 35m
Apr 2025
S09E02 - Art Deco⏐Raymond Templier, a passion for speed
Movie stars have always worn jewelry. In the 1920s, the Art Deco style gradually took over red carpets and film reels. Worn by some of the greatest actresses of the day, from Louise Brooks to Brigitte Helm, Art-Deco jewelry was the epitome of modern beauty. Raymond Templier, one ... Show More
14m 23s